Juan Manuel Santos received more votes during the recent runoff election in Colombia than any other presidential candidate in the history of that South American country. Nine million voters gave him their support. Santos easily beat his eccentric rival, Antanas Mockus, with 70 percent of the votes. Although there was only a 50 percent turnout, Santos' supporters defied the rain, the threat of terrorism and the popular soccer matches to go out and vote.

“It's time to turn the page on hatred and useless divisions. It's time for Colombians to unite,” he said in a victory speech. But the new head of state will face serious challenges in trying to unite a country divided by political ideology and internal conflicts, not to mention the challenge of having to unite a region also divided by diplomatic confrontations and threats by some neighboring countries.

Santos will need to sharpen his diplomatic skills and arm himself with a lot of patience in order to improve the deteriorated relations with Ecuador and Venezuela, with which Colombia has strong commercial ties. The jobs of some 300,000 Colombians depend on that trade.

During his campaign and after winning the election, Santos, who served as minister of defense under President Alvaro Uribe, has made it clear that he will continue the same hard-line approach toward security that probably was Uribe's biggest accomplishment during his eight years in office. “To the terrorist and the world, I tell you, the time for the FARC has run out. As long as they continue to resort to terrorist acts, there is no possibility of dialogue, and we will continue our hard-line approach to deal with them,” he warned. However, to keep the streets and roads of Colombia safe, Santos will have to get very creative to keep up with the enormous budget to maintain an army of 430,000 men.

When it comes to the economy, Santos' biggest challenge will be to contend with the economic crisis created precisely by the weakened relations with Colombia's neighbors, which has caused the closure of many businesses and loss of employment. To that end, he will have to find ways to create more jobs to reduce the unemployment rate, which at 20 percent is one of the highest in the region, and try to reduce the poverty level, which stands at 45 percent, with 15 percent of the population considered indigent.

Among other things, Santos is inheriting Uribe's dishonorable record on human rights. Uribe has been blamed for the immoral acts by the army known as “false positives” -- the killing of approximately 2,000 innocent civilians whom the army falsely claimed were leftist rebels, and whose deaths gave the army the appearance of having an edge in the armed conflict. There also is an enormous amount of displaced people, mostly peasants who have abandoned their villages in war-ravaged areas in search of safer ground. That, too, has caused the economy to take a hit.

President Uribe was able to consolidate a strategic partnership with the United States, but it will be Santos who will have the task of negotiating and signing a free-trade agreement with its ally. It also will be his task to make sure the U.S. continues its support of “Plan Colombia,” a program designed to fight the war against drugs and the rebels, which already has cost American taxpayers more than $4 billion since 1999.

There's more. Corruption is another dark spot in Uribe's presidency that Santos will have to deal with. In particular, the scandal created by the links between elected officials and right-wing paramilitary forces that put more than 60 high-level politicians behind bars.

It is ironic, but in spite of all that, and his failed attempts at staying in power in a second re-election, Uribe leaves a legacy that many heads of state would like to enjoy. He has been one of the most beloved presidents in Colombia and one of the most admired worldwide in the past century. He leaves the presidency with extremely high approval ratings.

Juan Manuel Santos has four years to create a legacy of his own. His actions will determine whether he will enjoy the same luxury as his predecessor -- to be given a chance to govern Colombia for four more years.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2010 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate