H.R. McMaster in conversation with Juan Manuel Santos, former President and Minister of National Defense of Colombia, on Wednesday, March 17 at 9:00am PT. In this episode of Battlegrounds, H.R. McMaster and former President and Minister of National Defense Juan Manuel Santos discuss Colombian security, transnational organized crime and narcotics trafficking, the crisis in Venezuela, and lessons learned from Colombia’s struggle to achieve a lasting peace. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Juan Manuel Santos is the former President of Colombia (2010 to 2018) and was the sole recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for his efforts to end his country’s civil war. Before his Presidency, Santos held a number of ministerial roles including Minister of Foreign Trade, Minister of Finance, and Minister of National Defense. Santos also founded a new political party (The U Party) in 2005. Before public life, he was a deputy publisher and editorial writer in the newspaper El Tiempo. Santos is also the author of several books. H. R. McMaster is the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is also the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and lecturer at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He was the 26th assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1984, McMaster served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring as a Lieutenant General in June 2018. ABOUT THE SERIES Battlegrounds provides a needed forum with leaders from key countries to share their assessment of problem sets and opportunities that have implications for U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy. Each episode features H.R. McMaster in a one-on-one conversation with a senior foreign government leader to allow Americans and partners abroad to understand how the past produced the present and how we might work together to secure a peaceful and prosperous future. “Listening and learning from those who have deep knowledge of our most crucial challenges is the first step in crafting the policies we need to secure peace and prosperity for future generations.” For more information, visit: https://www.hoover.org/battlegrounds_perspectives. Pick up a copy of "Battlegrounds: The Fight To Defend The Free World," by H.R. McMaster here - https://www.hoover.org/research/battlegrounds-fight-defend-free-world.