Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos joined world leaders Monday by congratulating Mexico’s new president Enrique Peña.
In a Twitter post, Santos revealed that he phoned Peña to reaffirm the shared interests between Colombia and Mexico. Without explicitly mentioning a particular issue, he said “…the two countries share a very important agenda,” according to Colombian newspaper El Espectador.
Although all the voting had not officially been tallied yet as of Sunday, Nieto was the clear frontrunner. He held approximately 37% of the vote, beating out left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez on 33% and Josefina Vazquez Mota with 25%.
Notwithstanding claims from Lopez that he still had a chance, Nieto has received several calls from foreign leaders offering their congratulations. Apart from Santos, officials from Guatemala, Venezuela and the European Union have also contacted Nieto, according to radio station Caracol.
Nieto’s victory would mark the return of the PRI after more than a decade out of power. The PRI has already carved out a prominent place in Mexican history, overseeing the so-called “Mexican Miracle” from 1940-1970 when GDP increased sixfold. Throughout much of the party’s rule from 1929 to 2000, Mexico was effectively a one-party state.
Given Mexico’s geopolitical standing as Latin America’s second biggest economy and an important transit country for drug-traffickers, Nieto’s strategy regarding the economy and the drug war, in particular, will likely have an effect in both Colombia and the United States. Earlier this year Mexico and Colombia signed a new drug intelligence deal aimed at disrupting drug trafficking operations in the region.
