Santos handily wins first round of Colombian presidential election/ Elecciones en Colombia: Santos convoca a los aliados de Uribe

A former defense minister who would continue President Álvaro Uribe's tough anti-guerrilla policies handily defeated a former Bogota mayor Sunday in the first round of presidential elections. Juan Manuel Santos, 58, who oversaw the most decisive strikes against rebel forces, did not garner the simple majority needed to win outright. But his lead over the second-place finisher, Antanas Mockus, was so commanding that he is likely to win the presidency in a second round of voting on June 20 ( full information)/ Tras imponerse por una diferencia de 25 puntos porcentuales sobre el candidato del Partido Verde, Antanas Mockus, Santos expresó su reconocimiento a Noemí Sanín y a Germán Vargas Lleras, postulantes de los partidos Conservador y Cambio Radical, respectivamente. "Han sido aliados de la política de seguridad democrática del presidente Uribe y espero que lo sean de mi gobierno", dijo el candidato del Partido de la U después de que el escrutinio preliminar le otorgara el 46,56% de los votos ( información completa)