Weekly Report - 1 July 2010 (WR-10-26)

President-elect Juan Manuel Santos announced that Marí­a Ángela Holguí­n, a former ambassador to the UN and Venezuela, will serve as foreign minister when he takes office on 7 August. This is the most important position in the cabinet as, on the one hand, Colombia needs to restore full diplomatic relations with Ecuador and mend ties with Venezuela, while on the other hand, preserve its special relations with the US and ensure it does not become isolated in Latin America. Santos will have a dearth of ideological allies in the region as he indirectly acknowledged by saying in a press interview last week that he felt “close" to Chile's President Sebastián Piñera and Peru's President Alan Garcí­a (whose term ends next year).