Colombia: VP Vargas Lleras Steps Down to Focus on 2018 Election

BOGOTÁ, Colombia - Germán Vargas Lleras, the Vice-President of Colombia since 2014, has announced that he is leaving his post as the second-in-command to President Juan Manuel Santos as he intends to focus on finalizing his official candidacy for the 2018 election.

In October of 2013, Angelino Garzón Quintero, Santos' Vice-President from 2010 to 2014, said that he would not be accompanying the Social Party of National Unity (PU) candidate in his re-election campaign. Garzón Quintero served in the position until the 7th of August, 2014 when Santos' first mandate ended.

Garzón Quintero had suffered from several health issues in recent years, giving scares of the political kind to Santos who considered Garzón, a more left-leaning politician than the center-right President, vital to reaching across the aisle politically.

In 2013, Santos elected Vargas Lleras be his...