Your Majesties,
Nobel Laureate,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Dear hosts,

For generations, Latin American children have been told about the myth of El Dorado.

The sun was
breaking through the clouds.
The cacique lifted
his hands to the heavens.
He let fall his red robe,
uncovering his body
all painted in gold dust.

In the first light of morning,
the golden form of the cacique
shone
like the image of a god.

So it begins.

What is it about the myth of El Dorado that prompts us to tell and retell it so often? Why can we never cease in our quest to discover its golden treasure troves?

Simply because we are irresistibly drawn to its promise of a more bountiful and more beautiful future.

Colombia is the land that glitters like the sun. A land whose proud peaks, fertile soils, verdant forests and busy coast are home to immeasurable wealth.

Colombia has given us footballers who play like magicians. The passion and verve of the salsa.

Today, the children who play in its streets, parks and forests can belong to the first generation of Colombians in decades for whom civil war and unrest are not an extra burden to bear. The first generation who can focus all their energies on uncovering and harnessing the enormous treasures that this wonderful country has to offer.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are here to honour a man who has never lost sight of the promise of a more golden future for the Colombian people. As a political leader, President Santos has shouldered a personal responsibility for fronting a new approach, compromise and pragmatism.

It takes political courage to peer through the fog of inherited conflict and deadlock to defend a peace that not only looks after the victims of the war, but also ensures that there is a future for the enemy.

What is the source of such political courage?

I believe that courage starts its life in the imagination and the ability to look at things from a new perspective. Political courage is fed by the willingness to turn away from the difficulties that hamper and occupy us in the here and now, and to set our sights on something greater; the long-term gains. The will to peace is a more courageous act than simply grasping onto the old patterns of conflict.

Or as the Colombian author Héctor Abad put it in Oblivion – a Memoir (El Olvido que Seremos):

“Valour is a virtue of the unarmed, the peaceful – never of the thugs – and in the final hours wars are always won by the peacemakers, never by the warmongers. The only brave one is he who can allow himself the luxury of love for his neighbour, a specifically human quality."

Colombia is a nation of storytellers. Literature, poetry and the great myths are engrained in the walls of the towns and cities; may be heard in the ringing of the bells; may be intimated in the humming and buzzing of the forests. Such greats as Gabriel García Márquez, Evelio Rosero and Laura Restrepo have enchanted and enriched us with their unforgettable tales.

Today, just ten days after Colombia’s national assembly unanimously ratified the peace treaty, we should ask: Which are the stories we shall cultivate? Which ones shall we carry with us? Which narratives shall we build our identity and our future on?

What is the real path to El Dorado?

Perhaps all along the treasure hunters have been looking for the wrong thing in their search?

They’ve ignored the obvious: that wealth lies in humanity. Our creativity and ingenuity; the interaction between people and cultures; love and human dignity; this is where the real gold can be found.

El Dorado exists, but all attempts to find its treasures outside the heads and hearts of humanity will be in vain.

Dear hosts,

Our own homeland may struggle to measure up to the fertility of Colombia. That being said, there’s little doubt that the sumptuous meal we have been served here this evening has straddled the boundaries of magic and realism.

Skål!