Nadya Ortiz is Colombia's first woman chess grandmaster. Hailing from humble origins in Ibague, chess became a conduit for her success. By succeeding in the chess world, she won a scholarship to study at university in Texas, later another one to go to Purdue and then by virtue of her excellence in computer science now works for Apple in San Francisco.

We hear Nadya's story on episode 533 of the Colombia Calling podcast. As a woman from the provinces, playing an unpopular sport, she made it all happen for her. We discuss her life, politics in Colombia and much more in what is an inspirational story.

The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. Please support her Substack: https://substack.com/@ehart

and the Colombia Calling podcast: https://patreon.com/colombiacalling 

Hallo and welcome to another episode of Colombia Calling - I’m Emily Hart and this week I’ll be chatting to Nubia Rojas about journalism at war – how journalists fell victim to, but also took part in, Colombia’s civil conflict.

Nubia is a journalist and researcher who has worked on conflicts across the world both as a correspondent and an analyst, working for the United Nations, Doctors without Borders, and Oxfam, as well as numerous Colombian outlets.

Most recently, Nubia authored a chapter of the final report of Colombia’s Truth Commission – a historic publication which was the outcome of an unprecedented investigation into the causes and consequences of Colombia's internal armed conflict – the final report was the result of nearly four years’ work and tens of thousands of interviews.

Today we’ll be chatting about Nubia’s chapter – digging in to the historical and present relationship between journalism and Colombia’s political elites, paramilitary PR, rebel elites, corporate takeovers and more.

Please sign up for my substack: https://substack.com/@ehart and support the podcast: https://www.patreon.com/colombiacalling

"From Ambition to Stagnation: the road ahead for Petro's administration," is the title of a new report by Eitan Casaverde and Sergio Guzman of Colombia Risk Analysis and this is what we are discussing this week on the podcast.

There are questions that abound:

Is the Colombian system structured for radical change?
What have been the success stories of the Petro presidency so far?
What is this strategic ambiguity towards the situation in Venezuela?
Who will be Petro's successor?
How is the list of potential candidates for the elections in 2026 shaping up?

And, hear the Colombia Briefing by Emily Hart and subscribe to her Substack: https://harte.substack.com

Support us: https://www.patreon.com/colombiacalling

The Latin American Review of Books – LatAmRoB – has been publishing online continuously since 2005 as a small, independent website based in the UK that reviews books and films. And we are very fortunate to have founder Gavin O'Toole here on the Colombia Calling podcast this week.

The Latin American Review of Books is commercially and politically independent and value, above all sharp writing and commentary that brings to a wider audience knowledge, understanding and insight about all things Latin American.

So, this week we chat about literary offerings from the region, goings on in Venezuela and Colombia, Boris Johnson's bizarre trip to Venezuela and much much more.

Check out the website: https://www.latamrob.com

Support the Colombia Briefing and Emily Hart on Substack: https://substack.com/@ehart

and

support us: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling