Former DEA agent Chris Feistl and literary collaborator Jessica Balboni discuss the new book: "After Escobar: Taking Down the Notorious Cali Godfathers and the Biggest Drug Cartel in History," on the Colombia Calling podcast with Richard McColl and Emily Hart. Arriving in Colombia in 1994, a year after Pablo Escobar had been killed, Chris Feistl was charged with the task of dismantling the all-powerful Cali cartel. In this new book, he details his failures, successes and close calls. Jessica Balboni joins us as well to discuss the writing process. Buy the book!https://a.co/d/fXriXC1
Chris Feistl was a DEA Special Agent for twenty-six years, serving in diverse assignments throughout the US as well as twelve years in Colombia, South America, where he investigated major drug cartels that were supplying tons of cocaine and heroin destined for the US. Starting as a new agent in Miami, he finished his career as an Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix in 2014. Jessica Balboni is a Boston-based writer and editor with a diverse background in media that spans artistic, academic, corporate, and nonprofit sectors, including roles held with the Food Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, and ESPN.
La Escombrera, a vast rubble pile overlooking Medellín, is considered to be Colombia’s largest urban mass grave. Its excavation this year has unearthed the remains of people whose families have been searching for them for decades.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the excavation there is being expanded. Some hope that what is found in that rubble will answer deeper questions - about how the conflict unfolded here in the city, and how the state was complicit in murders and human rights violations committed by paramilitary groups.
This week, Emily Hart, journalist and Colombia Calling host, takes us through an article she wrote on her Substack about La Escombrera, the dynamics and history of Colombia's civil conflict, and about how this war - largely characterised by rural conflict and guerrilla tactics - ended up radically changing the face of Colombia’s cities.
Heather Luna, a native of Michigan with strong ties to Colombia, spent a significant time in the UK before moving to Tabio. Since then, she has been working remotely offering consultations, consulting and workshops and showing people the value of collaboration and solidarity.
Her work has embraced questions of identity - including her own -, environmental causes and human rights causes and now she is moving across from a solely anglophone audience to a Colombian one as well.
We discuss what it means to grow up half Colombian, not speaking Spanish, connecting to extended family and making a new home here in a rural society.
It's an absolute honour to welcome author Jennie Erin Smith on the Colombia Calling podcast this week to discuss her latest book in which she investigates and chronicles her six-year investigation into the phenomenon of early onset Alzheimer's in rural Colombia.
Jennie speaks to Emily Hart and Richard McColl.
In the 1980s, a Colombian neurologist named Francisco Lopera traveled on horseback into the mountains seeking families with symptoms of dementia. For centuries, residents of certain villages near Medellín had suffered memory loss as they reached middle age, going on to die in their fifties. Lopera discovered that a unique genetic mutation was causing their rare hereditary form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Over the next forty years of working with the “paisa mutation” kindred, he went on to build a world-class research program in a region beset by violence and poverty.
In "Valley of Forgetting," Jennie Erin Smith brings readers into the clinic, the laboratories, and the Medellín trial center where Lopera’s patients receive an experimental drug to see if Alzheimer’s can be averted. She chronicles the lives of people who care for sick parents, spouses, and siblings, all while struggling to keep their own dreams afloat.
These Colombian families have donated hundreds of their loved ones’ brains to science and subjected themselves to invasive testing to help uncover how Alzheimer’s develops and whether it can be stopped.
What explains selective violence against social and community leaders in the aftermath of war? Why does the killing of community and social leaders continue unabated in Colombia?
This week on the Colombia Calling podcast, we look at a new academic article entitled: "Delegative peacebuilding: Explaining post-conflict selective violence," written by Dr Sally Sharif and Dr Francy Carranza-Franco which explains so much regarding the on-going conflict in Colombia, the issue of "partial peace, who is doing the killing and why and hear some possible solutions.
Joining us is Dr Sally Sharif, School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University and Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and incoming assistant professor of comparative politics at Holy Cross University, Boston.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Grace Brennan.
Victoria was never meant to come to Colombia, in fact, had things gone according to plan she would be in China right now.
But, fate had a different path in mind for this native of a small town near to the city of Perm in Siberia, Russia.
And so, on this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we hear from a Tatar far from her birthplace near to the Ural Mountains and find out how she ended up in the town of Tabio, 45km north of Bogota.
Our conversation takes in her life as a language teacher (English, German and Russian), her arrival in Colombia, her beginner mistakes upon arriving in Colombia, life hacks that we all need here, her cultural adaptation, family traditions, body positivity in Colombia, love and relationships and her life now.
Tune in to hear from someone who has truly embraced a new life in Colombia in what is an incredibly upbeat and positive episode of the Colombia Calling podcast.
And if you fancy some language classes, check out: @tabiunarusa on Instagram.
There's so much to say about the Latin American Boom in literature, but how can we possibly discuss it at this point in time without mentioning Mario Vargas Llosa and his recent passing.
And so, as a Colombia-focused podcast, we take a look at this era and these personalities in the literary world, such as Colombia's inimitable Gabriel Garcia Marquez but through the prism of Mario Vargas Llosa. With very special guest Juan E. De Castro, professor of literary studies at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School. Author of Writing Revolution in Latin America: From Martí to García Márquez to Bolaño and Bread and Beauty: The Cultural Politics of José Carlos Mariátegui, among other works, we discuss a variety of topics relating to but not restricted to:
1. The Latin American Boom. 2. Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and "that punch." 3. The importance of the Latin American Boom. 4. The end of this literary milestone. 5. One Hundred Years of Solitude - the Netflix version.
And so much more, including the Colombia Briefing with Emily Hart.
This week we speak to Camila Gonzalez Rosas, Director and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Los Andes University in Bogotá and Researcher at the the Centre for Investigations into Microbiology and tropical parasitology and we discuss tropical diseases in Colombia.
Nothing is off the table from chagas, malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, zika, chikungunya and Covid-19....we cover it all.
What are the possibilities of another Zika outbreak? What are the consequences of the loss of biodiversity and climate change in Colombia? We also talk about zoonotic transmission where an infectious disease is transmitted between species from animals to humans (or from humans to animals)
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. Subscribe to her Substack here: https://substack.com/@ehart
Colombian energy giant Ecopetrol has polluted hundreds of sites with oil, including water sources and biodiverse wetlands, the BBC World Service has found.
However, as detailed in a new documentary produced and directed by Owen Pinnell of the BBC: "Exposing the toxic record of Colombia's oil giant | BBC World Service Documentaries,:" there are far more issues involving Colombia's Ecopetrol beyond just pollution the region's water sources such as potential links to paramilitary groups.
As quoted in the documentary: "Matthew Smith, an oil analyst and financial journalist based in Colombia, says he does not believe Ecopetrol managers are involved in threats by armed groups. But he says there is an "immense" overlap between former paramilitary groups and the private security sector. Private security firms often employ former members of paramilitary groups and compete for lucrative contracts to protect oil facilities, he says.
Whistleblower and former employee of Ecopetrol, Mr Olarte shared internal Ecopetrol emails (now named "The Iguana Papers") showing that in 2018, the company paid a total of $65m to more than 2,800 private security companies.
"There is always that risk of some sort of contagion between the private security companies, the types of people they employ, and their desire to continually maintain their contract," Mr Smith says. He says this could potentially even include kidnapping or murdering community leaders or environmental defenders in order to "ensure that Ecopetrol's operations proceed smoothly".
And so, journalists Emily Hart and Richard McColl of the Colombia Calling podcast, have the fantastic opportunity to discuss what it meant to film this documentary, meet the courageous people who were and are willing to speak out about some of the crimes being committed in the region of Barrancabermeja, Santander and how the whole area is being affected by this.
Tune in and see the documentary here: https://youtu.be/Grp3YRhSf2o
This is a truly incredible episode of the Colombia Calling podcast, please be sure to share, like and spread the word. And as always, tune in to the Colombia Briefing, reported by Emily Hart.
In today’s episode, Emily Hart speaks to archaeologist Daniella Betancourt: the woman decoding the enigma of Colombia’s mummies.
Mummification is a practice which has been carried out all over the world, from Chile to China – from the ancient Egyptian pharaohs to Vladimir Lenin and Evita Perón, and - though chronically understudied - right here in Colombia too.
These preserved remains are, Daniella tells us, a perfect time capsule: bodies frozen in time, they give us all sorts of clues about the ways people lived, and their beliefs about life and death.
With the National University of Colombia, Daniella has been studying a collection of 36 mummies found in various institutions, trying to work out who they were, who mummified them, when - and why.
Because until now, there has been so little study of this practice in Colombia, there’s still an awful lot find out, not least because these mummies were created by indigenous communities whose histories and customs were interrupted and erased by the Spanish colonisation of the country: many of Colombia’s mummies were destroyed and even burnt.
But there is evidence that indigenous groups in Colombia kept practicing ritual mummification long after the arrival of the Spanish – perhaps a high-stakes act of cultural resistance, a spiritual imperative, or an attempt to create talismans of power – at this point, we can only guess – what the study has revealed, however, is that mummification was practiced much more widely than was previously thought – by more groups and in more regions of Colombia.
Though in the historical chronicles of the Spanish invasion and early colonial period, there are some descriptions of mummies, most of the contextual information has been lost – in fact we don’t even know where most of these mummies came from or how they were found, as their burial sites were desecrated by tomb raiders and looters who took anything of value and sometimes even displaced the remains themselves. However, the new study by Daniella and the team has shed new light on these Mummies, able to reach amazing conclusions about diet, geography, and even health from state-of-the-art scientific methods.
However, as Daniella will tell us, some of the results actually pose more questions than they answer – we’ll be talking in particular about a mummified two-year-old girl, who surprised Daniella even after years of studying her, and whose strange condition continues to confound researchers. We’ll also be discussing the ethics of studying human remains, and of displaying them in museums.
The headlines for this week are also reported by Emily Hart.
Barry Max Wills, author of: "Better than Cocaine: Learning to Grow Coffee, and Live in Colombia," and Richard McColl of: "The Mompos Project: A Tale of Love, Hotels and Madness in Colombia," join editor Dan Cross on this week's Colombia Calling podcast.
In a conversation that takes in the topics of culture and identity, immigrants to Colombia, writing about their adopted homeland, their books and the editing process, the triumvirate chats about the recent launch party and conversation event at Bookworm bookshop in Bogota.
On this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we speak to James Bargent, an investigative journalist for Insight Crime about his work putting together the new podcast: "the Shadow of El Dorado."
Along with his colleague Mat Charles, the resulting podcast is a multi-year project which takes the listener into the world of organized crime and how the Gaitanista (Clan del Golfo or AGC) criminal organisation controls the mining economy and its subsidiary interests in the town of Segovia, Antioquia.
Their search for Colombia’s blood gold takes us to Segovia and the illegal mines at the very beginning of the global supply chain.
But what they find there is a strange mirror world, where conventional narratives fall apart, and the names and labels they try to apply do not make sense.
Today, we go back many millennia in order to protect ourselves for the coming centuries: Emily Hart speaks to two Colombian scientists, Carlos Jaramillo and Camila Martínez, time-travellers of the smallest imaginable time machines: fossilised pollen and tree cells.
Climate change has been a constant feature of Planet Earth: at points in history, the planet has been both much cooler and much warmer than it is today - if we know which plants occupied an ecosystem the last time the Earth was a certain temperature or had a certain level of CO2 in the atmosphere, we can predict what our ecosystems will look like in the conditions that we will soon be living in.
Using tiny fossilised clues, Carlos and Camila are doing exactly this.
The climate change we are currently living through is unprecedented in speed – and water and rain cycles are a major concern for humanity’s continued existence on the planet, so one focus of this work is the Amazon rainforest – both Colombia’s slice of it and further afield.
Predictive models currently disagree about where the Amazon is headed as the earth warms – some models predict it will get wetter, others say it will become grasslands or scrub. One way to find out is to work out which plants lived in the area the last time conditions changed in the ways they are currently changing, and look at how that ecosystem and its inhabitants changed and adapted during that time.
Drilling deep into the earth to find fossil records from 12 million years ago, Carlos is now studying the fingerprints left by Amazonian life from that time – particularly pollen. Camila is studying fossilised trees, whose cells – frozen in time – can show us how much water was in the environment.
But pollen and other microscopic clues are in such abundance in places like Colombia that there simply isn’t enough time in a human life to study and identify all of the species being found. Luckily, artificial intelligence is opening up huge possibilities – Carlos has been digitalising massive fossil collections and training AI to identify and catalogue samples.
So today, we travel from the microscopic fingerprints of a distant ecological past resting in rocks and trees deep underground through to the futuristic methods made possible by new machine learning and digital processing. Carlos and Camila span multiple disciplines and vast timeframes, all in the hopes of getting us the information we need to survive the climate crisis which will change the face of the planet within our lifetimes.
They'll be telling us how - and why it's so important.
President Petro's Disastrous Televised Cabinet Meeting or The Petro Presidency Meltdown.
Pause for breath if you can, but we've been experiencing a barrage of negative headlines surrounding Colombia's President Petro.
This began with, at first, the online fracas with President Trump over the treatment of Colombian illegal migrants being returned to their homeland to, most recently, a total car crash of a televised cabinet meeting.
Anyway, on this episode of the Colombia Calling podcast, we chat to Adriaan Alsema, director of Colombia Reports, about whether we can call this the "Petro Presidency Meltdown," and what we can expect from the Colombian premier for the remaining year and a bit of his tenure.
We look at the cornerstone policy plans of Petro's administration and discuss if whether any will get through Congress before his time is up. What has happened to Total Peace (Paz Total), the Health, Pension and Labour reforms...is the Petro project doomed to failure? And, where does the political chameleon and survivor Armando Benedetti fit into all this?
This week on the Colombia Calling podcast, we speak to Lorena Estupiñán-Pedraza, a professor of international relations and political science from Boyaca, but resident in the southern city of Cali.
In a far-ranging conversation, we discuss Lorena's PhD studies public policy implementation in Boyaca, local problems with global impacts and all about what it means to be from Boyaca and to understand the Boyacense idiosyncrasy and culture.
Tune in to this, the Colombia Briefing with Emily Hart and subscribe to the podcast.
A new documentary, in the making, seeks to document the sacred nature of an ancient medicine. We're all familiar with vivid tales of projectile vomiting and the complete loss of bodily functions during an ayuahuasca ceremony but who, amongst us, has really explored the benefits of a ritual?
This documentary seeks to educate us, through a carefully curated journey from the lands of the Taitas (shamans) in Putumayo, the process of creating the ayahuasca (also known as Yage), to the preparation of the ceremony, the ritual itself and then a reflection of the ceremony and its outcomes.
The documentary maker: Sam Lipman-Stern is an Emmy Nominated Filmmaker with a passion for the visual arts that dates to his early days as a graffiti artist. In August 2023, HBO released Telemarketers, a 3-part limited documentary series created, executive produced and co-directed by Lipman-Stern. Time Magazine called it, "One of the Most Exciting Docuseries in Recent Years!"
Sam Believ founded LaWayra retreat together with his wife Estefania in 2021. LaWayra was born as a passion project from the desire to drink medicine from our home and share medicine with some friends and slowly grew to become one of the best Ayahuasca retreats in the world. At the retreat they provide a world class Ayahuasca experience and stays for affordable prices.
Jonathan Swift, "Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it.”
… never truer than in 2025
This week on the Colombia Calling podcast Emily Hart and Richard McColl tackle the issue of disinformation and fact-checking in Colombia and fortunately, we don't have to take on this task alone but are joined by two experts in the field. Laura Sarabia Rangel is the Editor of El Detector de Mentiras at La Silla Vacia and Jose Felipe Sarmiento joins us from ColombiaCheck and we get to pick their brains about the need for fact-checking, disinformation in Colombia and how one undertakes the process of finding the truth.
There have been so many circumstances where people and politicians have been saying things that are simply untrue, in Colombia specifically, about the health reform, the stigmatisation of indigenous communities or the denialism of the False Positives, to name a few.
So, we get to hear how Laura and Jose Felipe work, put some rumours and untruths to bed and discuss what readers and consumers can do to make sure they’re consuming high quality media.
Sometimes, it's just fun to have an agreeable conversation, and this is why I enjoyed chatting to Vivek Jayaraman.
Vivek was born in Tamil, India and in the way life takes its unusual routes has ended up living in northern Bogota and with a love of mountains - he's from the plains - and a firm desire to know and understand the regions of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, Colombia.
In his words: "Thus was born Project Boyacá and Project Cundinamarca. The idea being that I visit all the 123 and 116 municipalities atleast once.
"People associate this part of the world with drugs, violence and the remote jungles. My attempt is to try and change this perception, taking into account that Colombia is my wife's home country.
"I got fascinanted by small towns having grown up in similar places back in India. It was equally impressive to see names of the towns that can trace their origins to the indigenous culture of Muisca that dominated this region - Guachetá, Guachetá, Machetá for example - Chetá refers to farmlands. The indigenous origin is not too appreciated here I also wanted to create awareness of these.
"My wife is from Guachetá, Cundinamarca which is believed the town of the Son of Sun - Goranchacha, which she did not know before I met her.
"Eventually I want to have a repository of these travels in a website with photographs, Instagram being an easy way. I have made 100 posts each year 2022 onwards. I was this close to create a calendar last year with photos from specific regions, then it was too expensive and too late. This being, the idea of India through the eyes of India."
In order to understand the issue of the cocaine trade in Colombia, we need to look at three factors:
1. Drugs Policy as a Geopolitical tool. 2. Markets: A Political Economic issue. 3. Narratives: the Myth of the Narco.
On the Colombia Calling podcast this week we speak to Estefanía Ciro Rodríguez, expert on drug politics, the cocaine economy and the Colombian armed conflict. We discuss la Escombrera in Medellin, Pablo Escobar, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Arms trafficking by the Sinaloa cartel and the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación to Colombia, genetically modified coca, cocaine seizures, the price of cocaine, and why Colombia as a nation needs to look in the mirror. Check out: https://alaorilladelrio.com
Brendan Corrigan has had multiple jobs in his time in Colombia (dating back to 2011), and his most constant has been that of a contributing writer of acerbic observations for the El Tiempo national newspaper, with an office job in marketing thrown in for good measure and some forays into the acting world by way of a telenovela (soap opera) appearance here and there.
However, there's been an ever present itch and it has been his desire to get out into the wilds of Colombia to see and experience some of the ground covered by "the forefather of human rights," Irishman Roger Casement.
Aside: Who was Roger Casement? Roger Casement was commissioned to undertake a report on the reported abuse of workers in the rubber industry in the Putumayo basin in Peru. The report was published as a parliamentary paper (1911) and had considerable impact, gaining Casement international recognition as a humanitarian, his contribution being acknowledged with a knighthood.
Anyhow, Brendan being an Irishman in Colombia has felt the strong urge to pursue some of the history surrounding his countryman and this led him to travel to La Chorrera in the department of Amazonas in Colombia where Casement had worked. We hear his tales from the road in Bogota, San José del Guaviare and la Chorrera.
As there are now a growing number of people considering moving to Colombia, and where better than the country's enticing Coffee Region, we decided to focus on this topic for this week.
Known for its natural beauty and landscapes, lush countryside, friendly and hard-working people...it's an easy sell. But what happens when you are ready to take the next step beyond internet research and start the actual process of moving your life to the cities of Manizales, Pereira or Armenia or a pueblito nearby? This is where Erin Donaldson comes in!
A long-time immigrant to the Eje Cafetero and now resident in Manizales, Erin knows the whole area like the back of her hand and can furnish anyone with all the information necessary:...taxes - no problem, healthcare - easy days, travel and transport - piece of cake. She'll help you make that transition from expat to immigrant.
Enjoy this engaging conversation and check out her website: https://coffeeaxistravel.com and there find links to all of her other social media platforms including her YouTube channel.
Have you heard of "destination duping," "rosy retrospection," "JOMO," or "trailblazer hotels?" Well, with Colombia of course in mind given that this is the Colombia Calling podcast, we leap into 2025 with an upbeat episode discussing travel trends for this year. We mull over each of the aforementioned phrases with Bruce Mclean, travel expert and owner of BNBColombia Tours.
Hear us talk about how Colombia may just return to being an "emerging tourism" destination again and stepping beyond this to establish itself as a global player...there's still a way to go, but it can happen and things are looking good for both 2025 and 2026.
Oh and "JOMO," means "Joy of Missing Out!" Can you travel this way? Check out: https://bnbcolombia.com
It's that time of year when we endeavour to discuss more hopeful and positive episodes and then an email hit my inbox from Rick DellaRatta and Jazz for Peace.
And thus the episode came into being.
Rick DellaRatta is a multi instrumentalist, pianist, composer and founder of Jazz for Peace and we discuss what can be done to try and use music as a common ground for good.
Rick shares the story of how Jazz For Peace began and what he is doing with it, We discuss Colombia, Brazil, India and then Rick plays some jazz on his keyboard live for us during the episode, can you guess the tracks (only available on YouTube: )?
We've never done this before, but heck, why not?! So, here is the first ever Colombia Calling Christmas Appeal in our 11 plus years of being on the air. Cartagena Paws and their supported Foundation of Tu Fiel Amigo in Cartagena have been on our radar for some time and a certainly deserving of some welcome help. We speak to
Maureen Cattieu about the work of Cartagena Paws and Tu Fiel Amigo.
Cartagena is home to nearly 400,000 street animals and the population is ever growing. As a way to help combat the overpopulation and contagious illnesses, Cartagena Paws has begun conducting large scale spay and release clinics, in addition to vaccine clinics in and around Cartagena. Spay and Neuter clinics serve two purposes: wide scale vaccination of both pets and strays and spay/neutering of stray animals. Maureen Cattieu founded Cartagena Paws in 2015, when she was living and teaching abroad in Cartagena, Colombia.
Maureen spent over 10 years in Colombia working to help save the animals on the streets while focusing her instruction in the classroom on teaching empathy and compassion for all animals and living things.
She currently lives and teaches in Key West, Florida, but continues to run Cartagena Paws, Inc. to the fullest of her abilities and saves countless lives throughout the years. She is dedicated to continuing out her lifelong mission to create positive change and awareness in the community and construct the first ever Educational-Based Animal Rescue Center in Cartagena, Colombia.
The journey of making Torah Tropical began in 2021, in the midst of Colombia’s historic civil unrest. Despair at the Duque government’s policies and botched implementation of the Peace Process boiled until erupting into the tumultuous National Strike of April 2021. The uprising was the defining moment for a generation of young Colombians, a time those of us in the streets remember as an expression of hope, of a shared dream for a just society where a young person can aspire to a fulfilling, violence-free life.
So, this week, we speak to Ezra Axelrod and David Restrepo about this new documentary and what making it meant to them and where it took them and the protagonists in terms of the great questions in life, religion, identity and place.
Description of the Documentary:
In a tropical paradise turned dystopian by the Drug War, a struggling Colombian family in the city of Cali, reinvent themselves as Orthodox Jews who believe God is calling them to the Promised Land. Over the course of year in which reality and religious parable collide, they risk everything in an attempt at making Aliyah to Israel, putting their faith and family to the ultimate test.
Torah Tropical tells the universal story of searching for identity and belonging in the face of adversity. Through Isska and Menajem’s struggle to give their daughters a better life, the consequences of economic, racial and religious exclusion are explored with poetic intimacy, inviting audiences to fall in love with a family that defies stereotypes and inspires us to find hope in the middle of the world’s cruelest intersections.
'Romantic, adventurous and thrilling ... remarkable' Telegraph
'Vivid, fast-paced and wonderfully ambitious … Patria teems with alternative stories of a continent’s life and peoples' New Internationalist
In late 1869, Richard Francis Burton stepped ashore in Southampton, fresh from a sightseeing tour of bone-strewn South American battlefields. The most lethal conflict ever fought on the continent was still stumbling to its gory conclusion. But if the celebrity adventurer expected to be mobbed with reporters, he was disappointed. Burton was ‘mortified’ to perceive how oblivious his fellow Britons were to ‘perhaps the most remarkable campaign fought during the present century’. Tales of Dr Francia – Paraguay’s dour, iron-willed dictator for almost thirty years – had once piqued the public’s curiosity. But the country had since ‘dropped clean out of vision. Many, indeed, were uncertain whether it formed part of North or of South America.’ He found ‘blankness of face’ whenever Paraguay was mentioned, ‘and a general confession of utter ignorance and hopeless lack of interest’.
Over 150 years later, the amnesia persists. If South America is a forgotten continent, Paraguay has fallen off the map altogether. Foreigners often confuse it with Uruguay, in many ways – a secular, liberal, World Cup-winner – Paraguay’s opposite. The world takes Paraguay’s drugs, beef, soybeans, migrant labourers, cleaners and midfielders, but has blanked out their distant source. In London, Madrid or New York, this might be understandable. But Paraguayans have long felt isolated and ignored even by their neighbours. In an aphorism so often repeated it has taken on the character of a curse, Augusto Roa Bastos – the country’s most famous novelist – described his nation as ‘an island surrounded by land’.
So, we discuss and end up philosophising about Latin America's place in the world, Lawrence's adventures across the region, Colombia, Paraguay and his new book, "Patria, Lost Countries of South America."
It has become a cultural phenomenon in Colombia, beginning first in Bogota before branching out to Medellin, Cali, Lima (Peru) and now Cartagena...everyone knows all about Gringo Tuesdays.
So, this week, coinciding with the launch of Gringo Tuesdays in Cartagena, we speak to co-founder Travis Crockett about how the business has grown, the differences in running events in each location, how they survived Covid and where they plan to expand to next...hint, two more overseas locations.
This is a good news story about some entrepreneurs that took a punt on an idea and it worked, becoming one of the most unmissable nights for language exchange and then latin-style partying in Colombia.
Tune in to hear about "bio pong," yes, you read that right, not "beer pong," but "bio pong," and other anecdotes from 13 years of running Gringo Tuesdays.
We wish them all the best on this next venture in Cartagena.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Grace Brennan.
After nine years away, Tim Buendia, has made it back to the town of Aracataca - birthplace of Gabriel Garcia Marquez - and it seems timely with a new series based on the author's opus: "One Hundred Years of Solitude" due to be aired on 11 December 2024 on Netflix.
Tim, an adopted son of Aracataca, is perhaps singlehandedly responsible for his tireless work in bringing international tourism to the birthplace of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian Nobel Prize winning author. And it was all falling into place with tours, a steady stream of visitors and significant press coverage...and then he left.
We discuss what this return to "Macondo" or Aracataca means to Tim, how he has been working diligently in the interim years to continue promoting Aracataca, about his poetry and a new art gallery he is inaugurating in the town. Check out the website: https://www.thegypsyresidence.com
Hello and welcome to another episode of Colombia Calling – I’m Emily Hart and this week we have something a little bit different – the radical linguistic technique which is building peace - personal and political - all over the world, and the inspiring woman bringing it to Colombia.
This week, I have with me Camila Reyes Azcuénaga – the founder of Resuena, the organisation bringing the school of thought known as ‘Nonviolent Communication’ (NVC) to Colombia, a way of structuring our thoughts and communications to prevent and heal conflict, breaching the divides of culture, politics, and identity.
Developed in the late 20th Century by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg, NVC now has trainers and centres in more than 60 countries around the world. This simple technique aims to humanise the ‘other’, and forge communication, collaboration, and trust – from our daily life, to our work, and well beyond.
Camila studied law and political science and worked with indigenous communities and landmines here in Colombia, but felt the country needed a more fundamental change than she could achieve with that work. She left Colombia in search of something which would shift the paradigm of violence and conflict entirely.
After stumbling across Nonviolent Communication training during Occupy Wall Street, she felt she’d found what she was looking for – she spent years training and finally returned to Colombia, founding Resuena in 2011, running free workshops for years.
Resuena has now trained thousands, from institutions like the United Nations, the Truth Commission, and the Search Unit for Missing Persons, to grassroots social leaders in conflict-stricken areas of Colombia’s South-west. The group helps people to navigate interpersonal relationships and conflicts, as well as maintain cohesion within movements and groups.
Through guided discussions, participants are trained to identify the patterns of behaviour that divide them and weaken their collective campaigns and processes, and then to replace them with a focus on acting from common ground. This year, Resuena also launched the ‘Sowers of Nonviolent Communication’ network – so that trainees can go into their own communities and pass on the training.
So today, Camila is going to give us a masterclass in these techniques and their underlying ideas, talking us through the four steps – observation, feeling, need, and request – along with some everyday examples. She’ll then tell us about her amazing work in some of Colombia’s most difficult contexts, and why this work is so necessary not just for the country – but for all of us.
On Episode 541 of the Colombia Calling podcast, and given the current COP16 in Cali, we revisit our conversation with special guest Ole Reidar Bergum - Counsellor for Climate and Forests/ Consejero de Clima y Bosque - Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bogotá, who joined us to speak in-depth and openly about the tragedy of the rampant deforestation taking place at the moment in Colombia.
We discuss the causes and results and what the Norwegian government, along with other collaborators, are trying to do to prevent an area the size of Bogotá being deforested each year.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. Be sure to check out her substack: https://substack.com/@ehart
Colombia stands out for its excellent healthcare and is rapidly becoming another destination for medical healthcare. Thinking of a tummy tuck, a hair implant, some dentistry or more? Take a look at the options, go through a reputable agency and take a holiday at the same time.
This week, we speak to Kirby Braddell of Medical Tourism Packages, to talk about what is offered in Colombia.
This week we get on the line to Naresh Dahal in Kathmandu to compare and contrast the tourism practices and politics in both Nepal and Colombia.
Naresh is local travel specialist in Nepal and can assist with customising and tailor-making a tour and holiday suiting your travel needs, so he’s a man in the know.
Whilst the countries may seem incredibly different from one another, we discover there to be some striking similarities as well.
Join us for a pleasant conversation from Bogota to Kathmandu.
"South London has a serious problem with knife crime."
This week we discuss how Henry May arrived in Colombia and ended up being a mover and shaker in the education world here. After a life-changing experience involving a tragedy relating to one of his students in South London, Henry questioned his life choices in education, leading him to consider other avenues.
Read on to find out more about Henry.
Henry May is a Social Entrepreneur from the UK currently living in Colombia where he currently serves as the CEO of Coschool, an education business focused on Social & Emotional learning in K-12 education. Henry has been recognised as a “rising star” of Colombian business by Dinero magazine and as “The teacher closing the inequality gap” by El Tiempo newspaper.
Coschool is a social enterprise in Colombia that designs and implements methodologies for developing social & emotional skills in youth & teachers in the post-conflict country Henry's Coschool seeks to generate an impact on people through its programs, strengthening socio-emotional skills, contributing to their well-being and empowering them as agents of change.
Coschool was selected by HundrED as one of the top 100 innovative global organizations that are transforming education through their proposals in 2020 and 2021. Located in Finland, HundrED seeks to spread ambitious and pedagogically sound innovations. In Latin America, only 8 projects were chosen, 2 of them from Colombia. Coschool was selected for being a pioneer and for its ability to create a scalable impact.
Petro's first two years as president have been marked by tension between him and various media sectors. He has repeatedly denigrated journalism critical of his government, labelling those responsible as “liars” and “scumbags” who are just trying to undermine his administration.
Petro’s attacks began after the Bogotá-based news magazine Cambio published an article by political reporter Maria Jimena Duzán on 23 June in which she raised questions about the possibly fraudulent manner in which the brother of the president’s chief of staff had obtained public contracts.
The president responded on his X account by branding Duzán’s reporting as “Mossad journalism” and suggesting that she was involved in a disinformation campaign designed to hurt his government. Duzán said she received threats after this post by the president.
Since the start of the year, Reporters Without Borders has registered two journalists killed in Colombia in connection with out their reporting. while FLIP (Colombian Foundation for Press Freedom) has registered 330 other press freedom violations, including 133 cases of threats, 43 verbal attacks and 11 physical attacks. Of these attacks, 81 were perpetrated by government officials and 69 by armed groups, which highlights the complexity of combating this growing phenomenon in Colombia, one of the most dangerous countries in Latin America for journalists.
In Colombia, the media confront opposing realities. In the nation’s capital there is virtually no censorship or threats against the media. However, Colombia’s regional media outlets face many pressures, according to the FLIP based in Bogotá. In the last four years, FLIP has documented an annual average of 200 threats against journalists, a number that has been increasing steadily.
Angela Alvarez is a natural-born storyteller, her latest venture of the podcast: "When Home is a Foreign Word" is testament to this. In fact, there's no way we can keep on topic - is there ever one? - and we enjoy a far-reaching conversation, a great deal of laughs about life and death in Colombia (the funny side), the origins of the word syphilis, identity and witchcraft.
Angela states, when we discuss what it means to be an immigrant, "humans are reliable narrators of their own existence," and then we plunge into a conversation which I count as one of my favourite in over 500 episodes broadcast on the Colombia Calling podcast.
As the United States prepares for its pivotal presidential election on November 5, 2024, we join our friends at Colombia Risk Analysis to discuss their new report: "The Future of U.S.-Colombia Partnership: Impact of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election" whichdelves into how the election results—whether a second term for former President Donald Trump or a first term for current Vice President Kamala Harris—will reshape U.S.-Colombia relations and influence Colombia's political and economic landscape.
We discuss the potential scenarios and outcomes with Sergio Guzman and Amelia Thoreson of Colombia Risk Analysis.
With a hypnotising mix of charming coastal cities, world-class cuisine, and lush landscapes hiding immense biodiversity have made the bicoastal country of Colombia one of the most sought-after destinations in the Americas. We speak to Simon Faulkner, Lecturer in International Tourism Management at University College Birmingham about regenerative tourism, how it differs to sustainable tourism and where Colombia fits into this.
Regenerative Travel is a relatively new term in travel circles that aims to go beyond sustainable travel practices. While sustainable travel focuses on minimising negative impacts and returning a net neutrality on the environment and local communities, Regenerative Travel aims to have a positive and transformative effect on those environments and communities.
Put simply, the core principle of Regenerative Travel urges travellers to have a positive impact by giving back more than they take from the destinations they visit.
The term was born during the Covid pandemic, when locations typically overtouristed began to see improvements in key indicators like air quality, and less pollution.
The question was soon posed - how can these improvements continue when travellers return? How can a destination benefit yet still incentivise the protection of natural and cultural assets AND still provide an enriching experience for the traveller?
Enter, Regenerative Travel.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. Please check out her Substack: https://harte.substack.com
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
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
I’m Emily Hart and today, I’ll be speaking to two experts and campaigners on Colombia’s San Agustín Statues – getting into what they might mean and why they matter, as well as how so many of them ended up not in Colombia, and how important it is to get them back here.
In San Agustín, Huila, hundreds of ancient megalithic statues have been found, the region’s largest collection of pre-Hispanic sculptures, dating back to the 9th century BC. Some are human-ish figures, but with fangs and wings, others are simian, some combination of animal and man - some are carved in situ, others onto single rock slabs 15 feet tall – the statues both invite and totally defy interpretation and theories about them abound, from burial rights, shamans, and psychedelic drugs to aliens.
These statues were made by the Sculptor People, the Pueblo Escultor, an enigmatic community we are still trying to decipher. Surprisingly little is known about the people who created the mounds in which most of the statues were found – what they represent is much-debated, as is their purpose – the community also disappeared, moved away, or simply stopped sculpting well before the Spanish arrived – there are competing explanations as to why.
Though there are hundreds of statues at archaeological sites around San Agustín, there are statues missing – in the 20th Century, European institutions and individuals removed statues from sites – many ended up in museums in cities like London and Berlin, others in private collections. But the movement to get this cultural patrimony back is gaining momentum – the current president has taken up the fight and hundreds of artefacts have been returned to Colombia over the last two years.
It’s a conversation which has been growing across the world – and the clamour from Colombia is being heard.
The Colombian government has now officially requested the return of a number of these statues held in Germany, a big step for the campaign group to achieve the return the statues to their place of origin.
There is, of course, also a San Agustin statue in the possession of the British Museum, which has not responded to attempts at communication.
So, today on the show I have David Dellenback and Martha Gil, who are key to this campaign and will be telling us about the academic and ethical issues around repatriation, as well as digging into the history and lore of the statues themselves.
David is originally from the US but has lived in San Agustín since the 1970s, author of the book ‘The Statues of the Pueblo Escultor’, along with the most complete set of diagrams and studies of the statuary, their measurements, locations, and features.
Martha Gil is a guide and cultural activist, as well as translator of David’s book into Spanish.
The two, who are married, have presented the study, as well as an illustrated campaign book about the repatriation of these spiritual and cultural artefacts at Bogota’s international bookfair, the FilBo.
We are going to be talking about the ancient mysteries of the Pueblo Escultor and their megalithic language – as well as about the modern history of plunder and theft – and whether these perplexing statues might one day soon, be coming home.
“Petro.” Watch the documentary by Sean Mattison and Trevor Martin following Gustavo Petro during his run for the presidency of Colombia in 2022.
"Petro" begins in September 2021 at the launch event of Gustavo Petro's campaign. The documentary makers enjoy unprecedented access to Colombia's most charismatic and polarizing politician, the film follows the highs and lows of the Colombian progressive movement and Petro's historic campaign for president through Election Day.
On the Colombia Calling podcast this week, we speak to Sean Mattison about the documentary, how it came to be, what Petro is like behind the scenes and with his family, why the president is so polarizing and accusations of propaganda.
From the author of El Narco, Ioan Grillo presents us with a searing investigation into the enormous black market for firearms, essential to cartels and gangs in the drug trade and contributing to the epidemic of mass shootings.
The gun control debate is revived with every mass shooting. But far more people die from gun deaths on the street corners of inner city America and across the border as Mexico’s powerful cartels battle to control the drug trade. Guns and drugs aren’t often connected in our heated discussions of gun control-but they should be.
In Ioan Grillo’s groundbreaking new work of investigative journalism, he shows us this connection by following the market for guns in the Americas and how it has made the continent the most murderous on earth.
On the Colombia Calling podcast, we discuss the arms trade, the drugs trade, the so-called war on drugs and how this all affects Colombia. Grillo is one of the foremost experts on these topics as he is based in Mexico and appears in the world's press reporting on said issues. Check out his website: https://www.ioangrillo.com
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. Sign up for her Substack: https://substack.com/@ehart
On the Colombia Calling podcast this week, we welcome back both Ervin Liz and Simon Winograd and discuss Native Root, their coffee-growing company based in rural Colombia.
Check out the page: www.nativerootcoffee.com
Colombia, the land of coffee...but which coffee should you choose? My advice - completely uncalled for and unwarranted - is to do a little bit of research and source a coffee where the money returns to the growers, with no middle-men and enables social change.
This is where Native Root comes in. I have had the pleasure of hosting both Ervin Liz and Simon Winograd of Native Root on the Colombia Calling podcast on various previous occasions. What I love about Native Root is that it is a family-run outfit, based in Tierradentro, Cauca and between 12 and 30 per cent of all proceeds return to the community.
This is an important detail, as Cauca is one of the most complex and conflicted departments in Colombia at the moment. There are warring criminal groups, splinter guerrilla groups, dissident groups and others, all vying for control of this strategic region for the transhipment and production of illicit drugs, people trafficking, arms trafficking, extortion and more. Who suffers, the regular people on the ground, the indigenous communities, the farmers, the smallholders and people just trying to make ends meet.
We discuss this and more as we enjoy an engaging conversation about the world of coffee, the coffee market and Colombian politics and conflict.
Check out: NATIVE ROOT
Online purchases can be made WITHIN COLOMBIA directly on their website, for orders overseas, contact them via Email or WhatsApp as they ship everywhere.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. https://substack.com/@ehart
On the Colombia Calling podcast this week we discuss Pablo Escobar's influence on Colombian football in the early 1990's with David Arrowamith, author of a new book:
"Narcoball: Love, Death and Football in Escobar's Colombia."
In a far-reaching conversation David and I discuss Pablo Escobar, his role in politics, the reality of Colombia in the 1990's, Colombian football in general and much more.
If you like the true crime genre and have a smattering of interest in football, then this one's for you!
Buy the book: https://a.co/d/0hZPJRF0
Support the podcast: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
Sign up to Emily Hart's Substack: https://substack.com/@ehart
Where is Matavén, you may well ask? So, this week on the Colombia Calling podcast, we discuss an award-winning community tourism project with people of the Piaroa indigenous community and the Colombian Project. Joining us on the podcast is Camilo Ortega, product manager of the Colombian Project.
The Matavén Jungle is the fourth largest Indigenous Reservation in Colombia, with an extension of 1,849,613 hectares and located in the north-eastern area of the department of Vichada, between the Vichada rivers to the north, Orinoco to the east, Guaviare to the south and the Chupave canal to the west.
Today it constitutes one of the last refuges of the transition forest between the Colombian Amazon and Orinoquía region. This territory has a great diversity of landscapes and different habitats such as floodplains, large stone hills of the Guyanese shield, or open savannah areas in the middle of its jungles. Its name is due to the Matavén river, which crosses this extensive region in a west-east direction.
Approximately 10,500 indigenous people live in the Matavén Jungle, distributed among the Sikuani, Piapoco, Piaroa, Pinave, Curripaco, and Cubeo tribes. This characteristic of multiculturalism that exists in the reservation makes this region a space of great importance for the conservation of the existing natural and cultural heritage.
We are incredibly fortunate to speak to Jenny Pearce, Research Professor at the Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC) at LSE about her current research which focuses particularly on the role of Elites and Violence in Latin America.
She worked with young researchers in Colombia, led by Juan David Velasco (Lecturer, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana), on elites and the Peace Accord.
Together they designed a database to better define and differentiate elites in Colombia and the families behind them. Learn about the power wielded by a few families and how their far-reaching influence defines Colombia's wealth and politics.
The research is funded by the Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz (CAPAZ). Read the original report here:
The aim of "Colombia at a Crossroads" is designed not only to focus on Colombia’s politics and history, but also to celebrate her culture and society and this is the reason it’s divided into several parts and includes contributed essays by experts in their fields.
This is not a guide book, nor a travelogue and nor is it a list of dry facts, but it has a heartbeat as the author has been located in Colombia for almost two decades.
Writing this has been a multi-year challenge and the hope is to create something which is more of a summary of Colombia, something with a pulse.
In keeping with the idea that this book has a “heartbeat”, there are chapters and essays contributed by: Adriaan Alsema, Nicolas Forsans, Andrei Gomez Suarez and Peter Watson amongst others. There are also collections including forgotten histories in Colombia, curiosities, further anecdotes and some articles which have been published in the mainstream press as well, all of which add to the colour and depth of the book.
The publication of this book has been delayed due to the election of Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president and "the Last South American Guerrilla", it makes sense to begin with an overview of his first year and a half in power 2022-2024.
A word of advice to the reader is warranted as well. It’s a herculean task to separate Colombia and Colombians from the conflict and this makes writing a book of this nature a dangerous venture. One must remember and be very aware that the violence has spread through every level of Colombian society and in every corner of the country is of course not without its consequences.
Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Colombia-Crossroads-Historical-Social-Biography/dp/B0D3681YKG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2KW73AWMCF36Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Oqkbz2vU-PEZFkC6yphpZFgV8BTm3Sodyi2IC9jJ-RnGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.y1QoKOQKQZfeQEUEaEyZFqi2ezVjLsdwkAk31RJVCKI&dib_tag=se&keywords=colombia+at+a+crossroads&qid=1718056872&sprefix=colombia+at+a+%2Caps%2C259&sr=8-1
This week on the Colombia Calling podcast we enjoy a frank and flowing conversation with author Linda Moore about her latest novel, "Five Days in Bogotá."
We talk about the book, her time in Bogotá and Colombia, what inspired the book and the charming anecdote of when she met the famed Colombian writer, Gabriel García Márquez.
Hear how Linda Moore, a "recovering gallery owner" came to write this novel and her thoughts on Colombia, Bogotá and literature.
https://lindamooreauthor.com/bio/
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart: https://substack.com/@ehart
and please support us at: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
On Episode 520 of the Colombia Calling podcast, we revisit episode 396 and once again get to discuss the disease of leishmaniasis in the context of the Colombian armed conflict and post conflict period with post doctoral fellow Lina Beatriz Pinto-Garcia.
Pinto Garcia's ethnographic monograph explores how the Colombian armed conflict and a vector-borne disease called cutaneous leishmaniasis are inextricably connected and mutually constitutive.
The stigmatization of the illness as “the guerrilla disease” or the "subversive disease," is reinforced by the state’s restriction on access to antileishmanial medicines, a measure that is commonly interpreted as a warfare strategy to affect insurgent groups.
Situated at the intersection between STS (Science and Technology Studies) and critical medical anthropology, her work draws on multi-sited field research conducted during the peace implementation period after the agreement reached by the Colombian government and FARC, the oldest and largest guerrilla organization in Latin America.
It engages not only with the stigmatization of leishmaniasis patients as guerrilla members and the exclusionary access to antileishmanial drugs but also with other closely related aspects that constitute the war-shaped experience of leishmaniasis in Colombia.
This work illuminates how leishmaniasis has been socially, discursively, and materially constructed as a disease of the war, and how the armed conflict is entangled with the realm of public health, medicine, and especially pharmaceutical drugs.
The problems associated with coca cultivation and leishmaniasis cannot be dissociated from cross-border events such as forced disappearance and the massive migration of Venezuelans who arrive in Colombia looking for survival alternatives, including coca production.
Tune in and hear about the Diseased Landscapes project. https://www.insis.ox.ac.uk/diseased-landscapes
Please consider supporting us www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
Venezuelans go to the polls to vote for a president on 28 July 2024, in what will not be free and fair elections, this much is certain.
Here on the Colombia Calling podcast, we understand the necessity and importance of informing our listeners further about what is taking place and is in the news from sister and neighbouring countries to Colombia, and Venezuela is no exception.
Ana Milagros Parra is renowned Venezuelan political scientist and also co-host of the excellent: "A Medias" podcast, a Spanish language broadcast discussing all things related to her home country.
Most importantly, Parra has remained in Venezuela to continue to educate and work towards a more just future.
But, having been described by Venezuelan strongman, Diasdado Cabello as: "more dangerous to Venezuela than a shooting in an elevator," she has to watch what she says.
However, luckily for us, she feels more empowered in English and tells us how things are currently in her country.
There is a movement towards freedom in Venezuela, the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez will unlikely win the elections, due to a likely dirty tricks campaign by the regime of Nicolas Maduro overseeing a criminal state, but this is the first time that the opposition has been organised, properly mobilised and leading the polls. This is largely due to the former candidacy of Maria Corina Machado, disqualified from running under spurious circumstances in 2023.
As Parra says in our interview: "modern dictatorships dress in the shirt of democracy," so we will see what happens in coming days and months.
Tune in for a fascinating conversation about Venezuelan politics.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart. Check out her Substack: https://substack.com/@ehart
On this week's episode we speak to Mario Pinzón in the studio and discuss his views on Colombia and Colombian politics from the perspective of a citizen living overseas in Canada.
We discuss why Pinzón left Colombia (under duress), what it meant to leave his country behind and how he came to understand the value of being Colombian.
This week your host, Richard McColl moves over to the role of interviewee as friend and fellow immigrant to Colombia, Eric Tabone switches up responsibilities and fires questions at your friendly Briton.
This is your chance to learn a little bit more about journalist, hotelier and writer Richard McColl. Tabone leaves no stone unturned as he delves into McColl's tall tales from the past, all of them true.
Tropical illnesses in Brazil, how he arrived in Colombia, scrapes in the Rio favela of Mangueira, writing experience, how did he become a hotelier, why and how did he come to start publishing books? It's all here and more.
Thank you to Eric Tabone for his time and line of questioning.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Emily Hart.
Feel free to support the Colombia Calling podcast www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
It has become clear that the kind of coverage we can now expect from the mainstream media regarding protests is one which serves to highlight protestors' violence, weaken support for the strike and delegitimise grassroots perspectives because, even when ordinary citizens are given a voice, they will unlikely openly criticise their government.
This is the "protest paradigm."
It is all too common to find an overwhelming number of quotes in a report or article from government officials and the like, and a lack of perspectives explaining the root cause of the protests.
So, this week, Richard McColl of Colombia Calling teams up with Adriaan Alsema of Colombia Reports in Medellin and Joshua Collins of Pirate Wire Services to discuss this phenomenon in the press and media world, citing concrete examples from the 2019 and 2021 Paro Nacional in Colombia and making comparisons with what is being seen during the protests at US universities such as Columbia in NY at this present moment.
Medellin and Colombia are hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons, due to sexual exploitation of children by foreign visitors.
In April, a US citizen was caught bringing two girls, ages 12 and 13, into the Hotel Gotham, in the exclusive sector of El Poblado in Medellin. There was all sorts of paraphernalia in this individual's room, to suggest his guilt but since he wasn't "caught in the act," he was held by the police for 12 hours and later fled the country.
The Hotel Gotham has since closed its doors for good.
So, on this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we talk to Tyler Schwab of the NGO, Libertas International, which is involved in care for the victims of these sexual predators. They have more than 100 people in their care and are on the front lines in the battle against this scourge.
We talk about the measures being taken in Medellin by the politicians, who are these people that come down to exploit children, how can this be stopped and more? Schwab has even been present at the raid on a pedophile's house in Medellin.
Tune in and check out: https://libertasinternational.org
On this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we sit down and chat with Gary Murray, a former hotelier in Colombia and compare notes on the business.
Murray's experiences, on the whole, have been incredibly negative, mine on the other hand have been positive and so we look at some of the socio cultural nuances to running a business in Colombia, hear some outrageous and horrendous stories which occurred in Murray's hotel in an exclusive part of Bogota and reflect on what may have been.
We cover stories and anecdotes on unfaithfulness in a relationship, petty theft in the business, dodgy dealings, money laundering and so much more.
The Colombia Briefing is reported by Mathew Di Salvo.
If you would like to support the podcast: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
"Get the most from your time in Colombia by adjusting your expectations with regard to what you probably take for granted: Punctuality [never], Predictability [rarely], Promiscuity [frequently], and Passion [always]."
And so it goes as we explore Colombia by way of Barry Max Wills' writing in his debut novel, a memoir entitled: "Better than Cocaine: Learning to Grow Coffee, and Live, in Colombia," published by Fuller Vigil.
Enjoy a far-reaching conversation with a master story-teller.
It's competition time too! Tune in and hear how you can win a copy of Barry's book.
Journalist Emily Hart sat with Frank Wynne, tracing his incredible career from the start of his linguistic journey (a breakup and a bookshop in Paris) to his award-winning translation of writers across Latin America and the francophone world – particularly his work on cult Colombian author and ‘Enemy Number 1 of Macondo’ - Andrés Caicedo and his novel “Liveforever!”.
Tune in for a literary episode exploring one of Colombia's least known and cult authors recounted in such an erudite fashion.
Support the Colombia Calling podcast: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
Imagine starting your first business venture from a huge wooden treehouse, nestled on a wild island off the coast of the Colombian Pacific.
Linsey Rankin left Australia to travel, arrived in Colombia in 2013. After working in tourism, education, and health, she set about creating a business model that would allow her to be creatively independent, establish a tribe and give back positively…Prana Pacifico was born.
In April 2017 Prana Pacifico offered its first yoga retreat, and since then, the operation has continued to grow and evolve. In this interview, Linsey shares with us her journey to becoming a yogipreneur and building a supportive community of like-minded people.
But, Rankin’s adventures are far from over.
Based on her time on Colombia’s pacific coast, she has published a recipe book entitled simply: “A Taste of Paradise.” And if this wasn’t enough, she’s moving to Chile, to the town of Pichilimeu, to open a restaurant.
This week, Emily Hart is setting out into the Wild West of cryptocurrencies here in Colombia and beyond.
Is cryptocurrency the future of finance in Latin America? Is it safe? Is it just another way for rich people to hide their wealth from the tax man? Or for criminals to launder income? Or could it be a way for people to take banking into their own hands, a way for all of us to take control from a global system of banking we have so little say in?
To explain all of that, we have on the show today Mat Di Salvo, Colombia-based correspondent covering crypto since 2019 for Decrypt, and two experts from Global Financial Integrity, a Washington DC-based think tank focused on illicit financial flows, corruption, and money laundering. Claudia Helms is the Director of the Latin America and Caribbean Program at GFI, having worked at the Organization of American States; And formerly at the UN, Claudia Marcela Hernández works as Policy Analyst for Central America in Global Financial Integrity.
By early 2020, the region had 15.8% of the total volume of bitcoins worldwide, and it has grown exponentially since then. Last year, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina were in the top 20 for global adoption – Colombia was 32nd in the world. Venezuela was 40th.
Looking at crypto in any country requires a close look at the context, unique in every case: this region is turning to digital and virtual currencies for many different reasons, using it to send remittances, invest, and save – especially important in countries that have unstable governments, high inflation, or low levels of trust in institutions.
Here in Latin America, levels of poverty and informal employment might create barriers to usage, while technological and educational gaps create unique challenges for users, especially when a new digital revolution of cryptocurrencies and virtual assets arrives without adequate regulation, government oversight, or consumer awareness – particularly around scams and security. This is why GFI started https://criptoabierto.com/ - a set of resources around crypto in Latin America designed for users and policy-makers alike.
Basically, regulation of cryptocurrencies in the region does not adequately match its current usage and adoption. Colombia has yet to adopt legal framework, despite a growing number of users, but there is movement around this issue and various institutions have released commentary on it, and President Gustavo Petro has expressed interest in encouraging crypto usage - and mining - in the country.
Thanks to the anonymous nature of this universe, it’s difficult to get accurate data on exactly who is using crypto and what for, and though it’s certainly not only criminals using these currencies and assets, they have high potential for money laundering and channelling illicit flows of money, from stolen funds and fraud to payments for illegal goods and funding of terrorist groups.
We’ll be talking about the opportunities and risks associated with cryptocurrencies, how their form and use are evolving, plus how (and why) cryptocurrencies can and should be regulated.
The Colombia Briefing is also reported by Emily Hart – to get it direct to your inbox or email, you can subscribe to the Colombia Briefing via her Substack substack.com/@ehart or subscribe to the podcast’s Patreon.
On this week's Colombia Calling podcast we speak to Sara Tufano, the author of "Colombia: unaherida que no cierra," (Planeta, 2023) and a former member of the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party. After surviving some periods in conflict in Colombia as a member of the FARC guerrillas, she now dedicates her life to academia.
Sara Tufano is a sociologist specializing in the Colombian conflict and the history of peace processes. She holds a B.A. in Human and Social Sciences from the University of Paris VII and a M.Sc. in Sociology from the University of São Paulo. She is currently an opinion columnist for the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
This week, Emily Hart speaks to Andrea González Duarte about Mi Barrio, Mi Sueño - the women’s empowerment project she founded in La Honda, a neighbourhood in the hills of Medellín.
Andrea was born here in Colombia, then was adopted and grew up in the Netherlands, moving back here with a degree in social work many years later. The project began with barrio boxing – boxing classes for girls and women in the neighbourhood. With a background in sports education, Andrea knows well how sports - and particularly boxing - can serve as a means of teaching self-defence, of connecting with one’s own body after trauma.
Through social and emotional skills training, the group nurtures a safe space for girls and women to freely express their thoughts and emotions – with participants of all ages, from small children up to grandmothers. Over the last four years, the project has expanded to educational and economic empowerment, with their own community centre, regular extracurricular lessons and an artisanal social enterprise run by single mothers, along with workshops about adolescence, gender, rights, and other skills like entrepreneurship.
The safe space of the community centre is just a physical manifestation of that idea – the afternoon classes provide somewhere for young people to spend the afternoon after school, and the social links and the skills they gain and share build resilience and self-esteem.
Emily and Andrea discuss the project, its evolution, and its philosophy, following Emily's visit to La Honda this week - she was really struck by the brilliant simplicity of what has been created, as well as the intricate social fabrics which these projects work to weave and strengthen within the community – we're really excited to share Andrea's ideas and experiences - especially with International Women's Day being this week.
To find out more about Mi Barrio, Mi Sueño, check out https://www.mibarrio-misueno.com/ and on instagram https://www.instagram.com/mibarrio.misueno/.
Your headlines reported this week by Grace Brennan.
Support the podcast www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
On this week's Colombia Calling podcast, Ohio native and now resident of Medellin, Zach Meese, joins us to discuss Nearshoring in his adopted homeland.
Now, I am pretty unfamiliar with Nearshoring, so Meese walks me through it and why the city of Medellin, Colombia is the ideal place for a business of this type.
Nearshoring is defined as a close relocation and refers to the practice of relocating business operations to a nearby country. And so, we ask why this happens and is it sustainable?
Certainly, for businesses in the USA, there's no significant time-zone difference, not too great a culture clash and in Colombia, there's a highly educated workforce...is the practice solely for economic purposes?
Tune in for this and the Colombia Briefing reported by Emily Hart.
Adventurer Daniel Eggington is back! After completing the crossing of the Darien jungle along the Pacific side from Colombia to Panama in 2022, Eggington has decided to return to Colombia to embark on a three-month expedition along the Rio Negro all the way to Manaus in Brazil.
The Rio Negro is over 1400 miles long with its widest point in Brazil at around 18 miles wide that is based around the Anavilhanas National Park. Eggington will face dangers from gold miners, illegal logging groups and perhaps come across unknown communities. Much of this expedition is uncharted territory.
Hear us discuss his planned trip, his fears and hopes and why he wants to do this. Foolhardy, very possibly...adventurous, almost certainly. Watch this space as we will be detailing Eggington's progress via GPS reports.
On this week's Colombia Calling podcast we hear about British photographer Natasha Johl's work in photographing the Arahuacas in Colombia's Sierra Nevada.
Descendents of the Tairona, an ancient South American civilization, indigenous group, the Arhuacos, reside in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The Arhuaco have developed an understanding of the earth which gives equal measure to the human mind and spirit and the forces of nature. The Sierra Nevada is a microcosm of earth: A seamless gradient of life that changes with each upward step.
Because of this unique feature, it is known as the ‘Heart of the World’ to the indigenous communities who inhabit the mountains and valleys. The Arhuaco say that when the world was created, they emerged from this very spot. They call it the Mother.
Johl uses the quiet and quotidian nuances in life to present an intimate picture. Looking at the smaller, seemingly insignificant or unnoticed things, makes us appreciate the complex and delicate moments of everyday life.
Tune in for a wonderful narrative from the foothills of Minca where Johl now lives and hear how she has succeeded in earning the confidence of the Arahuacas, to be able to spend significant time with them.
Check out her website: https://sanctuaryartstudios.com/
Paula Delgado-Kling takes us to her homeland, Colombia, where she finds answers to the country’s drug wars by examining the life of Leonor, a former child soldier in the FARC, a rural guerrilla group.
But, this story doesn't begin with Leonor, it commences during Delgado-Kling's childhood, when Colombia’s violence also touched her family and her brother was kidnapped and held in captivity for six months. It becomes intensely personal.
Our conversation spans decades of the author's life as she follows the life and hardships of Leonor, but also, becomes aware of her upbringing in the context of Colombia's conflict, what is means for her identity, her family and how she sees her home nation today.
Buy the book: Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood https://a.co/d/ikaDRuX
The Colombia News Brief is reported by Emily Hart.
This week on the Colombia Calling podcast, we discuss Colombian food and observe it through the philosophically tilted lens of expert Juliana Duque.
Halfway between the abstract and the tangible, Colombian cuisine is the taste and the colour of abundance. The fertile soils of the American continent shaped pre-Colombian food cultures. Changes over the centuries have shown the influence of the Andes, running the length of South America, the Pacific coast extending for thousands of kilometres, and the glorious Caribbean, universally loved for its sunshine and warmth.
We discuss elements of place and time in addition to the importance of food in its context as well as some of the consequences of colonialism on a culinary landscape.
Juliana Duque is a writer, editor, and critic of contents about food and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology from Cornell University with emphasis on Latin America. Duque has collaborated with platforms such as Netflix, Condé Nast, Eater, KCET, Life & Thyme, New Worlder and Fine Dining Lovers and is the author of the book "Sabor de Casa (Intermedio Editores, 2017)," which tells the stories and visions of fourteen Colombian chefs who have led the revitalization of Colombian cuisine in the last thirty years, and former editor of Cocina Semana Magazine.
Check her out at: https://newworlder.substack.com
And support us at: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
This week, we are exploring the underground and invisible networks of Colombia – along with some of its strangest and least-understood creatures: fungi.
We’ll be talking about zombie fungi, shamanic fungi and magic mushrooms, the Wood Wide Web, sunscreen spores, makeup fungi, and eco-warrior fungi – plus why this fascinating mega-science has been so neglected, and why it’s more urgent than ever that mycology gets the awareness, resources, and respect that it deserves.
Emily Hart interviews two of Colombia’s top scientists and leaders in their fields: mycologist Aida Vasco is Assistant professor at the School of Microbiology at the University of Antioquia and Co-Chair of the Colombian Association of Mycology; botanist Mauricio Diazgranados is Chief Science Officer and Dean of the International Plant Science Center at the New York Botanical Garden. Mauricio led the Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project, including the development of the Colfungi portal and the Catalogue of Fungi of Colombia, on which Aida also worked.
There are an estimated 300,000 species of fungi in Colombia, the huge majority of which are unstudied. In fact, fungi in general remains one of science’s great mysteries: it is known as a ‘neglected mega-science’. They change animal behaviour, connect the forests, feed humans and animals, and may even be a key weapon in the fight against climate change.
Battling this vast gap in knowledge is the Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project - an initiative led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in collaboration with the Humboldt Institute. The projects aim to increase, consolidate, and make accessible the knowledge of the country’s useful plants and fungi for the benefit of local communities.
Fungi have played a vital role in shaping the Earth’s biosphere, and have directly impacted human society and its cultural evolution for the past 300,000 years - used as food, for ritualistic purposes, or as medicinal products.
In Colombia, fungi - in the form of wild edible mushrooms - are primarily used as a nutritional source, having long played a role in the food security of indigenous people and local communities: representations are found in the iconography of several pre-Hispanic cultures throughout the country, showing knowledge and a close cultural relationship with fungi. Shamanic and spiritual uses are also common in the country.
Habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, overuse of pesticides and fungicides, and of course climate change affect fungi as well as fauna and flora, but fungi are not explicitly included in biodiversity legislation, biodiversity action plans, and conservation policies in Colombia. The Colombian government only recognises three components of biological diversity: Fauna, Flora, and microorganisms.
But there is cause for hope – we are only just starting to understand fungi but the field is gaining momentum, and experiments show their potential is even grander than we have imagined – they are not only a sustainable food source to fight hunger and the industrial food which accelerates climate change: mushrooms can also decompose waste – including nappies and cigarette butts, and can be used in ‘myco-fabrication’ - manufacture of e.g. architecture and furniture. They are incredibly adaptive, and provide ways for plants and animals to survive even in extreme and degraded environments.
This week, Emily Hart speaks to Cristina Fuentes La Roche, International Director of the Hay Festival, about arts curation and festival-making in the era of Artificial Intelligence and social media - and bringing one of the world's most successful literary festivals to Colombia for the last two decades.
The Hay Festival is known as 'the Woodstock of the Mind': Nobel Prizewinners and novelists, scientists and politicians, historians, environmentalists and musicians take part in the Festival’s global conversation, sharing the latest thinking in the arts and sciences with curious audiences. The festival kicks off in Colombia this month, with chapters this and next week in Medellín and Jericó, Antioquia, then in Cartagena at the end of the month. At this year's festival are Juan Manuel Santos, Wade Davis, Brigitte Baptiste, Rebecca Solnit, André Aciman, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Amalia Andrade, Margarita Rosa de Francisco, Humberto de la Calle, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Los Danieles and more!
Emily and Cristina chat all things Hay, Colombia, and the arts - delving into the importance of spontaneity, connection, and conversation - and how the upcoming global challenges we face will prove to be, above all, challenges of the imagination...
Tune in and support the podcast: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
Celebrate with us as we chat to Colombia's most famous dancer, Fernando Montaño.
Fernando Montaño was born in Buenaventura on the Pacific coast of Colombia and at the age of 14 won a scholarship to the National Ballet School of Cuba where he won several prizes at the International Ballet Contest in Havana, Cuba, and then joined the Cuban National Ballet. He also trained at La Scala and Teatro Nuovo di Torino, Italy where he was spotted by the Director of the English Ballet School and invited to the UK to audition, following which he joined the Royal Ballet in 2006 where he was mentored by Carlos Acosta.
We discuss his life as an artist - dancing, painting, designing - and his work supporting the charity, Children Change Colombia, the question of identity and being from Colombia's pacific coast.
Join us to hear and experience Fernando's unique energy, his reflections on life and opportunities and how he wishes to be remembered.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Support the Colombia Calling podcast: https://www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
On the final episode of 2023, the Colombia Calling podcast welcomes back Colombia Risk Analysis' director Sergio Guzmán and Daniel Poveda to discuss their latest report: "Understanding China's Tech Footprint in Colombia - Challenges and Opportunities," and also discuss 2023 in terms of Colombia's politics.
Hear Guzmán and Poveda discussing the strategic - or lack thereof - plans created by the Colombian government led by President Gustavo Petro, to court China but at the same time, not alienate their key partner...the United States.
We discuss Chinese tech investments and infrastructure investments, Colombia's relationship with Venezuela, where the government stands on the aggression towards Guyana and much more.
Check out Colombia Risk Analysis: www.colombiariskanalysis.com
Support the Colombia Calling podcast: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
Kidnapped by the FARC guerrillas whilst birding, Diego Calderon may just be Colombia's most famous birder.
This week on the Colombia Calling podcast, Calderon sits down with myself and journalist Natalia Malaver, to discuss how birding in Colombia can be a tool for reconciliation, his experience of being kidnapped, what the peace accord with the FARC means and all sorts of information about birdwatching in Colombia.
Tune in for this and the Colombia News brief reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Watch the NatGeo documentary of Calderon and his kidnapping experience here: https://youtu.be/ZF9rfNphh5I?si=7nAZMzJvYFtOJrLi
Tune in to the Birders Show: https://www.youtube.com/@TheBirdersShow and support us here: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
This week, Emily Hart takes you on a sonic tour of Colombia, with the Humboldt Institute’s Natural Sound Collection: not only are we going to be hearing about this amazing project, we are going to be listening to some of the more unusual and noteworthy sounds from the collection itself and exploring what they tell us about Colombia’s natural environments and those who inhabit them.
We’ll hear a giant otter’s bark, the snore of a fish, a frog cocktail party, and mosquito love songs, plus bizarre and beautiful birds – along with a few other Colombian nature noises.
We are joined by the collection’s curator, Hoover Pantoja – expert in bioacoustics, technological development, and innovation; and Curator of Birds, Gustavo Bravo - evolutionary ornithologist and expert in the systematics, ecology, and evolution of Neotropical birds. This soundbank – known as the Mauricio Álvarez Rebolledo Collection - is the second largest repository of natural sounds in Latin America, with more than 24,000 audio recordings - of 20 species of mammals, 1064 birds, 131 amphibians, 17 insects, and numerous ambient recordings of Colombia’s innumerable ecosystems.
It has been built sound by sound since the 1990s, providing a crucial resource on a vastly underrated dimension of Colombia’s biodiversity, and ecology more generally. We’ll be talking about its evolution, from one man in the wilds of Colombia wielding a tape recorder through to the high-tech solutions – including of course artificial intelligence – being applied to the collection and the discipline more widely today. This sound bank is open to everyone - we'll be sharing the links so you can explore it for yourselves too.
We are going to be journeying through the unseen universe of natural sound – sounds we often don’t or even can’t hear - talking about which animals have evolved to make and hear sounds - and why, and how sound can be used to understand evolution and measure the health of ecosystems.
In the next hour, we’ll travel across Colombia from the Amazon to the Eastern Plains and beyond – with an unplanned but somewhat inevitable detour through Central Medellin.
In this week's episode, I reflect on four recent visits to the town of Capurgana on the Caribbean coast of the department of Choco. Capurgana is one of the jump-off points for migrants to begin the infamous and dangerous trek through the Darien jungle to Panama en route to their final destination of the United States.
In this episode, I relate my attempt to gain access to the migrant camp in Capurgana, my brief meeting with some members of the Clan del Golfo crime syndicate, finding two migrants from Togo and observing the arrival of people from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, China and Somalia.
Tune in for this and the Colombia News Brief reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Support the Colombia Calling podcast: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
This week, Emily Hart gets the inside story on the #NarcoFiles - a new investigation into The Global Criminal Order, the largest investigative project of its kind to originate in Latin America. She speaks to OCCRP’s Latin America Editor Nathan Jaccard, who has led and coordinated this project - right from its earliest seeds in the 2022 hack to the incredible flourishing of reporting we’ve seen this week, and which continues to emerge.
Last year, a group of 'hacktivists' known as Guacamaya infiltrated the Microsoft Exchange server, enabling them to hack the system of the Colombian Attorney General's Office, the entity in charge of investigating and prosecuting crimes in Colombia. Five terabytes in size, the leak contains more than 7 million emails, including exchanges between the Fiscalia and numerous embassies, law enforcement groups, and others. The documents in the leak reveal unique details about the inner workings of international criminal gangs as well as law enforcement efforts to dismantle them.
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the Centro Latinoamericano de Investigación Periodística (CLIP), Vorágine, and Cerosetenta gained early access to the data, and then shared the leak with more than 40 other media outlets. Journalists from over 23 countries worked on the investigation.
Nathan will be giving us the who, what, and how of this story, as well as his insights into the new world of organised crime and cocaine trafficking revealed by this hack – from the changes in where cocaine is grown and produced to corruption of top officials in Suriname, as well as the narco-nexus between huge banana companies and Colombia’s political right wing, Israeli mafia in Colombia, links to the Odebrecht scandal and more – stories involving fruit, shark fins, and DEA Agents.
Emily will also be sharing with supporters and subscribers her top picks from the NarcoFiles reporting from a number of outlets, with translated versions - subscribe now to our Patreon to get access!
Emily Hart takes us (way) back in time this week, to a very different Colombia - one well before the arrival of human beings… but in the process of looking back, we’ll also be looking forwards - to what the future on this planet might look like.
We have with us some of the team behind "Hace Tiempo" - an incredible book on Colombia’s paleontological past: Colombia’s leading palaeontologist, Carlos Jaramillo, Paleo-botanist at EAFIT University, Camila Martínez, and science communications specialist at Parque Explorer Luz Helena Oviedo.
This illustrated book - now in its second edition - is a paleontological journey through the country’s past, and winner of an Alejandro Ángel prize, one of the most important awards for scientists in Colombia. More than 30 Colombian palaeontologists, working all over the world, contributed to the book, which is available free online – http://repository.humboldt.org.co/handle/20.500.11761/36213 – the physical version is for sale through the website of the Humboldt Institute, a key partner in its creation.
Colombia is enormously fossil-rich and with a huge variety of habitats past and present Understanding Colombia’s ancient flora and fauna is key to understanding the country’s incredible biodiversity today, which is the product of millions of years of evolution, but in the alarmingly short term, is threatened by climate change and the accelerating global extinction of species.
Uniquely, the project also gives readers in Colombia a paleontological resource which relates to the land around them. Rather than the well-known dinosaurs like T-Rex or triceratops, this book presents prehistoric animals peculiar to Colombia, like the 6-tonne giant sloth which lived here 50 million years ago, giant turtles the size of a cars, or the megalodon which roamed Colombia’s waters, the biggest shark to ever exist – bigger than a school bus.
The Titanoboa, meanwhile, was a vast snake weighing over a tonne, which roamed 60 million years ago in the then-tropical jungles of La Guajira, ancestor to the anaconda and the boa constrictor, its body was 13 metres long and – at a cross section - the size of a bicycle wheel. It is the largest snake ever to roam the earth. The Titanoboa was discovered by Carlos himself only a few years ago - after analysing tons of rocks extracted from the Cerrejón mines still active in La Guajira today.
The new and expanded edition of the book - just out - includes a new chapter on Perijasaurus Lapaz, a long-necked herbivorous Colombian dinosaur discovered in 2018 in the Serranía del Perijá. Its name pays homage both to where it was discovered and to the 2016 peace agreement with the FARC, hence lapaz - which allowed palaeontologists to explore that region for the first time in decades.
So today we'll be talking all about what Colombia looked like a very long time ago, what happened since, what fossil records can teach us about climate change, and whether humans are in fact, as Carlos will argue, the least successful species ever to live on Planet Earth.
On this episode of the Colombia Calling podcast, we get to talk to writer Paula Delgado Kling - after a long absence - about her book, which is now a reality and will be launched on 28 January 2024 (Tune in for further details).
"Leonor, the Story of a Lost Childhood," is a heart wrenching tale of a young girl who entered the FARC guerrillas in Colombia, becoming the "first girl" of the commander in her region of Putumayo.
Author Delgado Kling has had unrivalled access to Leonor over the space of some 20 years as she goes through the process of reintegration back into formal Colombian society after being captured by the military. Now a mother herself, Leonor has returned to her hometown of Mocoa and her life continues there.
However, this story is not just one of a young girl born into poverty, abuse and misery, it also runs parallel to Delgado Kling's family's experiences of having to leave Colombia due to the threat of kidnapping at the hands of the M19 guerrillas.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by Emily Hart.
Paula Delgado Kling´s website: http://pauladelgadokling.com
Colombia's leading astronomer, Dr Paola Pinilla, joins us to talk about planet formation, space technology, and diversity in the field of astronomy. We’ll be chatting about the knowledge and inspiration which arrives from outer space, how Paola's childhood in Bogotá led her across the world and into the depths of the universe, and the incredible elements we are all made of – Space Dust.
Paola's work focuses on how planets are born – the first steps of planet formation, growing from dust to entire planets – ranging from vast uninhabitable masses to planets just like the one you and I live on. As well as having won a fellowship from NASA, earlier this year Paola won one of the world’s most prestigious awards The New Horizons Prize - known as the Oscars of Science - for her ground-breaking work at the Mullard Space Lab at UCL University College London.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by Grace Brennan.
On this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we welcome back Sam Believ to discuss the growth and success of his Ayahuasca (Yage) retreat in the heart of the Colombian countryside.
Since we last spoke, about a year and a half ago, Sam's retreat has gone from success to success, growing and becoming one of the reference points for Ayahuasca ceremonies in Colombia.
Sam says: "We combine authentic and pure medicine, strong shamans from long lineage (Taitas), amazing environment (set and setting), caring integration with best prices.
"We don’t just give you medicine, but we provide solid integration that will allow you to turn your ayahuasca experience into long lasting positive change in your life!"
Check out their website at:
https://ayahuascaincolombia.com and their highly rated podcast:
It's time to start dispelling some myths about Colombia and celebrate the work of an author, embedded in the coffee region, and seizing the opportunity to immerse himself in life here with total gusto.
For years, Barry Max Wills has been honing his work of non-fiction, "Better than Cocaine: learning to grow coffee, and live, in Colombia," and we now have the finished product.
What is a charming observation and reflection of life "in the bush" as he puts it (he's Australian), is now available to buy and read as an e-book and will be out as a paperback and launched on 30 November 2023.
We discuss life in Colombia, being an immigrant and not an expat, writing and life in Colombia, our adopted homeland.
“You’ve bought what?’ ‘A plantation in Colombia.’ ‘Whatever for, darling? You’re not going to go off and live there, are you?’ ‘No. Well, not now, anyway.’ ‘And what are you going to grow? Cocaine?”
The book is by indie publisher Fuller Vigil: www.fullervigil.com and available right now on Amazon as a kindle ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CKH2SG48
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
On this week's episode, we discuss what it means to be a Bogotá City Councillor. Diego Laserna is a member of the Concejo de Bogotá for the Partido Alianza Verde and is up for re-election on 29 October.
Laserna tells us about the day to day work, issues of security and transport in Bogotá, about the mayoral candidates running for election (Galan, Oviedo, Bolivar, Lara, Robledo and Molano) and his thoughts on the outgoing Mayor, Claudia López and indeed of President Gustavo Petro.
What have been Laserna's successes over the past four years? What does he hope to do in the next four years?
Tune in to hear about A Day in the Life of a Bogotá City Councillor.
Check out Diego Laserna on social media @lasernabogota.
And tune in for the Colombia News Brief reported by journalist Emily Hart.
And so, along with a new government, comes a new country brand for Colombia and this time it's: Colombia, the Country of Beauty or in Spanish: Colombia, El País de la Belleza.
Bruce McLean of BNBColombia Tours joins us this week to discuss this new advertising campaign for Colombia and to share with us how the travel and tourism industry is progressing from his perspective as an industry expert with his agency.
We discuss new travel destinations in Colombia, old favourites such as Cartagena, how travel and the tourism industry in Colombia is improving and enjoy a relaxed conversation to plug and promote Colombia as your next destination and what it means to be a travel agency that is carbon zero.
Check out: www.bnbcolombia.com
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
and of course, the new Colombia country campaign video: https://www.colombia.co/en/
This week, Tyler Schwab, director and founder of Libertas International, joins us to discuss the ongoing and nefarious practice of child exploitation in Colombia.
With investigations in all major Colombian cities, but focused principally in Medellín, Libertas International works hand in hand with local authorities to pursue foreign visitors coming to Colombia seeking to exploit the most vulnerable - the children.
The organization employs social workers and psychologists to aid with after-care and security and ensures that the full force of the law comes down on the offenders.
So, this is an opportunity to dispel some of the myths surrounding the recent film: The Sound of Freedom, starring Hollywood big-hitters such as actors Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino.
Libertas International is a non-profit corporation and operates exclusively for educational and charitable purposes. Their purpose is to help prevent child trafficking through education, rescue children through intervention, and rehabilitate survivors of human trafficking in Latin America through empowerment and aftercare.
Colombians go to the urns once again in national elections on 29 October 2023 and so, what better occasion to invite friend to the Colombia Calling podcast, Sergio Guzman, Director of Colombia Risk Analysis to explain some of the key issues and trends taking place.
We try and keep this conversation somewhat jovial since the outlook is pretty bleak!
There are four main talking points:
1. The 2023 local elections will become a referendum on President Gustavo Petro. 2. Lack of voter intention polls will likely affect voter preferences. 3. The erosion of the political party system is likely to continue. 4. Political Violence is likely to increase as Colombia gets closer to election day.
We discuss journalist Laura Ardila Arrieta's latest book: "La Costa Nostra," a deep dive into corruption overseen by the Char political clan from their seat of power in Barranquilla and take a look at other issues affecting the political landscape in Colombia.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Tune in and also check out: https://www.colombiariskanalysis.com/home-eng
The migration of a mennonite colony to Colombia's eastern plains is a little-known story worthy of greater coverage due to the environmental and social impacts this has had on the region and the traditional communities found here.
And yet, hardly anyone has heard about it.
On this episode of the Colombia Calling podcast (available wherever you get your podcasts), Oscar Parra from Rutas del Conflicto - a website dedicated to bringing you stories about the Colombian conflict not covered in the mainstream press - and journalist Natalia Malaver join me to discuss this topic.
Hear about the history of the Mennonites in Colombia, their use of a portion of land here, what they are producing and why the Colombian authorities look the other way as deforestation takes place in the name of progress.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Check out: www.rutasdelconflicto.com and https://www.instagram.com/greenlybachue/
This week on Colombia Calling, Emily Hart is joined by María Fitzgerald – brilliant human rights journalist, writer, and Gender Editor at outlet Cambio.
Her new book, Los Nombres que Olvidamos (The Names We Forgot), collects chronically under-told and even hidden stories of Colombia’s everyday and normalised violence. It also serves as a statement against depersonalised writing, against the myopic focus of the mainstream news agenda, and as a call for better, more personal, and more humanising ways to narrate the country’s conflict (and indeed conflicts) and to foreground women’s bravery and action in the face of it.
We’ll be talking about women in conflict, social justice, and journalism via armed groups, the paro national, illegal mining, and more - as well as the female journalists who inspire us, from Svetlana Alexievich to Joan Didion.
Ricardo Cubides is the regional coordinator for the Colombian Caribbean region for the NGO CODHES - La Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento and it is an incredible honour to talk with him and tap into his knowledge of the sociopolitical issues here.
On this Episode of the Colombia Calling podcast - permitted only due to the fact that the conversation is in English - we deal with incredibly sensitive information about the chronology of armed groups in the region of the Canal del Dique, the structural racism and the on-going conflict in the region.
The Canal del Dique is a feat of engineering, built by slaves from Africa, commanded by the Spanish empire, running for 115km in length and connecting the lakes and waterways of the Magdalena river basin with the city and port of Cartagena.
Latterly, the area has been controlled by the EPL guerrillas, then the ELN and then the FARC before coming under the control of the AUC paramilitaries and now the AGC or Clan del Golfo.
We discuss the situation now and in particular alongside the ambitious Paz Total or Total Peace project promoted by the current government of President Gustavo Petro.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Colombian distance record holder and paragliding guide, Sebastian Ospina works as a professional tandem pilot in Europe but perhaps is better known for his incredible achievements in paragliding competitions. It's a great honour for us to speak to him here on the Colombia Calling podcast.
We talk to Sebastian about his life as a paragliding expert living in Interlaken in Switzerland, how he became enamoured with the sport and some of the intricacies involved in competitive paragliding...how to stay alive!
Unable to fly for Colombia (explained in the conversation), Ospina was snapped up by team GB and with them won the Gold at the 2021 World Championship.
How much do you know about competitive paragliding? Did you know that there are four categories?
Precision Paragliding Landing Acrobatic Paragliding Cross Country Hike & Fly
Check out some of Sebastian Ospina's titles, awards and more...
First pilot to fly over 200k straight line in Colombia 5x Winner of the Rolda Open (2013, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2013) Winner of the British Winter Open 2019 3rd overall place XContest 2019 and 2020 Winner of the North American Paragliding Nationals 2022, Valle de Bravo Team Gold at the World Championship 2021 6th at the World Championship 2021 Winner of the Eiger Tour challenge category 2022 6th World Cup Superfinal 2022
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
Reading an extract from his forthcoming work of non-fiction: The Mompós Project, A Tale of Love and Hotels in Colombia, journalist Richard McColl discusses the issue of witchcraft in this corner of rural Colombia.
Having set up a successful business in the town of Mompós - a town that inspired much of the writing of Gabriel García Márquez - he incurred the wrath and envy of a handful of townspeople.
The book with be available in all the usual places from November 2024 but stay informed at www.fullervigil.com
Richard McColl has worked as a journalist in Colombia since 2007 and is the host of the Colombia Calling podcast and the LatinNews Podcast.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
Hallo and welcome to another episode of Colombia Calling – I’m Emily Hart and this week I’ll be talking to the team at Power Leaves – who are unleashing the health and nutritional properties of the coca leaf by creating de-cocainised extracts and essences – and exporting them from Colombia across the globe - working with the country’s Nasa indigenous community.
Today on the show we have Ahmed Shehata, Co-Founder & President of Power Leaves and Carolina Mejia, VP of Regulatory Affairs for the company in Colombia – we’re going to be talking all things coca leaf – its properties and uses, how the company is navigating the regulatory frameworks to get coca extracts into markets across the world – and how Power Leaves are challenging the monopoly of the giant household name who import coca leaves to the USA and sell their drinks in more than 200 countries. I’m talking, of course about Coca Cola.
This week’s headlines reported by journalist Grace Brennan.
It was remarkably good fortune that famed writer Sara Wheeler came through Mompós in Colombia when I was there overseeing our hotels. Over coffee and conversations we discussed Colombia, the politics and her travel writing.
And so, I was very honoured that she agreed to come on the Colombia Calling podcast to discuss future projects, past projects and much more.
Wheeler's latest book, Glowing Still: A Woman's Life on the Road, is her most personal to date, reflecting on her own experience and the changing world of travel.
"How are we supposed to live? The best writers all know that there aren't any answers, there are only questions."
Tune in here and wherever you get your podcasts for this and the Colombia News Brief reported by journalist Emily Hart.
No strangers to the Colombia Calling podcast having featured here on more than a few occasions, this week we chat to Dave Proctor of La Leyenda MTB race and hear about their expansion into the Caribbean, Series races and the multi-stage race in Colombia.
It's a good news story from Colombia, highlighting what is possible, with an idea, an aim, a dream and then following through with the hard work.
Let's celebrate La Leyenda and what this mountain bike race has done and is doing to promote the best of Colombia.
https://la-leyenda.com/en/
La Leyenda Colombia
La Leyenda, South America's most prestigious mountain bike stage race, where adventurous professional and amateur cyclists from around the world race side by side in the majestic Andean mountains of Colombia. As formidable as it is breathtaking, the Leyenda route showcases the best of this cycling crazy country
La Leyenda del Caribe
La Leyenda del Caribe is the Caribbeans's premier MTB stage race! Adventurous amateur cyclists from all over the world race side by side along the stunning, palm tree lined beaches, lush forests and river valleys in the Punta Cana region of the Dominican Republic.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by Emily Hart.
Please support us at www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
For more than five decades, the people of Colombia have suffered the consequences of warfare between illegal armed groups. Landmines were laid throughout rural areas, devastating local towns and villages. Nearly 12,000 people have been killed or injured by mines or UXO since 1990—that’s a casualty rate second only to Afghanistan.
This week, we speak to Oliver Ford, programme manager for the HALO trust in Colombia about the new challenges to humanitarian demining in the evolving conflict in the region.
HALO has been clearing landmines in Colombia since 2013, making land safe across Antioquia, Boyacá, Casanare, Cauca, Meta, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo, Tolima and Valle del Cauca. We’ve removed landmines from coffee plantations, farms, veredas (villages) and indigenous reserves.
The Colombia News Brief is reported by Emily Hart.
Colombia is coffee, but Colombia is also cacao and on this week's Colombia Calling podcast, we talk to Paola Forero Acosta of Moxe, a start-up and specialist company aimed at providing only the best quality chocolate for discerning customers.
Paola Forero Acosta, along with her business partner, Juan Carlos Garavito, came up with the idea of Moxe in order to promote Colombia in a postive light and create a product that is both socially and environmentally sustainable.
And, Moxe was born: www.moxefoods.com
What is Bean to Bar chocolate?
The term bean to bar chocolate started as a way for small chocolate makers to distinguish their chocolate from both chocolatiers, and also mass produced chocolate.
Bean to bar chocolate makers control where they source each ingredient, in this case from Caquetá, Huila and the Sierra Nevada, often making single origin chocolates to show off the complexity of each cacao.
The movement of bean to bar chocolate is important momentum because consumers can also taste this difference. While industrial chocolate tastes flat and lacks provenance, bean to bar chocolate contains a multitude of flavours and stories.
Buy the product, share the webpage and help ensure that Moxe is a success!
Drawing on nearly a decade of extensive ethnographic and participatory research, Angela Jill Lederach advances a theory of "slow peace," from investigations in Colombia's Montes de Maria region.
On this episode we discuss peace, peacebuilding and her new book and the concept of "slow peace."
"Feel the Grass Grow," traces the far less visible aspects of moving from war to peace: the decades of campesino struggle to defend life, land, and territory prior to the national accord, as well as campesino social leaders' engagement with the challenges of the state's post-accord reconstruction efforts. In the words of the campesino organizers, "peace is not signed, peace is built."
Tune in for this and the Colombia News Brief from journalist Emily Hart.
Please support us: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
The astonishing tale of four Huitoto children who survived a plane crash in which their mother and three other people died and their story of survival for 40 days in the impenetrable Colombian jungle has made the headlines the world over.
And rightly so, this reads like a film script.
Here, we tell this story on the Colombia Calling podcast, however, with a twist as we hear from a member of an indigenous community in Colombia to understand his read on events from a different perspective.
We listen to how indigenous communities consider the jungle and her spirits and how these kept the four Mucutuy children (aged 13, 9, 4 and 1) alive for forty days.
What is the importance of this humanitarian operation done in cooperation between the Colombian military and the indigenous community, the first of its kind, and what this means?
Our special guest, Ervin Liz of the Nasa community in Cauca also sells phenomenal coffee, please take a look: https://nativerootcoffee.com/
And feel free to support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/colombiacalling
This episode, coming fast on the heels of a reflection-filled, "10 Year Anniversary" episode of the Colombia Calling podcast, is another profound look at life in Colombia for two long-term immigrants to the country.
In, "A love letter to Colombia," Brian Murphy O'Neill (La Leyenda Moutainbike race, The Colombia Project) and Richard McColl (Colombia Calling, the LatinNews podcast, Casa Amarilla Mompós) talk about all things Colombia-related and discuss the love and respect we both have for our adopted home country.
There is banter, there is honesty, but what it comes down to is that this is an ode to Colombia and her labyrinthine complexities.
And of course, the Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
The Colombia Calling podcast has reached its 10 year mark 2013-2023, and it's time to celebrate. So, with that in mind, journalist Emily Hart, takes over and interviews host Richard McColl.
There is banter, there are questions from listeners and there's wine too! Emily expertly guides the conversation through the highs and lows of the podcast during these first ten years, memorable and not so memorable episodes, lessons learned and the evolution of Colombia Calling.
Thank you to everyone for your support and for listening, it has been a great experience and as I say in this recording: "we'll keep coming back if you keep coming back."
Mesa Franca needs no introduction to people in Bogotá, but for those considering visiting the Colombia capital, this restaurant, founded by María Paula Amador, Tom Hydzik and Iván Cadena, has gone from strength to strength as one of the pioneers in new Colombian cuisine since its founding in 2016.
Previously, in Bogotá, one would dine out on traditional Colombian fare, delicious in its own right, but a new set of upstarts came to the fore and Mesa Franca is amongst those to lead the charge.
We get to sit down in the restaurant with María and hear about her restaurant story, the challenges, hopes and future plans.
Check out: https://www.restaurantemesafranca.com
The Colombia News Brief is reported by journalist Emily Hart.
