“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 i ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 Co ..read more

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 id ..read more

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.p ..read more

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 antileish ..read more

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, Parr ..read more