Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

This is a very special episode since we have the opportunity to speak once again with our "anonymous" interviewee from Ep 251 (What is happening to the FARC guerrillas in Colombia right now?), who revisits us and shares the most recent findings from the next part of her research. The demobilization, reincorporation and reintegration of the AUC paramilitaries in Colombia

Tune in to an elightening episode surrounding the history of one of Colombia's lesser known military heroes, and enjoy our new format news update from Adriaan Alsema of Colombia Reports

This is a timely episode with the ANATO tourism fair in Bogotá this week and we discuss how Colombia and the Coffee region in general can branch out and appeal to a wider audience.  Of course, in addition to our informed and entertaining conversation with Erin, as is now the format, the Colombia Calling podcast will be introduced with a news segment provided by Adriaan Alsema, director of Colombia Reports

On Ep261 we discuss Alex Fattal's (Penn State) new book, "Guerrilla Marketing: Counterinsurgency and Capitalism in Colombia.'"Reading less like an academic book and more like an in-depth ethnographic study of an advertising company and its role in branding and marketing a conflict. In this circumstance the conflict is in Colombia and this activity, led by the company from its lofty offices in Bogotá, has been labelled as "Militainment," and I cannot think of a better word to describe their work

Andrew Wright is one of the long-term transplants from the UK to Colombia. Brought here originally by the banking world and after time spent there, he know oversees - in addition to his day job - the Fundación Buen Punto. With projects in Mosquera, close to Bogotá, Nuqui in Choco on the Pacific coast and beyond, hear about the inspiring work being done to bring sports and values to children in need of options and how to channel it all through sports

The potential for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin in Latin America is huge according to Ep259's guest, Matt Aaron. I for one am a complete newbie to this new form of finance and so, we go through the basics with Aaron and talk about the challenges facing Bitcoin and other coins in South America, but also their very real benefits

In Episode 258 of the Colombia Calling podcast, we sit down with scot Sarah Jack, currently working in the Universidad Pedagogica, to talk about the university, the protests and what the students want from the Duque government. Hear Sarah's accounts of the university she loves and the students there. Recounting what she knows about tear gas and what to do when you hear the sound of the first "potato bomb," Sarah gives us a balanced and compelling look into the Pedagogica.

On Ep257 we have the opportunity to talk with Adriaan Alsema the director of Colombia Reports (www.colombiareports.com) the largest English news website in Colombia and discuss the reality of the political landscape here for 2019

It is a great honour and pleasure to host Colombia-expert Michael Evans, Director of the Colombia Project at the National Security Archives in Washington DC (https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/) and to listen him talk about the importance of a robust and focused Truth Commission in Colombia

In his book, Makers of Democracy A. Ricardo López-Pedreros traces the ways in which a thriving middle class was understood to be a foundational marker of democracy in Colombia during the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on a wide array of sources, López-Pedreros shows how the Colombian middle class created a model of democracy based on free market ideologies, private property rights, material inequality, and an emphasis on a masculine work culture

Shenandoah Cornish has moved her life to Minca in Colombia's Sierra Nevada and is working to create a Centro de Memoria de la Sierra so that people from Minca can recognize and value their past. Offering guided tours of a museum in the Casa Balaguera in Minca, Shenandoah and her team can provide you with a background to the indigenous importance of the region, the roles that the paramilitary groups and guerrillas have played and even has a tale about a Nazi settler to the region post WWII.

As everyone is doing it, and so have we, and here on Episode 253 of the Colombia Calling podcast we sit down in Bogotá with Sergio Guzman, Director of the political risk consultancy, Colombia Risk Analysis (https://www.colombiariskanalysis.com/home-eng) to talk about President Ivan Duque's first 100 days in power. 

For Episode 252 of the Colombia Calling podcast we were honoured to be invited to the offices of the editorial Semana in Bogotá to talk to Paola Forero, the Director of Operations for the publication "Semana Rural." We discussed the challenges facing various regions of Colombia in terms of tourism and infrastructure and how Semana is teaming up to help non-traditional areas in getting on the tourism ladder.

On Episode 251 of the Colombia Calling podcast we are able to chat to an academic from North America who has been exploring the dimensions of "demobilization" of guerrilla outfits such as the FARC and ELN in Colombia. On the condition of anonymity, we discuss some fascinating issues which are taking place in the reincorporation process of the FARC.

This week on our landmark Ep250 of the Colombia Calling podcast, we are on the line to Medellin with Australian journalist Andrew Wight