Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

You asked, we listened and delivered! Ep274 of the Colombia Calling podcast deals with cycling in Bogotá with none other than one of the original city cyclists, El Mono Nuñez. So, in an enjoyable and flowing conversation, we sit down with el Mono and discuss his book, ‘Mi cicla y yo’, and reflect with a certain nostalgia, a time past in Bogotá

Oliver Kaplan is an Assistant Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He is the author of the book, “Resisting War: How Communities Protect Themselves” (Cambridge University Press), which examines how civilian communities organize to protect themselves from wartime violence.

Mark Litwicki has lived a colourful and varied life and has been a journalist, an academic, an actor and indeed, an author. One constant in his life appears to be his love for Colombia. So, it is a great pleasure to have this Chicago-native on the Colombia Calling podcast this week

The HALO Trust was founded in 1988 in response to the global humanitarian catastrophe caused by landmines. The problem was particularly acute in Afghanistan where thousands of civilians were being killed or injured by landmines and their presence was preventing the return of tens of thousands of refugees. So, it is a great honour to have the Director of the Halo Trust in Colombia, Ash Boddy, on Colombia Calling to speak about their work here

Daniela Galan is a Colombian artist and art historian from Goldsmiths University. She is also a former lawyer and philosopher of Los Andes University, with a five-year background in education and corporate training

On Ep269 of the Colombia Calling podcast, we have the great pleasure of sitting down with Alma to discuss how her business has prospered in Colombia - traditionally a conservative country in this respect - what it is she actually does and plenty of anecdotes along the way

Dr Matthew Brown - our guest on Ep 268 of the Colombia Calling podcast - considers the social and cultural aspects of the presence of these `foreigners', and shows how they were an essential part of the revolution which eventually gave South America its freedom. Adventuring Through Spanish Colonies clearly shows the active role that these mercenaries, informal outriders of the British Empire, played in the creation of Latin America as we know it today

So we talk on this Ep267 of the Colombia Calling podcast to Ervin Liz, a member of the indigenous Nasa people and who hails from Cauca and who can provide us with a far more complete picture of what is going on. You'll remember Ervin Liz from Ep201 in 2017 when we discussed his fair trade, organic coffee company, "The Colombian Coffee Connection."

Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt was the world’s most famous hostage and in a massive surge of good luck, the Director of, "2320 Days in the Jungle," a documentary about Ingrid Betancourt made by award-winning director Angus Macqueen is in Mompós at the same time as Colombia Calling and tells us a little bit about the making of the film

Yana Shevkirova came to my attention a few months ago after having written a compelling article about Bogotá on her website, www.rebelaffairs.com, entitled: "A City that Vacillates." So, it is with great pleasure that this Londoner with roots in Bulgaria and beyond and with a background in, Peace and Conflict Studies and Intelligence and International Security should join us on the Colombia Calling podcast to discuss themes of great interest and importance affecting all of us here today