562: "Exploring the Toxic Record of Colombia's Oil Giant." The BBC speaks to the Colombia Calling podcast.
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
Release Date: 04/08/2025
579: Looking Ahead to Colombia's Presidential Elections
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
In this episode of the Colombia Calling podcast, host Richard McColl discusses the upcoming elections in Colombia with Sergio Guzmán and Isy Hawes from Colombia Risk Analysis. They delve into the political landscape, the challenges of analyzing the elections, the key candidates, and the impact of security concerns. The conversation also touches on the role of the United States in Colombian politics, the importance of coalition building, and the potential legacy of President Petro. The discussion highlights the fragmentation and polarization within...
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578: Translating Mafalda
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
This week, Emily Hart speaks to multi-award-winning translator Frank Wynne about Latin America’s most beloved cartoon - Mafalda - and how he brought her to life in English. Dubbed ‘a hero of our time’ by Italian philosopher Umberto Eco and ‘Charlie Brown with Socialism’ by the New York Times, Mafalda is a precocious six-year-old girl living in 1960s Argentina - full of questions and observations about the world and the adults who surround her. She loves democracy; she hates soup and yoyos. Though often lighthearted and sprinkled with slapstick and wordplay, her...
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577: Small Earthquakes and what we never learnt in school about South America
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
Blending travel writing, history and reportage, our guest on this week's Colombia Calling podcast is award-winning journalist and author Shafik Meghji who tells a tale of footballers and pirates, nitrate kings and wool barons, polar explorers and cowboys, missionaries and radical MPs. From a ghost town in one of the world's driest deserts to a far-flung ranch in the sub-polar tundra; rusting whaling stations in the South Atlantic to an isolated railway built by convicts. '[An] appealing fusion of travelogue and history, excavating the roots and remnants of British influence in Argentina, Chile...
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576: The Myth Of The Narco
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
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,...
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575: The Rise of the Tren de Aragua: A Deep Dive
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
This conversation on the Colombia Calling podcast delves into the complexities of the Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organization that has evolved significantly over the years. Chris Dalby, an expert on organized crime, discusses the origins of the gang, its relationship with the Venezuelan government, and how it has adapted to the migration crisis. The conversation also addresses misconceptions about Tren de Aragua in the U.S., particularly regarding its alleged connections to terrorism and its impact on Venezuelan migrants. Dalby emphasizes the need for a nuanced understanding of the...
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574: Andrei Gómez Suárez discusses peace dialogues and writing as he reflects on the Colombian conflict
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
In this episode of the Colombia Calling podcast, host Richard McColl speaks with Andres Gomez Suarez about his new book 'We Are Not Made of Sugar', which reflects on his childhood experiences during the violence in Colombia, particularly the genocide of the Patriotic Union. They discuss the importance of memory work, reconciliation, and the ongoing peace processes in Colombia, including negotiations with the Comuneros del Sur. The conversation delves into the personal and collective impacts of violence, the role of peace building, and the challenges faced in creating a sustainable peace...
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573: Richard McColl reads from his book: "The Mompos Project: A Story of Love, Hotels and Madness in Colombia."
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
When British foreign correspondent Richard McColl purchased, on a whim, a ruined colonial building in the rural Colombian town of Mompós, he imagined a lifestyle of relaxation, with idle afternoons reading the works of Gabriel García Márquez, writing glib observations and enjoying the hypnotic momentum of a Caribbean tropical narrative, swaying in a hammock and the promise of an ice cold beer never far away. He was mistaken. His first restoration yields a hostel, which later becomes a hotel and then spirals into further projects including the restoration of three more colonial houses,...
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572: Álvaro Uribe: The Early Years and Rise to Power, 1952-1994
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
Few figures in Latin American politics polarize opinion like Colombia’s former president, Álvaro Uribe. Right now, Uribe, Colombia’s president from 2002 to 2010, faces charges of bribery, procedural fraud, and bribery in a judicial proceeding. Prosecutors must determine whether he instigated others to manipulate witness testimony in an attempt to mislead the judiciary for his benefit. So, along with Adriaan Alsema, director of Colombia Reports, we take a deep dive into the "early years" from Uribe's birth in Salgar, Antioquia and up until his campaign to become...
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571: Forty Days Lost in the Colombian Amazon
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
Remember the story that made the headlines for several weeks about the four Huitoto children, lost for forty days in the Colombian Amazon after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed? Well, our friend Mat Youkee has written the definitive book on this event, a triumph of the human spirit and survival, but he also delves into the history of the Amazon, the exploitation and mythicism therein. Tune in to a fantastic episode detailing the lives of the four Mucutuy children, the lives of many indigenous families of the area, their struggles in the armed conflict and much more. Buy the book! ...
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570: The True Story of how DEA Agents brought down the Cali Cartel
Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia
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! Chris Feistl was a DEA...
info_outlineColombian 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.
BBC Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crewlj11jljo
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.