Talking About Colombia

Next Monday, November 25 at 3 PM EST, I will be on the radio show “Colombia Calling,” hosted by Richard McColl. Thank you, Richard, for having me!

Please tune in. It will also be available as a podcast.

We will chat about Colombia, child soldiers, redemption, Wall Street in the light of peace talks, and how growing up Canadian influenced me to think about all this.

Two shows I have really enjoyed on “Colombia Calling” include:

One for foodies: Interview with Nicholas Gill of the New World Review.
Richard and Nicholas Gill, a travel and food writer, talk about the evolution of the Colombian food scene. Can Colombian cuisine reach the gastronomic heights of Peruvian cuisine? Nicholas Gill thinks so. He said, “Colombia doesn’t have the tradition of food that Peru has, but in terms of the bio-diversity and the number of products, it’s, I would say, very similar and has enormous potential.”

Adriaan Alsema of Colombia Reports.
Adriaan, a Dutch citizen who was lured to Medellin (perhaps, as he said, because he likes to sit in downtown Medellin and admire the pretty girls) is the founder and editor of Colombia Reports, the number one independent news portal for the country. I am a big fan of Colombia Reports. Adriaan said, “It’s kind of weird.. we are a bunch of guys with good intentions. .. I take siestas when I want.” But from Adriaan’s siestas, there emerge deep thoughts. He said, “For Colombia to see in essence a change in the quality of its politics and its policies, there needs to be a change in culture, a change in how the Colombians act toward their politicians and towards their media. So instead of just swallowing everything, they need to stand up and say, no fuck you, once every so often.” He added, “I don’t even think Colombians themselves are integrated into Colombian society so how are you going to integrate FARC guerrillas into society?”