Emily Hart

The Colombia Briefing with Emily Hart

Subscription news service with hundreds of paying subscribers: the headlines from Colombia - every Monday as audio and text: now a Substack Bestseller

Science Fiction From Latin America, With Zombie Dissidents and Aliens in the Amazon

Also in print - front page of Arts Section 19/06. Across Latin America, shelves labeled “ciencia ficción” have long been filled with translations of H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury. But their reign over the region’s bookcases may be drawing to a close. [NB Also translated into Spanish by the New York Times]

New recruits: the thousands of Colombians holding the Ukrainian Frontline

Longform investigation into what drives these soldiers to join Ukraine's army - and the reality that meets them when they arrive there

"A truth which cried out loud" - Colombia's 'false positives' murders

During the civil war, the Colombian Army murdered thousands of civilians and dressed them up as guerrillas, claiming them as 'combat kills' in exchange for benefits and bonuses - now, victims' relatives are getting justice.

Colombia's New Purgatory - the violent struggle for lasting peace

A peace deal should have consigned Colombia’s guerrilla conflict to history. But a new generation of armed groups has taken hold—and the country is stuck between the violence of old and new. Also in print - July 2022 issue.

The butterfly that roared: LGBTQ collectives fighting for justice over war crimes

Crisalida, a LGBTQ collective from San Rafael, Colombia, was brutalised under paramilitary occupation of the small Andean town. Their leader was murdered and many went into hiding, but they are now emerging defiant, demanding justice for the war crimes committed against them.

How Latin American Electronic Artists Are Using Field Recordings to Reconnect With Nature

A man perches on a rock, holding a small microphone over a roaring river, water tumbling over boulders, flanked by lush jungle and hanging vines. The Andes Mountains rise up on all sides, crumpled-paper ridges shrouded in gauzy clouds. He stretches his arm out - gripping tightly, listening intently.

From Our Correspondent: Demolition of Escobar's home can't erase ties between drugs and elite

Canapés and dust masks in Colombia as the mayor throws a surreal party for the demolition of Pablo Escobar's former home. Also in print on 3 April 2019.

BBC Trending: Medellín's Passport Bros

Reporting from Medellín on sex work and the sexual exploitation of minors by foreign men visiting the city.

The Amazonian manatee, unseen guardian of the jungle's waterways

The elusive aquatic mammal, which is vital to the jungle ecosystem, risks being hunted and trafficked to extinction. But a group of 'guardians' are fighting back

The Secrets of Colombia's Jaguar Men

Deep in the Colombian rainforest lies the world’s largest concentration of rock art. What does it reveal about the people who painted it 20,000 years ago?

'Comply or die': Colombia's guerrillas impose their own Covid-19 lockdowns

Scoop for the Telegraph: "COVID is not killing us. Armed groups are killing us." FARC groups have begun murdering and taking hostages in retribution for violations of their coronavirus measures.

Cocaine's bloodstained line from Colombia to the UK

In print and online

Colombian election: new left-wing president Gustavo Petro promises 'real change'

Colombia 2026: Analizando el tablero electoral

Spanish-language panel featuring Katherin Galindo Ortiz, Nestor Quiróz, and myself - hosted by Martin Diaz Acevedo

Elected by the 'nobodies', the woman on a mission to transform Colombia

Colombia's 'Trump' Rodolfo Hernández blunders towards presidency

I covered the Colombian elections for The Times, Sunday Times, and Times Radio in 2022 - numerous publications in print and online.

"Colombia's History Split in Two on 19 June"

Longform interview about Colombia's election of its first ever left wing government - and it's first even Female Afro-Colombian Vice-President - with Erlendy Cuero of Afrodes.

Argentina elects 'El Loco', yet there is method in it...

The radio station fighting false COVID news in Guatemala

From a tiny purple cabin, in a valley flanked by four volcanoes, a group of young journalists is pushing back against a tide of white noise, creating space for marginalised young people.

Reporting live from Argentina on crime and poverty in Buenos Aires

​Where the Wild Things are: Colombia's Eastern Plains

Monsters on horseback, bull-bowling, and joropó: a weekend in San Martín de los Llanos, Meta

"Silent, but so much to tell..." The Enigma of Colombia's Mummies

A groundbreaking new study reveals the scale and complexity of mummification in Colombia (article & podcast)

Unseen Universe: Colombia's Sonic Worlds

Exploring the science and magic of natural sound with the Humboldt Institute's Sound Collection

Sex Work and the City - "We are tired of people speaking for us, blurring our reality."

Interview with Valery Parra, President of the Sex Workers' Union of Antioquia, Sintrasexa

Around Colombia in 150 Records

Music critic Jaime Monsalve takes us on a whirlwind tour of Colombia via its most iconic artists and legendary recordings

"The earth has begun to speak - and the mothers were right all along."

Truth buried in the rubble of Medellín and the women who unearthed it: a 20-year fight for justice and the battles still to come for Colombia's 'buscadoras'

Reporting live from Medellín on infrastructure and climate in Colombia

Taming The Titans

How did a handful of companies come to dominate our digital lives? What does it mean for us and how might we take that power back? Taming The Titans: ARTICLE 19's new podcast on Big Tech and human rights, hosted by Emily Hart.

Reporting live from Colombia: A year of massacres and political violence

Ya es hora: tackling Big Tech to build peace in Colombia

I wrote, directed, and produced this Spanish-language podcast on Big Tech, human rights, and conflict in Colombia.

Newsreader and Host of 'Colombia Calling'

Since 2020, I have written and delivered the news segment for this weekly podcast. I also regularly host, doing longform interviews with a huge range of guests - from writers and translators to scientists and researchers. The podcast has around 10,000 listeners per month.

Colombia's Historic Presidential Polls: Former Guerrilla vs 'TikTok King'

Live Interview on the Colombian Elections

Q&A - LGBTQ+ Rights in Colombia's Peace Process

Ep 455: Colombia's Battle for Memory

"Conflict was not only played out on the battlefield, but also in the symbolic field." Emily Hart and renowned Colombian political scientist María Emma Wills Obregón discuss collective memory, polarisation and conflict resolution - and how a country can weave itself back together after decades of war.

Ep 512: There is no such thing as Spanish

Emily Hart talks to Booker Prize Chair Frank Wynne, tracing his incredible career from the start of his linguistic journey to his award-winning translation of writers across Latin America and the francophone world - particularly his work on cult Colombian author and 'Enemy Number 1 of Macondo' - Andrés Caicedo.

The force of the fiesta returns: Barranquilla Carnival is back

"Scene 1, Take 20!" The guerrillas who swapped Kalashnikovs for cameras

Exclusive feature for Latin America Reports, where I was Contributing Editor

"Enough" - Medellin art festival protests spiralling violence

Hundreds gathered at a Medellin art festival on Monday to demonstrate against the spiralling violence and impunity that plague Colombia's second largest city. Central to the opening night was one of the latest victims of violence, graphic artist Mauricio Ospina.

Medellín's miracle transformation: a half-told story

If you glance up at the hills above the centre, into the outskirts of the city, there are different stories to be told, complex stories which don’t fit the neat narrative of the “post-narco” city which authorities are ever-keen to tell.

While the truth is still putting on its shoes, Fake News runs rampant in Latin America

The Pope shared a joint with a Bolivian President. Vaccinations increase your chance of developing AIDS. A 1960s sci-fi movie predicted the arrival of the Omicron variant.

More than half the world cannot speak freely, report finds

International news coverage of my conclusions and analysis on freedom of expression via the Global Expression Report.

The Global Expression Report

I have been analyst and author of this report for nine years - a data-based annual report which tracks freedom of expression across the world. I designed the data set, combining indicators from V-Dem's database to capture and measure the state of freedom of expression worldwide.

Backsliding on free expression around the world needs to end

Internet blackouts. Strategic lawsuits against journalists. Regulations restricting the activities of NGOs. The weaponisation of health and security policies. These are all strategies that governments around the world are increasingly using to curtail the right to dissent, protest, and even just access information.

The Global Expression Report 2022

ContraMiradas Research and Museum Exhibition

Austria's biggest magazine on Urbanism covered my research on the urban dynamics of Medellín.

Dignity for all must mean dignity in the cells. Period.

The rights of women on their periods in police custody are being violated in England and Wales, according to police custody watchdog the Independent Custody Visitation Association (ICVA). "I know what it's like as a woman, to feel dirty, and like you don't have control, bleeding...

Opinion: Even before coronavirus hit, freedom of expression was near rock bottom

Op-Ed ghostwritten for ARTICLE 19's CEO Quinn McKew.

Extract: A bullfighter, a giant vagina, and Francisco Franco

"Everybody must fight for freedom in their own way"- An Interview with Zunar

This week, cartoonist and political satirist Zunar spoke to ARTICLE 19's Emily Hart about politics, satire, and his upcoming trial.

Hacktivism to Balaclava Punk: Protest Must Be Protected in All Its Forms

Protest is increasingly going digital. Whether it is using the internet to organise and report physical acts of protest, using online space as a platform on which to take action, or targeting online infrastructure itself: across the world, people are taking their right to protest online. [Ghost-written for Thomas Hughes]

Extract: Crisis of violence against environmental and indigenous rights defenders in Latin America

"We have to keep our language of enthusiasm and curiosity," Patti Smith

On Friday night, in the midst of a storm, Patti Smith recited her poem Hecatombe - an homage to author Roberto Bolaño; she then alternated between spoken word and musical work, speaking of hope in the face of the challenges ahead, and urging us to find ways to be together - and to love.

Review: 'The Writer' at the Almeida

Ella Hickson's 'The Writer' is a blistering two hours of unanswered questions. It is relentless and hopeless, but ultimately, to use its own words, 'defibrillating'. The Writer of the title walks the stage in numerous guises, from Lara Rossi's furious 24 year old to Romola Garai's Writer, with various personas from mythical narrator to exasperated playwright.

The Best Spas in Colombia

The World's Coolest Neighbourhoods in 2021

Three Days in Cartagena - the Gem of Colombia's Caribbean

Sun smiles on druids at Primrose Hill equinox celebration

Poet William Blake, perhaps the most famous member of the Druid Order, wrote, "I have conversed with the spiritual sun. I saw him on Primrose Hill." Photos mine.

Kaiser Wilhelm's Spies in Hampstead

120 German spies operated in Britain from 1914 to 1918. Print and E-Edition of Ham&High, p18 http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=f8c3d395-a3cb-47a2-9ee9-aa43dfe48053

UK toy shops face tough times

In 2018, TOYS 'R' US will be closing 26 of its UK stores, with 800 jobs at risk, as toy shops disappear and high street outlets struggle across the country.

Privacy and Freedom of Expression In the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Apps, arrest, and abuse in Egypt, Lebanon, and Iran

An investigation into use of social platforms and dating apps by the LGBTQ community in Egypt, Lebanon, and Iran.

Fintech: Privacy and Identity In the New Data-Intensive Financial Sector