Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

This week we invite Colombian writer Paula Delgado-Kling back on the show after a long absence to talk to us exclusively about her book which is tentatively entitled: "Stolen Lives, a Memoir of Colombia."

We discuss the need to understand Colombia's history to understand what is going on now with the peace talks in Havana with the FARC, how her family has - throughout the years - occupied a ringside seat during many of the significant events in the nation's history.

Speaking openly about her non-fiction novel and the female protagonist Leonor, we talk about this girl's life as she entered the FARC at age 11 and now as a mother of two struggles to get by. We talk about the significance of April 9 and the Bogotazo and fiery rhetoric of Gaitain and indeed the upsurge in communist sympathies in the area of her family's coffee farm in Viota.

The underlying theme is that of identity and where one fits into the complex narrative that is Colombia. Finally, we share a few words about the potential peace agreement to be signed on march 23 with the FARC in Havana.

Direct download: RCC_130.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:08am EST