Emily Hart

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 - selected work here.

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

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

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 brutally murdered and many went into hiding, but they are now emerging defiant, demanding justice for the war crimes committed against them.

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

"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.

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.

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.

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?

Reporting live from Argentina on crime and poverty in Buenos Aires

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.

Suspected killer of British businessman arrested trying to flee Argentina

Eight people are now in custody, including the man thought to be the gang's leader.

The Colombia Briefing with Emily Hart

A weekly news briefing via WhatsApp/Telegram: a five-minute audio and a bullet-point whip-through of the week's top stories from Colombia - delivered every Monday.

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

"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.

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

Live Interview on the Colombian Elections

Newsreader and Host for Colombia Calling - The English Voice in Colombia

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

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

As the UN demands action from the Colombian Government to curb violence in the country, I went on Times Radio to explain the roots and nature of crisis here.

Ep 410: There is no such thing as Spanish

Emily Hart sits with 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.

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

I have been researcher and author of this report for five years - data-based research which tracks freedom of expression across the world.

If you care about democracy, stop ignoring attacks on expression

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

Podcast: Freedom of Expression in a Pandemic

Human rights experts from Brazil, Tunisia and Thailand speak to Emily Hart about how freedom of expression has fared since the outbreak of Covid-19.

ContraMiradas Research and Museum Exhibition

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

Global press freedom plunges to worst level this century

In my first year as author of the Global Expression Report, the Guardian ran my research with a double page spread and a front page nib.

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

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

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.

"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.

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...

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.

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.

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

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

The World's Coolest Neighbourhoods in 2021

The Best Spas in Colombia

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

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

Annual Report 2019

The Right to Know: Red Junco And The Roots Of Empowerment

A woman in rural Mexico recently told my colleague, "We've always been told we don't have a voice, but that's not true. Since we began looking for information, my life changed, and the lives of other people in the community as well." Today, 28 September, is International Right to Know Day.

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.

"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.

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