Airdate: Simon Reeve’s Colombia

On Monday SBS screens a one-off doco Simon Reeve’s Colombia, travelling to Cartagena, Medellin and rural areas of Latin America.

Simon Reeve is on a journey around Colombia, one of the most spectacular countries in the
world, which for 50 years has been gripped by a brutal civil war.

Starting his journey on the tropical Rosario islands, Simon explores the murky history of Colombia’s drugs barons, visiting the nearby port city of Cartagena, where a historic peace deal was signed by the government and the guerrilla army FARC, bringing an end to the long war.

Despite the formidable challenges, Simon finds hope for the future in the notorious city of Medellin – once home to Pablo Escobar’s notorious cartel. Simon meets the former Mayor to find out how the city has been transformed from the ‘most dangerous city on earth’ to one of Colombia’s liveliest and most creative.

Finally, Simon’s journey takes him to the most rural areas of Colombia, where he meets the farmers battling for a different future – one not fuelled by the global demand for drugs. They are seeking support from the government to stop farming coca, the plant form of cocaine, and to grow legal crops. With land ownership, poverty and drugs at the heart of Colombia’s problems, it is in the countryside that the country’s future will be decided.

Monday, 1 May at 8.30pm on SBS.