Adams says Connolly is not SF member

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has dismissed claims that Niall Connolly, one of the three Irishmen arrested in Colombia last month, was his party’s representative in Cuba.

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said last night that Connolly had spent five years in Havana as Sinn Fein’s Latin American representative.

However, Mr Adams said today that somebody must have got their wires crossed because Mr Connolly is not and never has been a member of Sinn Fein.

Mr Connolly was arrested in Bogota on August 11th along with two other Irishmen, both of whom have past links with Sinn Fein and the IRA.

All three men have been charged with training the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

They were arrested after leaving rebel-held territory in the South American country and have claimed they were simply studying Colombia’s peace process.

In the only interview they have granted since their arrests, they claimed they are the victims of a set-up by British and US spies intent on wrecking the peace processes in Colombia and Ireland.