Delegates fly out for Colombia 3 talks

A delegation was today flying to Colombia for a series of meetings with some of the country’s senior politicians about the fate of three Irishmen accused of training Marxist rebels.

James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley are currently awaiting the verdict of a trial in Colombia last year about the alleged training by them of Marxist FARC rebels.

The trio, who are currently being held in the high security La Modelo prison, are accused of teaching the rebels bomb-making techniques developed by the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Féin Assembly member Caitriona Ruane, who has been campaigning for charges against the three men to be dropped, was leading a delegation from Dublin, which included party colleague Sean Crowe, Independent Senator Mary White and Niall Andrews of Fianna Fáil.

She told PA News: “We are due to meet Colombia’s Vice President Francisco Santos and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Carolina Barco.

“We will also be visiting the three men in jail and it will be our first encounter since they were moved to a different wing.

“Obviously we are still concerned about the length of time it is taking to receive a verdict on the trial and we are stressing that the judge must be able to make a decision which is free from political and military interference.

“The wait for a verdict has been disgraceful. In July last year, we were told initially it would be a matter of days before a verdict was announced, then it shifted to January, then to February and then to March of this year.

“We have a number of concerns about this case and will continue to fight for justice for the three men.”