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The Colombia Three are three individuals – Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley – who are currently residing in the Republic of Ireland, having fled from Colombia, where they have been sentenced to prison terms of seventeen years for training FARC rebels.

Arrest

The three came to prominence on 11 August 2001, when they were arrested travelling on false passports at Bogotá International Airport while waiting to transfer to international flights out of the country. The Colombian authorities alleged at the time that they were training FARC rebels, and were members of the Provisional IRA. According to General Fernando Tapias the Colombian authorities were tipped off by "an international security organisation".

Two of the three men, Monaghan and McCauley, had arrived in Colombia on 30 June 2001 on a flight from Belfast, via Paris. Niall Connolly had flown from Dublin, via Madrid, and spent a day in Caracas before making a rendezvous in Bogotá. The three men then spent the next five weeks travelling through a demilitarized southern zone of Colombia, then under the control of the FARC rebels as part of peace talks with the Colombian government. They were arrested as soon as they touched down in Bogotá on a commercial flight on the Saturday night.

Prosecution

After the men's arrest they were held for six months without charge, until 15 February 2002 when they were charged with training FARC rebels in bomb-making. After a number of delays, including a boycott of proceedings by the three accused, the trial opened on 2 December 2002.

The trial itself proved something of a farce with prosecution witnesses initially refusing to testify. Their testimony, when it was eventually given, was rubbished. An alleged FARC deserter claimed to have seen the men training guerrillas on dates in 1999 and 2000. Lawyers for the defendants produced evidence that the men were elsewhere. For example, Jim Monaghan had been filmed speaking at a conference in Belfast. Niall Connolly was proven to have been translating at an Irish Embassy dinner in Havana, Cuba. The US embassy official, Anthony Hall, was not called to give evidence.

In relation to the allegation that the IRA had passed on its technology to FARC the court heard from one of the foremost forensic scientists in Britain, Dr Keith Borer, who in the past has acted in prosecution cases against Irish republicans in British trials. In Bogota, Borer testified: “that the weaponry used by the IRA and FARC are vastly different, having to do with the diameter of the mortars, the different types of propellants used and different types of detonating devices.”

He concluded that FARC weaponry was of a much more sophisticated nature than the IRA’s.

The men pleaded guilty to a passports offence and in statements to the court explained that because of harassment, Irish republicans (two of them, Jim Monaghan and Martin McAuley are former prisoners) often travelled under false documentation. They had gone to Colombia to study the peace process, they said.

Following a number of adjournments, the trial closed on 1 August 2003.

The trial judge returned a verdict which found the three men guilty of travelling on false passports and they were given varying sentences of up to 44 months. They were found not guilty on the more serious charges relating to training FARC rebels; however, the judge ordered their release upon payment of fines equivalent to £3,800.

Appeal

In accordance with Colombian law, the prosecution had the right to appeal the verdict, which it did. While awaiting appeal, the three men were free to leave jail, but were instructed by a judge to remain within the country. The appeal court, however, overturned the original trial verdict, and convicted the men of training the rebels, sentencing them to seventeen years in jail on 16 December 2004.

Return to Ireland

The day after their conviction, the Colombian Attorney General announced that the men had fled Colombia. On 5 August 2005, following an interview with Monaghan by RTÉ's Charlie Bird, it emerged that the three men had clandestinely returned to Ireland. The three men were subsequently questioned by Gardaí but no moves have been taken in relation to extraditing them to Colombia, despite the existence of an Interpol arrest warrant.

The Colombia Three

James Monaghan

James William Monaghan (Irish: Séamas Liam Ó Manachán) was born on 9 August 1945, and is originally from County Donegal but his last known address was in Newry, County Armagh. In the 1970s he was believed to have been active in the IRA, gaining the nickname 'Mortar' on account of his skill in manufacturing homemade mortars and, according to security sources, he is head of the IRA's engineering section.

Monaghan was arrested on terrorist charges in County Donegal in the 1970s. In 1972 he was arrested in London and given a prison sentence for terrorism offenses. In 1976, he escaped from the Special Criminal Court in Dublin following a double bomb blast. He was elected to the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle in 1989. According to Alex Maskey, he left Sinn Féin in 1989 or 1990, In 1999 he joined an organisation called Coiste na n-Iarchimí, a Republican ex-prisoners group. He is reported to be a member of the IRA Army Council.

Martin McCauley

Martin McCauley (Irish: Máirtín Mac Amhlaoibh) was born on 1 December 1962 in County Armagh. He was shot aged 19 in 1982 by the RUC in a barn near Lurgan resulting from which he won a five-figure sum for damages against the RUC. In 1985 he was charged with weapons possession in Northern Ireland and received a two year suspended sentence. He was a Sinn Féin election worker during assembly elections in the Upper Bann constituency in 1998, but according to Sinn Féin he was not a member of the party. McCauley is regarded as a leading figure in the IRA's engineering section.

Niall Connolly

Niall Connolly (Irish: Niall Ó Conghaile) was born on 5 December 1964 in Glenageary, County Dublin, and was educated at Newpark Comprehensive School and Trinity College, Dublin. A fluent Spanish speaker, he has extensive experience in Latin America having worked there for a number of years. Prior to his arrest, he was resident in Cuba where the Cuban authorities claimed he was the Latin America representative for Sinn Féin. This was initially denied by Sinn Féin, but they later accepted that he had been working in Cuba as a part-time party representative.

References

1. "Suspected IRA member charged in Colombia". RTÉ. 15 August, 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
2. "Suspected IRA trio held in Colombia". The Guardian. 14 August, 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
3. ^ "IRA blunder in the jungle sparks US rage". The Guardian. 19 August, 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
4. Daniel Schweimler (17 August, 2001). "Cuba link to Colombia IRA suspect". BBC News. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
5. "'IRA three' charged by Colombians". BBC News. 16 February, 2002. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
6. Ruth Morris (2 December, 2002). "Trial of IRA men begins today". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
7. Sibylla Brodzinsky (2 August, 2003). "Irish trio await Bogota verdict". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
8. Sibylla Brodzinsky (27 April, 2004). "Colombia clears IRA suspects". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
9. Sibylla Brodzinsky (17 December, 2004). "Irishmen in hiding jailed for 17 years". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
10. Sibylla Brodzinsky (18 December, 2004). "Irish trio 'have fled Colombia'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
11. Angelique Chrisafis (6 August, 2005). "Colombian 3 back in Ireland". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
12. Sophie Kirkham (19 August, 2005). "Irish police question Colombia Three". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
13. "Interpol members told of warrant". BBC News. 14 January, 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
14. ^ "Who are IRA suspects?". BBC News. 17 August, 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
15. ^ Edmundo Murray (1 March, 2006). "Explosive Journey: Perceptions of Latin America in the FARC-IRA Affair (2001-2005)". Society for Irish Latin American Studies. Retrieved 2007-02-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
16. Mark Burgess (5 June, 2002). "Globalizing Terrorism: The FARC-IRA Connection". Center for Defence Information. Retrieved 2007-02-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
17. ^ Rosie Cowan (15 August, 2001). "Qualified in terrorism". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
18. "Colombian investigation continues". BBC News. 16 August, 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
19. "Irish police identify 'IRA suspect'". BBC News. 14 August, 2001. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
20. Matthew Tempest (22 October, 2001). "Sinn Féin urges IRA to disarm". The Guardian. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

• Provisional Irish Republican Army members
• Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
• Sinn Féin politicians
• Numeric epithets