Date: July 12, 2005 8:34:59 AM PDT
Subject: [Spy News] Interpol says IRA rebels may be hiding in Cuba
Interpol says IRA rebels may be hiding in Cuba
ISN SECURITY WATCH (12/07/05) - Three alleged members of the Irish
Republican
Army (IRA) convicted of training leftist rebels in Colombia may be hiding in
Cuba, an Interpol official in Colombia said on Sunday.
The Interpol agent offered this theory regarding the whereabouts of the men
on
Colombian television, more than six months after the supposed IRA members
fled
Colombia following their conviction on charges they helped train the rebels
in
terror techniques and explosives.
“We have intelligence reports to that effect,” Interpol agent Victor Cruz
said
during an interview on Colombia’s Caracol Television.
Niall Connolly, James Monaghan, and Martin McCauley were sentenced to 17
years
in prison each by a Colombian court in December 2004. They fled soon after
their convictions, having posted bail during the appeal process.
The men were first arrested in August 2001 and accused of training members
of
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the use of explosives
and
carrying falsified identification documents.
The Colombian government alleged the men were representatives of the IRA on
a
mission to establish ties with the FARC, an accusation they denied.
The three Irishmen claimed they were in Colombia as eco-tourists and as
students of the peace process there, and said they would not leave the
prison
until the Colombian government guaranteed their safety from reprisal
killings
by right-wing paramilitary groups.
Sinn Fein - the political party linked to the IRA - had spent the entire
duration of the men’s stay in Colombian prison campaigning for their
release.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams called their ongoing detention “outrageous”
and a “grievous miscarriage of justice”.
The trio were eventually acquitted of the charges in May 2004, but were
forced
to remain in Colombia while the prosecution appealed. Their last hope would
be
to send an appeal to Colombia’s Supreme Court.
It was soon thereafter that Colombia admitted it had “lost track” of the
trio.
However, Attorney-General Luis Camilo Osorio said the authorities would
search
for the fugitives “so that justice is done”.
Since then, Colombian military officials have alleged that rebel groups like
the FARC have been using new techniques that may have been taught by the
supposed trio of IRA terror experts.
General Carlos Ospina said earlier this year that bombings blamed on the
FARC
in the capital Bogotá and throughout the country were more sophisticated
than
before, displaying all the earmarks of techniques learned from the IRA.
South America’s most embattled nation has been embroiled in more than four
decades of civil war that pits leftist rebels like the FARC and other
Marxist
groups against the government and right-wing paramilitaries.
(By Carmen Gentile in Rio de Janeiro)
-__ ___ _ ___ __ ___ _ _ _ __
/-_|-0-\-V-/-\|-|-__|-|-|-/-_|
\_-\--_/\-/|-\\-|-_||-V-V-\_-\
|__/_|--//-|_|\_|___|\_A_/|__/
SPY NEWS is OSINT newsletter and discussion list associated to
Mario's Cyberspace Station - The Global Intelligence News Portal
######## CAUTION! #########
Since you are receiving and reading documents, news stories,
comments and opinions not only from so called (or self-proclaimed)
"reliable sources", but also a lot of possible misinformation collected
by Spy News moderator and subscribers and posted to Spy News
for OSINT purposes - it should be a serious reason (particularly to
journalists and web publishers) to think twice before using it for their
story writing, further publishing or forwarding throughout Cyberspace.
To unsubscribe:
*** FAIR USE NOTICE: This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Spy News is making it available without profit to SPY NEWS eGroup members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
For more information go to:
-----------------------------------------------
SPY NEWS home page:
Mario Profaca
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
