The three Irishmen held in Colombia were involved in training FARC guerillas in the use of mortars, explosives, intelligence and combat techniques, the commander-in-chief of the Colombian army, Gen Fernando Tapias, alleged to a US congressional hearing yesterday.
However Gen Tapias said he was unable to confirm that the three were acting under the direct command of the leadership of the Provisional IRA. The head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Mr Asa Hutchinson, admitted there was no evidence to his knowledge of IRA involvement in the international narcotics trade.
Both men were testifying to a hearing of the House Committee on International Relations on "International Global Terrorism: Its links with illicit drugs as illustrated by the IRA and other groups in Colombia." The holding of the hearing and its unwieldy title was a source of serious contention as it began with three members entering formal objections before evidence was heard.
One Democrat member, Mr Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts, who had originally called for the hearing, said the evidence before it largely consisted of innuendo and the hearing had been called to suit another "pre-determined agenda" related to controversial US aid to the Colombian armed forces.
Mr Peter King, a Republican from New York, scored a direct hit against the title in asking Mr Hutchinson about IRA involvement with drugs. He said if the three men were involved, they must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, but that the issue was being used against Sinn Féin and the peace process without sufficient evidence.
The State Department's deputy co-ordinator for counter-terrorism, Mr Mark Wong, testified that the dramatic increase in the FARC's explosives capability could be related to IRA help and that the use of secondary explosions to kill those gathered at the scene of a first blast was a "known signature IRA tactic". However he admitted that there was no evidence either of Sinn Féin's prior knowledge of the three's mission or that they were acting under orders from the IRA army council.
Mr Wong said the State Department was concerned that the Colombian judicial process should continue "unhindered by anything we say today". "If the three men in question are proved to have aided and abetted the FARC, thereby increasing the FARC ability to kill, maim and terrorise civilians, we hope the Colombian judge will sentence these men in a manner commensurate with such a crime."
He continued: "If we were to discover evidence of any such ongoing support it would raise fundamental questions for US foreign policy. We also remain concerned about the potential of any past relationship between the FARC and the IRA to affect stability in Colombia as well as US interests there. Our primary focus remains on ensuring that there is no current or future co-operation between these organisations."
Gen Tapias said there were at least seven Irishmen involved in visits to Colombia since 1998.
A briefing paper circulated by the committee named "John Francis Johnston" and "James Edward Walker" in addition to the three arrested men. Their real names are not known. Gen Tapias outlined the paramilitary past of the three accused men, insisting that one was the IRA head of engineering and another his deputy.
Other information to which he was not privy was in the hands of the Colombian Attorney general's office. He said a trial was expected to go ahead within weeks.
"I can say we have facts linking them to training activities," he said. "They entered zones under FARC control where they actively buttressed its activities." He said the effect had been noticeable in changes in FARC techniques, particularly mortars and explosives.
Opening the hearing, its chairman, Mr Henry Hyde, a Republican from Illinois, insisted the hearing was not about the Northern Ireland peace process but US national interests in Colombia.
Claims the three men were in Colombia for activities related to the peace process "are an insult to our intelligence". The IRA had "significantly enhanced the FARC's campaign of urban terrorism which can already measure its success in thousands of casualties."
Mr Hyde extended an olive branch to the Sinn Féin leader, Mr Gerry Adams, saying that "through the long struggle for peace and justice in Northern Ireland, he has never given any reason to doubt his word. I accept Mr Adams's statement [his letter of apology] at face value and ask that it be included in the record. At this time we have no information contradicting this statement."
Mr Hutchinson's evidence concentrated on the anti-narcotics war but also alleged that the IRA was training FARC in urban terrorism. He said FARC earned an estimated $300 million a year from its involvement in the drugs trade.
A summary of the House committee's report is on The Irish Times website, www.ireland. com
Mary Holland: page 16
