ENRIQUE PASTOR
Sir, - I have followed with the highest interest the information published by The Irish Times on the summary of the investigation of IRA links with FARC narco-terrorists in Colombia, carried out by the Committee on International Relations of the US House of Representatives. The excellent articles in your editions of April 23rd and 24th failed, nevertheless, to disclose the connections with the terrorist group ETA mentioned in the report several times.
The American congressional report informs that the explosives management training for the FARC - one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world - provided by the IRA, and possibly by some foreign-based terrorists such as ETA among others, has markedly improved FARC's proficiency in urban terrorism in the last few years. Unfortunately, it is also true that ETA has had connections with the IRA in the past and, as the report indicates, ETA may have provided the link which brought FARC and the IRA together.
I think we should agree on one very clear idea: we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of turning a blind eye when the lives of our citizens are put at risk by terrorism, as the Spanish Government, together with all the democratic parties in Spain, has repeatedly underlined. So the effort of providing the public with the full picture in these very delicate matters is always worthwhile. - Yours, etc.,
ENRIQUE PASTOR DE GANA,
Ambassador of Spain,
Dublin.