Training in IRA techniques has helped Farc terrorists to kill hundreds of Colombians with new, improved bombs, writes Francisco Santos, vice-president of Colombia
Last week, the press reported on a study where scientists found "staggering" amounts of benzoylecgonine (BE) - a chemical found in urine that is only produced by the human body when it metabolises cocaine - in the River Po in northern Italy.
The conclusion by the researchers is that more than three times as much cocaine is used in the River Po basin area than officials previously thought.
Also last week, Carmen Rosmira Sánchez, a 29-year-old mother of three, was working at her fruit juice stand in Arauca, Colombia when the Farc, classified by the European Union as a terrorist organisation, detonated a bicycle bomb by remote control.
She was killed and nearly 30 others were injured, mostly civilians.
So what do these seemingly unrelated stories have in common? For most Colombians, the link is easy to see and unfortunately, all too familiar.
Cocaine consumption, in Europe and elsewhere fuels terrorism in Colombia in the form of bombings, massacres, displacement and environmental destruction.
These heinous acts are committed by terrorist organisations such as the Farc, ELN and the AUC who finance their criminal activities through the international illicit drug trade.
We Colombians understand that the defeat of the terrorist groups operating in our country is tied inextricably to the dismantling of their global drug trafficking networks.
This is why, for three years now, the administration of president Alvaro Uribe has implemented an assertive policy of democratic security that has yielded tremendous results in the fight against narco-terrorism. In the past 12 months alone, kidnappings have been reduced by 52 per cent, homicides by 18 per cent, acts of terrorism by 44 per cent and massacres by 41 per cent.
Today Colombia is at a turning point. After years of dashed hopes, people who were once hostages in their own cities now move freely around the country, confidence has returned and economic prospects for the country are much brighter.
Nonetheless, we cannot do this alone. We want our European friends to do their part in stemming the unrelenting demand for cocaine that kills so many Colombians by financing terror and violence each year.
Unfortunately, unlike the tuna cans sold in European supermarkets which carry labels stating they are dolphin-safe, there are no "No Colombians Killed" labels on cocaine bags sold in the streets of London or Paris. Clearly, consumption is only part of the narco-terrorism puzzle.
Another vital aspect is how much co-operation and solidarity Colombia receives from the international community to confront this terrorist threat. And it is in this regard, that we observe with concern the return of the so-called "Colombia Three" to Ireland.
Over the past few years, bombs set by the Farc against our civilian population have become more deadly and more difficult for authorities to detect and disarm.
Of particular menace have been the now infamous cylinder bombs that are used to devastate entire towns and massacre police officers.
These improvements in explosives by the Farc did not come from an al-Qaeda or anarchist website; they came from the direct training of people like James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley.
We know IRA members were sent to Colombia to train the Farc in explosives and other terrorist methods which have worked for the IRA against the British in Northern Ireland.
Demobilised Farc combatants have testified to seeing the three Irishmen in Farc camps training them in explosives techniques. Since their visit to the Farc's former demilitarised zone in 2001, some bombs have exhibited new features previously used by the IRA but never before seen in Colombia, such as booby-traps aimed specifically at police bomb disposal units.
Three years ago this month, in the middle of president Uribe's inauguration ceremony, mortar rounds hit the Colombian presidential palace that had the same characteristics as mortars that had been used by the IRA during attacks in London.
The "Colombia Three" were tried by an independent Colombian tribunal and found guilty of supporting terrorist activities, a sentence which carries 17 years in prison.
The Bring Them Home campaigners claimed the three would not receive a fair trial in Colombia.
As vice-president, I spent many hours working directly with the Bring Them Home campaign, including Sinn Féin Assembly member Caitríona Ruane and many other representatives of international lawyers groups, to make certain their concerns were addressed, assuring them of the autonomy of the Colombian judiciary. The process was carried out openly and transparently and I am proud that the Colombian judicial system worked.
For their part, the three abused Colombia's constitutional guarantees by legally and politically manipulating their parole status while waiting for an appellate court to rule.
The Colombian government followed diplomatic and law enforcement protocol by requesting Interpol, the international police organisation, put them on their watch list and issue arrest warrants for them.
I wonder why the deafening silences now from all those organisations who expressed concerns in the past about the legal rights of the three.
Where are all the condemnations for the violation of the rule of law, not to mention an international arrest warrant?
Hundreds of Colombians have met their deaths at the hands of the Farc and their new, "improved" unconventional explosives and tactics.
"I cannot imagine that good people everywhere, especially those who have experienced terrorism, would not stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Colombia in demanding that justice be done.