Cuba: Man Arrested in Colombia was Sinn Fein Rep Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - JosePertierra@aol.com CUBA: MAN ARRESTED IN COLOMBIA WAS SINN FEIN REP IN CUBA By Andrew Cawthorne HAVANA, Aug 17 (Reuters)--Havana said on Friday one of three suspected Irish Republican Army members arrested in Colombia on charges of training Marxist rebels was Northern Irish political party Sinn Fein's frontman for Latin America, based in communist-run Cuba since 1996. "Mr. Niall Terence Connolly is the official representative of Sinn Fein for Cuba and Latin America," Aymee Hernandez, a spokeswoman for President Fidel Castro's government, told Reuters. She noted Sinn Fein, the IRA's political ally for whom the arrests in Colombia have been an embarrassment, was "legally recognized as a political party in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland." In Bogota, the public prosecutor's office has said it will decide within days whether to try or free the three, all from Northern Ireland, whom both Colombian and British officials have linked to the IRA. Authorities suspect the trio had been training the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest guerrilla group, in bomb-making and the fabrication of non-conventional weapons in a demilitarized area the government handed over to rebels 2-1/2 years ago to launch peace talks. However, since the arrests which occurred as the men were about to leave Colombia last Saturday, no evidence has been disclosed firmly linking the FARC and the IRA. And British media have reported Sinn Fein as denying Connolly had any link with them. Spokeswoman Hernandez declined to give more details about Connolly's stay on the Caribbean island, but sought to distance Cuba from the allegations against him in Colombia. "We want to make it quite clear that the presence of Mr. Connolly in Colombia has no connection with the official and legal activities he was carrying out in Havana," she said. CONNOLLY THE "LEADER" She also dismissed as a "a lie" reports in some media that Cuba may be assisting Colombia's rebels, some of whom take inspiration from Castro's 1959 revolution. "Everyone knows that there are no Cubans there," Hernandez said. In Colombia, the public prosecutor's office said on Friday that Connolly, originally traveling under the name of David Bracken, was believed to be the ring-leader of the three, who were also charged with carrying false passports. "We learned his real name was Niall Connolly through intelligence-gathering. We think he is the leader of the three," a spokesman said. If the three face a formal trial in Colombia and are convicted in a criminal court, they face up to 20 years each behind bars. The arrests have been another blow to Northern Ireland's peace process and 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which established power-sharing between the British-ruled province's Catholic pro-republican and Protestant pro-British communities. Unionists have seized on the incident as proof the IRA has not renounced violence and will not disarm, as required under the Good Friday accord. In Colombia, the arrests have triggered fears the 17,000- member FARC, a 1960s army fighting for a socialist state, is preparing a campaign of violence from within the demilitarized zone. Under the terms of the government's agreement with the FARC, state security forces cannot enter the rebel enclave. Cuba has been working behind the scenes to promote peace talks in Colombia in recent years, apparently hosting some meetings on the island. The Castro government is also anticipating a visit from Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams next month on a lecture tour to Latin America. The British Embassy in Havana had no comment on Connolly's presence in Cuba, and foreign residents on the island said they were unaware of his five-year residence here. (c) 2001 Reuters. 13:47 08-17-01 ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-08.18.01-03:43:39-28626