There might be nationalist sympathy for the Colombia Three but there is no
groundswell of opinion that, like the Birmingham Six or Guildford Four, they
were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The men have hardly helped their case. There's still been no adequate
explanation as to why they were travelling on false passports. Neither have
they convincingly explained their Colombian expedition. On being captured,
they professed to be journalists. When challenged to produce notebooks,
cameras or accreditation, they switched to the tourist story.
Traditional Sinn Féin and IRA supporters in the North don't care what they
were up to. Some of the party's newer, softer voters may be more concerned.
Yet there is a general feeling among nationalists that so long as the Provos
aren't killing people at the level they were during the war, it doesn't
really matter what else they do, especially thousands of miles from home.
But ordinary unionists and their leaders aren't prepared to swallow with a
smile. On Thursday, they felt justice was finally done.
DUP deputy leader, Peter Robinson, who released the story of the men's
arrest in 2001, said their conviction proved the DUP correct to insist on a
period, between decommissioning and Sinn Féin entering government, to assess
the IRA ceasefire.
The guilty verdict makes DUP demands seem reasonable to international
opinion. However, the party hasn't overly milked the situation. "In the
event of a deal, it's future IRA actions, not past or present ones, that
count," says a DUP source.
"We all know what the IRA is guilty of. We don't need a Colombian court to
tell us, though there is some satisfaction when it does." Sinn Féin's record
of transparency on this case hardly encourages unionist trust.
"Efforts to make Sinn Féin accountable for these three Irishmen are totally
unjustified," said Gerry Adams after their arrest. But Monaghan was once an
ard chomhairle member. Photographs show him seated on an ard fheis platform
with Gerry Adams. McCauley had been a Sinn Féin election agent.
Originally, Sinn Féin denied Connolly was its man in Havana. "Mr Niall
Terence Connolly is the official representative of Sinn Féin for Cuba and
Latin America," said a Cuban government spokeswoman. Gerry Adams then
admitted Connolly's role but claimed he and other party leaders had been
unaware of it.
Colombia causes blushes in terms of the Provos anti-drugs' reputation. Under
the cover-name Direct Action Against Drugs, they've killed more than a dozen
drug-dealers in the North. FARC's involvement in cocaine sits uneasily with
that.
The convictions give President Bush the opportunity to turn the screws on
Sinn Féin as part of his crusade against "international terrorism". The
Irish-American lobby and the Government will advise against this course as
damaging to the peace process.
The case of the Colombia Three highlights how differently Provisional IRA
members and suspects are treated from their dissident counterparts.
Government observers attended the original trial and, on Thursday, officials
pledged to make immediate contact with the Colombian authorities. Dermot
Ahern spoke of the severity of 17-year-sentences.
Yet the conviction of Michael McKevitt by the Special Criminal Court last
year, which raised serious legal questions, sparked no such interest.
Neither has concern been voiced at dubious forensic practices in recent Real
IRA cases in the North.
If the release of Garda Jerry McCabe's killers is integral to any peace
deal, then the freedom, or at least repatriation, of the Colombia Three will
be equally so. Sinn Féin won't deliver on decommissioning without it.
For that reason - not the merit of the case or primary concern for the men's
welfare - the Government's position will dovetail with that of the Bring
Them Home Campaign. This case won't disappear because people with power
won't let it.
An extraordinary appeal on behalf of Connolly, McCauley and Monaghan is
expected to be brought to the Supreme Court next month. Don't be surprised
if they eventually walk.
