International Terrorist Links
Cooperation Between Colombia's FARC, Ireland´s IRA, the Basque ETA
With all the ruckus in the Colombian political arena we look at one factor that has risen its ugly head in recent months once again - international terrorist cooperation.
While the very public spat between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe rages on it is worth looking at several factors that have made the Colombian conflict an international cause celebre. Colombia’s long running conflict makes the international news every week, most recently for the fantastic contra FARC marches held across the globe and everyone has an opinion, not least the Venezuelan Premier. President Chavez’s recent calls to have the FARC removed from the list of international terrorist organisations, through the eyes of many, only affirmed his support for the subversive group and have given rise to further rumours of his aiding the terrorist organisation. With this in mind we look at other external factors that have helped shaped the Colombian situation over the years.
Early Days
When, after 1948 the first guerrilla groups emerged in Colombia and were arguably legitimate revolutionary forces seeking change in an unjust society and not the narco-funded mafias we now recognise as being in control of the jungles and hinterlands of Colombia, it is worth noting that a great portion of their funding came from overseas regimes eager to have an ally in the region. Both Russia and Cuba donated generously.
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Cold War came to an end and the coffers that provided ready cash to dissident groups with likeminded political slants dried up then these groups within Colombia had to look for other ways in order to extend their tenure. Kidnapping and the drugs trade came into play.
International Terrorist Cooperation
To some extent many people and certainly Colombian government sources have always known about the movement of “dubious” characters (from the IRA or ETA) between factions but in recent years it has become clear that a certain agreement reached profound depths. According to Alfredo Rangel, Political Analyst and Director of la Fundacion Seguridad y Democracia, these revelations are hardly surprising and that there is an ideological empathy between these armed organisations that has developed over time.
The IRA
In 2003 three IRA (Irish Republican Army) operatives were arrested in Colombia. What drew attention to their situation was, of course, their background once checked and the locations they had chosen to visit during their sojourn in Colombia. James Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly spent time in the FARC held area of San Vicente de Caguan. After some investigations and CSI style swabbing they were found to have bomb making residue on their hands and clothes. The Government claimed that these three gentlemen had been in the jungles of Colombia educating the FARC in urban bomb making techniques. Certainly, long after the Irishmen had fled Colombia, jumping bail and now sitting happily in Ireland sipping tea, a bomb attributed to the FARC that destroyed the exclusive El Nogal Club in Bogota in 2001 – frequented by high ranking Colombians and Politicians – bore all the hallmarks of something the IRA could have placed in London.
ETA
A recent article dating to January 2008 in the provincial Colombian newspaper of Tolima 7 Dias makes the bold claims that between 2001 and 2004 several members of the Basque Separatist group ETA had been in Colombia training FARC units in the department of Tolima in bomb making techniques. Recently deserted FARC members have also attested to this fact and have affirmed that the guerrilla group now has advanced mobile groups capable of attacking at almost any time anywhere. More recently in 2007 when one bomb was defused in Neiva and another detonated in an attempt on the mayor of that city’s life, these two resembled devices used in the past by the ETA.
What Next?
Newspaper reports and word on the street is that the FARC are in a rapid decline and are experiencing a disastrous power struggle within their ranks. Who knows and who can tell? There is simply too much money involved in the international drugs trade…but as for international terrorist cooperation, perhaps that has now become a thing of the past here in Colombia. Has the conflict turned the corner after these very public embarrassments and revelations regarding the interference of ETA and the IRA in Colombia?
