One of the three Irishmen charged with training Colombian rebels was at a Christmas party in Cuba at the time he was alleged to be in the jungle of Colombia making bombs, the trial of the three men in Bogota was told yesterday. The resumed hearing in the trial of Niall Connolly, Jim Monaghan and Martin McCauley heard from Ros O’Sullivan, a friend of the Connolly family, that he was with Niall Connolly in Cuba on Christmas Day 2000 enjoying a family dinner in Havana at the time Connolly is alleged by prosecutors to have been in Columbia. Mr O’Sullivan produced a photo purporting to be the said dinner and his boarding passes and a receipt for his airline ticket to Cuba. The prosecution’s last witness, John Alexander Rodriguez Caviedes, a former member of the Farc rebel army and driver for its top military leader, had earlier testified to having seen the men in southern Colombia in late December 2000 and January 2001 training rebels. He told the court that the foreigners had taught at a clandestine camp in southern Caqueta province between February 5 and February 25 2001. The lessons included instructions on how to blow up large objects and how to shoot down aircraft. Full Story
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