Three Irishmen — James Monaghan, Niall Connolly, and Martin McCauley — were arrested in 2001 for fake documents and were eventually convicted of aiding the FARC in the use of explosives, specifically mortars, “against police stations in urban areas” and other terrorist techniques; the three somehow have eluded authorities since they vanished from Bogota in December 2004 and are now thought to have left Colombia , presumably for disreputable Venezuela . Connolly was also Sinn Fein’s man in Cuba, while Monaghan and McCauley were explosives and mortar experts. International arrest warrants have been issued for the trio.

The belief that the IRA had trained FARC members, who had in turn begun employing IRA tactics was witnessed in a recent attack involving homemade mortars on Cauca (Terrorist Incident forthcoming). Colombian forces confiscated grenades, apparently equipped with stabilizing fins, that closely resembling the “barrack-busters” made by the P-IRA . General Carlos Alberto Ospina also blames the IRA training for a resurgence in sniping, which had not been seen since the 1960s. In fact, Ospina contends that a company of FARC snipers was trained near Brazil and sent out to 60 fronts to use their newly acquired skills. FARC rebels have been caught with the high powered 0.5 caliber rifles with advanced scoping equipment that were frequently seen in the Northern Ireland conflict. British military experts have reviewed confiscated or discovered materiel and have indicated that “there were similarities with the techniques they have in Ireland.” Finally, authorities have also reported multiple bombing attacks, some as baited traps intended to injure first responders. This tactic is reminiscent of an ambush attack in 1979 in Ireland that killed 18 British soldiers in an ambush.