The home appearance of three Irish Republicans convicted in Colombia has created several political seismic waves stretching 2 continents. 

Known as "The Colombia Three," Jim Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley jumped bail after being condemned to prison for 17 years for allegedly training the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in urban guerrilla techniques. 

The men were arrested in 2001 at Bogota international airport for carrying false passports as they returned home from a visit to FARC-controlled zones.  The Colombian government claimed that the visitors were Irish Republican Army (IRA) active service members.

At the initial trial the Three were acquitted and freed from jail but had to await an appeal by the Colombian Attorney General, who succeeded in overturning the ruling a year later. 

Jim Monaghan says the group was helped by  "many people in many places" to return to Ireland. 

The Colombian government's first reaction is to ask that the Three be extradited to face their sentence but Ireland has no extradition treaty with Colombia. 

The British government, on the other hand, has stated that if the men return to Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, they will face arrest. 

The Three claim that their presence in Colombia at the time of their arrest was in connection with the Colombia Peace  process and the distention zone agreement established under former Colombian President Andres Pastrana and reversed by his successr, Alvaro Uribe.  

Monaghan's press interview Irish television (RTE) has come a week after the IRA announced its decision to end the armed struggle and seek peaceful methods to achieve Irish unity. 

The appearance of the Colombia Three has embarrassed British, Irish, Colombian and US governments and perhaps Venezuela, as the BBC reports (Colombian) intelligence sources, alleging that the Three passed through Venezuela to Cuba where Niall Connolly had been Sinn Fein's representative.