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Colombian suspects kept in ‘animal cage’
05 October 2001 --
Dan Connolly, the brother of one of the Colombian Three, describes a recent
visit to the men in Dijin holding centre, Bogota When I first heard of my
brother Niall’s arrest on August 11, I was at work. A glance at a photograph on
the front page of a newspaper was to dramatically change how my family and I
lived our lives. A few weeks later, on September 13, – in the company of Peter
Madden, a solicitor, and Caitriona Ruane, who came as our translator – I was on
the tarmac of Bogota Airport meeting Karl Gardner, a representative of the Irish
Embassy in Mexico. The purpose of our visit was to assess and improve the
conditions the men are in and to set up a legal team to represent them in a case
that is highly charged on both sides of the Atlantic. I went on the first visit
alone, as Peter and Caitriona were meeting lawyers. I had plenty of letters from
home, warm jumpers, papers, books, art materials and cigarettes. Emotions were
high, not only at seeing Niall, but also at first meeting Martin and Jim,
knowing that I was carrying the good wishes of their families as well as of my
own. Conditions for the visit were sub-standard in that we were in a corridor
surrounded by armed guards who still had not left in the bulk of the items I had
brought. The morale of the men was incredibly high. As could be expected, they
were preoccupied with how their case was going and their isolation and
disorientation was evident. The September 15 visit was in the open air, along
with the families of the 40 or so ‘extraditables’ who are in the Dijin holding
centre with the three Irish men. We managed to see the cells as we left. While
the men were in high spirits as we left, we were in a state of shock. The three
men are locked up for 23 hours a day in cells which are about 5ft wide by 6ft
long if that. There is no natural light in the cells and light for their cells
comes from a fluorescent bulb about four foot away from them. Two men, Martin
and Niall share one cell while Jim is in the adjoining cell. They are isolated
from the other prisoners and just meet them at visiting times or during the
hour-long walk in the fresh air. They are allowed out of their cells to eat at a
table in the corridor, but they eat alone. They only get one 10-minute phone
call every second day. The men have kept their morale up against terrific odds,
they are learning Irish, practising Spanish and doing as much physical exercise
as they can in the cramped conditions. Dijin is a national police holding
centre, a temporary stop, and their continued detention there is inhumane in my
view. The paradox is that there is no safe prison in Colombia. We have left it
to the lawyers to assess as to whether the men can be moved to a prison where
they could have basic human rights such as free association and to take them out
of, what to me as a lay person, to all intents is an animal cage with toilets,
albeit a clean animal cage. Our last visit to the men came about after serious
pressure from the Irish Embassy in Mexico. When we were planning our Wednesday
visit we said to one another that we would go in upbeat and leave on a high – I
think the lads inside did the same. We brought in chicken and chips and had a
good laugh, for three solid hours. I got to talk to Niall as well for the first
time on our own and I filled him in on all the family news, which is no mean
task, given that there are nine brothers and five sisters and all the various
offshoots. They were particularly happy that Christy Moore, who they all love
and respect, played a gig on their behalf two nights earlier in Dublin. I left
Bogota, a city that bears the marks of prolonged and bitter division, the next
day with a heavy heart for those I had left behind.
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