Lawyers defending two of the three men from Northern Ireland accused of gun-running and conspiracy to murder and maim painted a dark picture of conditions for the Catholic minority there and queried if the IRA was a terrorist organisation.
The prosecution objected as Mr Daniel McElhatton, appearing for Mr Martin Mullan, described Northern Ireland as "under British control for 75 years" and "a small state-let rampant with injustice and inequality".
Judge Wilkie Ferguson, who had earlier declared he "did not want a political trial", conferred with the prosecution and defence and apparently asked the defence to limit descriptions of the politics and history of Northern Ireland.
Mr Fred Haddad, appearing for Mr Conor Claxton, told the jury they would learn in the evidence about partition and "the regard" held for the Provisional IRA and whether it was "listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the government in Belfast".
He described Mr Claxton as a person who was "forced to strip on a street to be searched" when he was 13. As a small child he was hidden in a closet "when soldiers broke into his home" and "we are all familiar with that", Mr Haddad said, obviously in reference to the photograph of the recent seizure of Elian Gonzalez in Miami 40 miles away.
Mr Haddad, like Mr McElhatton, challenged the prosecution's charge on the first day of the trial that their clients "did not want peace" and that this was why they allegedly tried to send over 100 weapons to Northern Ireland.
According to Mr Haddad, Mr Claxton was not against the peace process but believed "the Protestants were not negotiating in good faith". It was the "overlords in Northern Ireland" who were trying to abrogate the peace process. He told the jury that of the 138,000 guns registered in Northern Ireland, 90 per cent were owned by Protestants.
Mr McElhatton said the family home of Mr Mullan, from Dunloy, where his girlfriend and their son lived, had been searched by police as recently as April 7th last "looking for evidence for the US government in this prosecution".
He said Mr Mullan had come openly to the US for work in the Philadelphia area and had met Mr Claxton by chance at the airport in January 1999. Mr Claxton told him to look him up if he ever came to south Florida. Mr Mullan was on holiday in Boca, Fort Lauderdale, just before Mr Claxton, Mr Anthony Smyth and Siobhan Browne were arrested and later charged with gun-running, he said.
Mr Mullan was arrested soon afterwards in Philadelphia and faced similar charges. Browne has pleaded guilty to lesser charges and will be sentenced next month.
The prosecution then began showing security camera videos from Deerfield Post Office in Fort Lauderdale suburbs allegedly showing Mr Mullen posting large packages to Ireland labelled as containing toys, baby clothes and computer parts.
The prosecution called the FBI agent in charge of the case to testify that these packages had been intercepted, found to contain guns and ammunition, and traced back to Mr Mullan.
Mr Anthony Smyth, from Belfast, who has lived in Florida for 10 years, is the third defendant in the trial. His lawyer, Mr Frederick Mann, denies his client took part in any mailing of guns to Ireland. The prosecution claims Mr Smyth and Browne between them purchased over 100 guns in Florida between March and July 1999.
The case is expected to last up to seven weeks.