Madam, - I read with some bemusement about Mr Gerry Adams's "anger and outrage" over the sentences imposed on the so-called "Colombia Three". He complains about the "human rights abuses" of the Colombian government. One wonders what the family of Mrs Jean McConville, among others, would have to say about Mr Adams and his moral outrage over "human rights abuses". And given the republican movement's intoxication with revolutionary and military symbol and ceremony, one would think that Ms Caitriona Ruane would end her tedious cries to bring the three home and let them serve their 17 years with all the dignity befitting any true Óglach na hÉireann. - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN BARRINGTON, St Kevin's Terrace, New Bride Street, Dublin 8.
Madam, - Attention is being drawn to deficiencies in the Colombian judicial system. Who better to offer consultancy services to the Colombian government than Sinn Féin/IRA? This organization is uniquely qualified to offer seminars on a diverse range of topics including the effects on the administration of law of the assassination of judges, the murder of policemen, the intimidation of witnesses, the conduct of kangaroo courts, punishment beatings and the causing of exile and disappearance. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN McDONAGH, Bettyglen, Dublin 5.
Madam, - Commenting on the "Colombia Three" case in Mr David Burnside of the Ulster Unionist Party claimed the sentences proved Sinn Féin was not fit to share power in Northern Ireland (The Irish Times, December 16th). For the sanctimonious Mr Burnside to take the moral high ground and lecture nationalists on their political behaviour is beneath contempt.
Political unionism in its many facets has, over the years, frustrated the democratic process, indulged in sectarian patronage in jobs and housing, engaged in gerrymandering of electoral wards to unfairly maximise unionist representation, defined democracy as a naked sectarian headcount, and in spite of offending every democratic political tenet possible, has had political endorsement from unionist voters since the foundation of the Six County state.- Yours, etc.,
TOM COOPER, Delaford Lawn, Knocklyon, Dublin 16.
Madam, - I would be grateful if I could use your paper to state the following facts about Colombia:
1. Colombia made a conscious decision many decades ago not to be a militarised state like Chile or Argentina. It has a smaller ratio of army personnel to civilian population than Norway.
2. President Uribe scores about 80 per cent approval ratings in all independent opinion polls. FARC scores less than 10 per cent.
There is a tendency to depict Colombia as some junta-run dictatorship where the majority of the population look to FARC for emancipation. This simply is the opposite of the truth and leads to inaccurate inferences as to how the Irish Government should respond to Colombian judicial decisions. - Yours, etc.,
TOM MAHER, (Currently in Bogota), London SW6.