At the trial of the three Irishmen in Bogota, a senior Irish diplomat told the court that she met one of the defendants in Cuba on a date when the Colombian authorities say he was in Colombia.
Mr Jim Monaghan, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Niall Connolly are accused of entering Colombia on false documents and of training FARC guerrillas in weapons technology and urban warfare tactics. Colombian authorities blame a recent spate of deadly bombings and attacks throughout the country on newly-learned skills they believe come from the IRA.
Before testifying, Ms Síle Maguire, First Secretary at the Irish Embassy in Mexico, clarified to the court that her authorities had partially lifted her diplomatic immunity in order for her to act as a witness. Ms Maguire said she hosted a dinner party at the Golden Tulip hotel in Havana on January 17th, 2001.
The dinner was attended by a group of Irish parliamentarians and members of the Irish community resident in the Cuban capital and included Fine Gael Senator Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Deputy Ben Briscoe of Fianna Fáil and Deputy Jim O'Keeffe of Fine Gael. Three Irish residents and their spouses also attended.
Ms Maguire said she had made contact with the Irish residents on the island through various cultural and ministerial links Ireland has with Cuba. She told the court she had called Mr Connolly by telephone the day before the hotel gathering to invite him to dinner.
He attended with his Cuban partner. Regarding his activities in Cuba, Ms Maguire said she believed he worked in manual labour.
She added that at the dinner, there was a lot of conversation and the Irish group seemed to be "engaging and friendly".
She also said the second time she met Mr Connolly was on August 26th, 2002, in La Modelo prison in Bogota. On that occasion he was accompanied by the other two defendants.
After persistent questioning from the prosecution the Irish diplomat insisted that she was at the court only to confirm that she saw Mr Connolly on the date mentioned.
The judge, Dr Jairo Acosta, intervened to explain that under international treaties regarding diplomatic immunity, it was not necessary for Ms Maguire to answer certain questions.
In a brief statement to the press, the prosecuting lawyer, Mr Carlos Sánchez, said he did not think the trial was falling apart.
"On the contrary, we have a good case," he told reporters. He said the prosecution would ask for "an exemplary sentence" for the men.
The second witness of the day was Mr Mike Ritchie, a former employer of another of the accused men, Mr Monaghan.
This stage of the trial is expected to end today.