Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 30 Jan 2001

Vol. 529 No. 1

Written Answers. - Foreign Conflicts.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

96 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the release from prison in Columbia of the killers of two young members of the Atlantis Foundation; if his Department has been contacted on the matter; the response he has made in this regard; the action he proposes to take; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2234/01]

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

263 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has been in touch with the authorities in Colombia in relation to the investigation into the murders of an Irish citizen (details supplied) and his friend in July 2000 and in particular arising from the release from prison of two of their alleged murderers; and the response of the Colombian authorities in this regard. [2406/01]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 96 and 263 together.

Early in August last, when my Department first received reports of the disappearance of Tristan James Murray and his Colombian friend, Javier Nova, from the town of Tolima in central Colombia, where they lived as members of the Atlantis environmental community, I instructed our Ambassador based in Mexico City to use all possible means available to him to try to establish what had happened to Tristan and Javier. The following month the Taoiseach personally raised the case with President Pastrana of Colombia when they met in the margins of the UN Millennium Summit in New York.

Following investigations in Tolima, local people came forward to confirm that they had witnessed the killing of Tristan and Javier by renegade elements of the FARC guerrilla group. Enquiries made by our Ambassador indicated that the bodies had not been located and Atlantis representatives in Colombia were told by their local contacts that the remains of the two deceased had been burned.

When our Ambassador in Mexico City also became accredited to Colombia in late September, he had a meeting with a representative of Atlantis in Bogota. Since then, he has continued to liaise with Atlantis there and to support their representations to the Colombian authorities.

When Atlantis members based in Ireland decided to travel to Colombia to join their colleagues there with a view to pursuing the case, they were invited to meet with officials of my Department in advance of their departure in early December. Following this meeting, the case was raised with the newly accredited Colombian Ambassador to Ireland, based in London. The Ambassador has since informed my Department that he has raised the case with the Colombian Vice President in his capacity as High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as with other authorities in Colombia. He confirmed that a special prosecutor of the national human rights unit is conducting an investigation, including the question of the reported release of persons imprisoned on other charges and alleged to be implicated in the Atlantis case. The Ambassador has undertaken to keep us informed of developments in the investigation. The information provided by him has already been passed to representatives of the Atlantis community. Our Ambassador in Mexico City will also continue actively to monitor the case and to maintain liaison with the Colombian authorities and with Atlantis representatives in Colombia.

We will continue to do everything we can to bring comfort and closure to Tristan's family and to the Atlantis community as a whole which has been dedicated for so long to the preservation of the precious ecosystem of that beautiful but troubled country. Tristan and Javier were two of the some 25,000 people who lost their lives last year alone in the endemic violence which has afflicted Colombia for so long. That is why the EU has decided to put in place a programme of practical support for the peace process initiated by President Pastrana.