Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, set a date for Adams to appear, April 24. A spokesperson for Hyde's office told the Financial Times that the "hearing is not about the Northern Ireland peace process. It is about the alleged links between international terrorism which are threatening U.S. interests. Mr. Adams should explain to us what three IRA [Irish Republican Army] members were doing last summer in Colombia."

The three, Jim Monaghan, Martin McCauley, and Niall Connolly, have been held in Bogotá's La Picota prison after officials claimed that forensic tests carried out at the U.S. embassy there showed they had traces of explosives on their clothes. They are being held under charges of teaching FARC members how to make bombs.

In an advertisement in the El Tiempo newspaper, the three men said that they were framed up and believe they will not receive a fair trial. "Sections of the governments of the United States and Great Britain have used our arrests to damage the peace process in Colombia and Ireland," the three wrote.

The three deny they belong to the Irish Republican Army. Washington and London claim Sinn Fein and the IRA are two wings of the same organization. Both Sinn Fein and the IRA explain they are two separate organizations, both fighting for a united Ireland.  
 
 
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