BY GONZALO GUILLEN
 El Nuevo Herald

 BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombian authorities arrested a Cuban national who had been part of the Peruvian Shining Path guerrillas, escaped from a Peruvian jail in 1995 and later joined a Colombian rebel group as an explosives instructor.

 The 33-year-old man was identified by police as Miguel Mariano Ramos Rodríguez, according to a Peruvian foreigner's identification found on him.

 Ramos was arrested Saturday on a bus in Uramita, department of Antioquia. He was in civilian clothes and unarmed, police Col. Guillermo Aranda Leal said. Police said Ramos was an instructor with Fronts 5 and 34 of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

 Ramos denied being a FARC member and did not resist arrest, a police source said.

 Peruvian police believe that the arrested man could be N. Rodríguez Ramos, a member of Shining Path who was captured in 1994 and escaped from prison the following year, Antioquia police said.

 According to Peruvian authorities, Ramos was born in the Cuban province of Holguín.

 The suspected rebel is being accused of terrorism and rebellion, and held in Medellín.

 Colombian authorities said they will ask Cuba for information on Ramos.

 The alleged links of Ramos with Shining Path and the FARC raise concerns about Cuban President Fidel Castro's involvement -- which has been considered non-existent or fading -- with Latin American guerrilla groups.

 Castro has repeatedly urged Colombian rebels to engage in political talks toward a peaceful solution of the South American nation's conflict, and the Cuban government is part of an international commission trying to mediate between Colombian President Andrés Pastrana and the rebels.

 The presence of Cubans among the Colombian guerrillas is now rare, Bogotá police sources said.

 Colombia has twice severed diplomatic relations with Cuba because of alleged ties between the Cuban government and Colombian rebels, who received arms and
 instructors from Cuba in the 1960s, '70s and part of the '80s.

                                    © 2001