Death toll rises in Jamaica

In regional news, the state of emergency in Jamaica has the entire island on lockdown.  Over five hundred persons are in police custody and upwards of fifty persons have been killed since the start of the battle between the police and the Shower Posse gang of Tivoli Gardens.   Security forces have been trying to arrest Michael Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, allegedly one of the world’s most dangerous drug kingpins for extradition to the United States. Dudus faces a string of drug trafficking and weapons charges in the U.S. The volley of brute force in Tivoli Gardens has kept the island nation on edge, and Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding had spoken about the need for the state of emergency while the foreign minister said that they would hunt down the criminals.

Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica

“The operation being carried out under emergency powers, are extraordinary measures but they are an extraordinary response to an extraordinary challenge to the safety and security of our citizens. The government is aware, Mr. Speaker, that the imposition of a state of emergency limited, though it is the corporate area, has negative implications in terms of international media coverage and this effect on  tourism marketing. It is, however, a necessary measure to address our present challenge and every effort is being made to minimize those negative effects.”

Elon Parkinson, Presenter Nationwide

elon parkinson

“I’ve heard a large long volley of shots being traded between the members of the security forces and the gunmen and; things are intensifying now because indeed the police and the soldiers are moving into Tivoli Gardens now, perhaps on foot by now.”

Dwight Nelson, Minister of National Security

“We are going to hunt them down as they ought to be hunted down and bring the full brunt if the law on them”

Bruce Golding

“This will be a turning point for us as a nation, to confront the powers of evil that have penalized the society and earned us the unenviable label , as one of the murder capitals of the world.”

Some Belizean students in Jamaica have indicated that they will return home as soon as flights are available while some others intend to stay over the summer to complete courses.  The violence has not reached the University of West Indies and so far the only effect on the Belizean students is the lack of basic food commodities in stores.