Same old, same old, readers.
"A State Department report this year questioned the Caribbean island’s reliability as an ally"
"Jamaica battles kill 30 in slums; Masked gunmen fight for kingpin" by David McFadden, Associated Press | May 26, 2010
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Thousands of police and soldiers stormed the Jamaican ghettos where reggae was born yesterday in search of a reputed drug kingpin wanted by the United States, intensifying a third day of street battles that have killed at least 30 people.
Wherever we go we bring death.
The masked gunmen fighting for underworld boss Christopher “Dudus’’ Coke say he provides services and protection — all funded by a criminal empire that seemed untouchable until the United States demanded his extradition.
That's his name? Coke?
Related: The Tivoli Gardens Uprising 2010: Christopher Coke, Edward Seaga, CIA and the trouble in Jamaica
Somehow I knew the CIA was at the BOTTOM of it all!!
Coke has built a loyal following in Tivoli Gardens, the poor West Kingston slum that is his stronghold. US authorities say he has been trafficking cocaine to the streets of New York City since the mid-1990s, allegedly hiring island women to hide the drugs on themselves on flights to the United States....
The few published photographs of the 5-foot-4-inch Jamaican the Justice Department calls one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords show an unassuming man with a pot belly.
Yesterday, masked gunmen in West Kingston vanished down side streets barricaded with barbed wire and junked cars. The sound of gunfire echoed across the slums on Jamaica’s south coast, far from the tourist meccas of the north shore.
Schools and businesses were closed across the capital and the government appealed for blood donations for the wounded.
At the epicenter of the violence are the West Kingston slums, known as garrisons, which include the Trenchtown ghetto where reggae superstar Bob Marley was raised.
The son of an alleged gangster, the 41-year-old Coke has strong ties to the governing Jamaica Labor Party, which has counted on gunmen inside his Tivoli Gardens slum to intimidate election rivals. By exposing the ties between gangs and politicians, some hope the explosion of violence will put Jamaica on a path to reform....
And CUI BONO, huh?
ANOTHER AmeriKan-initiated coup!
Prime Minister Bruce Golding had stonewalled the US request for nine months, straining relations. A State Department report this year questioned the Caribbean island’s reliability as an ally in the war against drugs, and Golding also faced domestic opposition that threatened his political career.
Police spokesman Corporal Richard Minott said yesterday that the fighting in West Kingston alone has killed 26 civilians and a security official.
The violence has not touched the tourist meccas along the Caribbean island’s north shore or the nearby Montego Bay airport....
--more--"And now we find out the CIA got him out, 'er, he's not even there?
"Target of raid may have left Jamaica; Government says whereabouts of gangster unknown" by David McFadden, Associated Press | May 27, 2010
KINGSTON, Jamaica — After a slum raid that left nearly 50 people dead in four days of gun battles, the reputed drug kingpin who was the target may have fled the country, the government said yesterday.
Strongman Christopher Coke, who helped the prime minister win elected office, had months to stockpile weapons in his slum stronghold while the premier wavered over US demands for his extradition....
Police and soldiers who fought their way into the barricaded Tivoli Gardens slum in West Kingston were conducting a door-to-door search, and the government reported calm yesterday....
Security forces barred journalists from entering the battle zones around the capital....
The violence did not surprise island police and community groups who warned that Coke had been stockpiling weapons and preparing to defend himself since the United States demanded his extradition last August. According to the US indictment, he has built a private arsenal of firearms smuggled in by gang members in the United States, sharing guns with other criminals to solidify his power as a major underworld boss.
“The situation at Tivoli is dreadful, but it’s been something that’s been simmering for a long, long time. And everybody knew that if they made the move for Coke that there would be trouble,’’ said Susan Goffe, spokeswoman for local human rights group Jamaicans for Justice.
At least 44 civilians have been killed, said Bishop Herro Blair, Jamaica’s most prominent evangelical pastor, who was escorted into the slum by security forces. At least four soldiers and police officers also have died in the fighting.
Jamaican politicians and gang leaders who control ghetto fiefdoms have had cozy ties for decades. Political parties created Jamaica’s street gangs in the 1970s to rustle up votes. Since then, the gangs have turned to drug trafficking, but they remain staunchly and often violently loyal to their parties.
The slum presided over by Coke, the alleged leader of the “Shower Posse’’ gang, has long been a bastion of support for the governing Jamaica Labor Party. It is part of the district represented in Parliament by Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who stonewalled the US extradition request for months before reversing himself under pressure from Washington and the local political opposition....
All looks and reads well; however, its more concealing and cover-up than anything else.
That's why I'm souring on the Boston Globe and AmeriKa's newspapers, folks.
