Tag: jamaica

From Kingston… Dudas in custody!

The New York Times story. (The New York Timesapparently has no reporter in Jamaica, since the dateline is Mexico City. Though non-byline credit is given to stringer Ross Sheil). Here’s the story in the Jamaica Observer. But The Gleanerreports: No End to Emergency.

[Now ask yourself if this was worth the lives of like a hundred people, including many police officers.]

Now the real question is whether or not Dudas will make it to the US alive or be killed like his father was.

[And if you just miss good ol’ Jamaican dialect in print (nothing to do with Dudas), you can read this.]

I know it’s wrong, but I’m kind of starting to root for Dudus. Of course I can’t really root for cop killers, but this is one guy taking on two entire nations. And, at least for now, he’s winning! Plus, the more I learn about Jamaica the less I want to root for the government. They’re crooks. And not in a “throw-dem-bums-out-of-office” kind of way, but in a corrupt working-with-the-mobsters kind of way.

Well Dudus is still on the lamb and may have escaped the Tivoli Gardens dragnet. My quote of the day comes from the Jamaica Star: “Is like di man get a feeling and jus cut same time … It look like di Babylon [security forces] dem a get information pon him cause di building weh him did inna a one a di first building dem weh dem search.” But, kind sir, which way did Dudus go and how did he manage to get away? “Bway mi nuh know which way him tek eno but a di President dat and anything possible wid him.”

Turns out that over the years the government has given Dudus’s consulting company million of dollars (and nice to see one America newspaper finallyget a reporter to Jamaica to cover this story). Dudus is part of the system. Dudus got paid to provide government services and keep the streets safe. And to some extend he did. Meanwhile he makes a lot of money. He reminds me a local ward alderman of 19th-century America (but with more drugs and bigger guns).

The Daily Gleaner reports:

Soldiers … were engaged in a more than five-hour gun battle with the criminals.

One soldier was fatally shot during that battle while five others suffered gunshot wounds. Another soldier was injured in an undisclosed accident.

Medical sources [said] that the civilian death toll had climbed to 44, with the number of injured moving to 37.

The deaths included two men reportedly found in a neighbouring community with tags on their bodies, indicating they had been shot for refusing to participate in the fight to defend Coke.

Meanwhile… “An appeal was made by Health Minister Ruddy Spencer for gunmen within communities in the vicinity of the Kingston Public Hospital to cease from attacking hospital workers.” Seems like a reasonable request.

I think it’s a safe bet that in his area, Dudus would win any election. And the Jamaican government didn’t have much a problem with him until America demanded they turn Dudus over. That’s when all hell broke out. Dudus’s father met the same fate and was killed (or died in a suspicious jail fire) before he could be turned over to America (and rat out police and government officials).

Once drug prohibition allows criminals to get rich and arm themselves, a massive crackdown doesn’t work. It just causes violence and highlights the impotence and corruption of the supposedly legit government. It’s kind of like Mexico. Except in Jamaica, unlike Mexico, the drug lords actually do seem to provide some kindof community service.

Gun battles seem to be the order of the day. Police officers have been killed. There’s also looting. But a police spokesman says about the business district, “There was some shootings last night but some amount of calm has returned.” Phew.

A state of emergency has been declared that basically give police carte blanche to do what they want. Prime Minister Golding says, “These are necessary measures to restore order to a community that is now threatened…. This will be a turning point for us as a nation to confront the powers of evil that have penalised the society.”

Turning point in the drug war? Why do I not believe him?

Meanwhile one newspaper says the police have taken a “soft-handed approach.” In the same paper the police commissioner is quoted as saying, “Do not hesitate to respond quickly and take decisive action when attacked by these criminals…. Police personnel have the full backing of the High Command to any response to protect themselves.”

I wonder if they’ll get Dudas. And I wonder if they’ll get him alive. I’m sure many in government would much prefer him dead and silent than alive and talking.

My quote of the day comes from Deejay Mavado: “Ask them if me ever bring a rifle come give them, but at the same time me nah tell them not to defend themselves.” That was at a peace meeting.