J
Joachim
Guest
Kingston, Jamaica, July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Jamaican troops patrolled the streets
of Kingston, the capital, to help restore order after more than 20 people were
killed in two days of clashes, Agence France-Presse and other news services
reported from the Caribbean nation.
``The army will be deployed to troubled areas to conduct cordons and curfews
and to allow the Jamaica Constabulary Force to concentrate their efforts on
searching and apprehending criminal elements,'' Prime Minister Percival
Patterson said, according to Reuters.
Police said 23 people had been confirmed dead and 30 injured in clashes that
began Saturday in the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in West Kingston. The
violence continued today with a Kingston policeman shot and burned to death in
his car, Reuters said.
Kingston residents have seen mounting violence in the past two months between
opposing gangs supporting the ruling People's National Party and Edward
Seaga's Jamaica Labor Party. Seaga said the clashes were part of the PNP's
strategy in the lead-up to next year's general elections.
So far the unrest hasn't spread to the large coastal resorts that attract foreigners
to the mountainous tropical island. Tourism generates at least $1.1 billion in
annual revenue for the country, making it one of the mainstays of the economy.
Seeks Outside Help
Patterson said his government was in discussions with other countries he didn't
name for help in dealing with the violence, Reuters said.
Seaga, who is also the member of Parliament for West Kingston, disputed the
official death toll, saying more people were killed. He blamed the killings on
police, AFP said.
The trouble began when police and soldiers entered Tivoli Gardens in search of
illegal weapons. They were met with a barrage of gunfire and homemade bombs,
reports said.
Jamaica has the highest per-capita rate of police-led killings in the world,
according to an April report by the human rights group Amnesty International.
The report described a country ravaged by violence that is fueled by poverty,
drugs and politically motivated crime.
The number of murders in Jamaica steadily increased throughout the 1980s and
early 1990s, peaking at 1,938 in 1997, one of the highest per-capita homicide
rates in the world. Jamaica has a population of 2.6 million, about the same as
Orange County, California.
Much of the violence is due to the drug trade, as well as the establishment of
so-called garrison communities that are set up and controlled by criminal
elements, according to Anthony Bryan, director of the Caribbean Studies
program at the North-South Center of the University of Miami.
For this reason I vacation with my wife in the DR. The majority of Dominicans are warm non violent people. Never have I ever had a problem there. Sure sometimes I was overcharged, but my wife also. But the country is a please to visit depite all of its problems.
of Kingston, the capital, to help restore order after more than 20 people were
killed in two days of clashes, Agence France-Presse and other news services
reported from the Caribbean nation.
``The army will be deployed to troubled areas to conduct cordons and curfews
and to allow the Jamaica Constabulary Force to concentrate their efforts on
searching and apprehending criminal elements,'' Prime Minister Percival
Patterson said, according to Reuters.
Police said 23 people had been confirmed dead and 30 injured in clashes that
began Saturday in the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in West Kingston. The
violence continued today with a Kingston policeman shot and burned to death in
his car, Reuters said.
Kingston residents have seen mounting violence in the past two months between
opposing gangs supporting the ruling People's National Party and Edward
Seaga's Jamaica Labor Party. Seaga said the clashes were part of the PNP's
strategy in the lead-up to next year's general elections.
So far the unrest hasn't spread to the large coastal resorts that attract foreigners
to the mountainous tropical island. Tourism generates at least $1.1 billion in
annual revenue for the country, making it one of the mainstays of the economy.
Seeks Outside Help
Patterson said his government was in discussions with other countries he didn't
name for help in dealing with the violence, Reuters said.
Seaga, who is also the member of Parliament for West Kingston, disputed the
official death toll, saying more people were killed. He blamed the killings on
police, AFP said.
The trouble began when police and soldiers entered Tivoli Gardens in search of
illegal weapons. They were met with a barrage of gunfire and homemade bombs,
reports said.
Jamaica has the highest per-capita rate of police-led killings in the world,
according to an April report by the human rights group Amnesty International.
The report described a country ravaged by violence that is fueled by poverty,
drugs and politically motivated crime.
The number of murders in Jamaica steadily increased throughout the 1980s and
early 1990s, peaking at 1,938 in 1997, one of the highest per-capita homicide
rates in the world. Jamaica has a population of 2.6 million, about the same as
Orange County, California.
Much of the violence is due to the drug trade, as well as the establishment of
so-called garrison communities that are set up and controlled by criminal
elements, according to Anthony Bryan, director of the Caribbean Studies
program at the North-South Center of the University of Miami.
For this reason I vacation with my wife in the DR. The majority of Dominicans are warm non violent people. Never have I ever had a problem there. Sure sometimes I was overcharged, but my wife also. But the country is a please to visit depite all of its problems.