Three weeks after the arrest warrant against “Dudus” was signed (see news of 24/05/2010) and two weeks after the violent security forces operation on Tivoli Gardens (the deadliest ever carried out in Jamaica, see news of 26/05/2010), Christopher Coke is still nowhere to be found. Jamaica continues to live in slow motion, at the pace of this major crisis: the tourism industry is taking a hit and even musical activity is suffering, while a curfew has been imposed on Kingston and St Andrew.
The Jamaican government has also clarified its intentions by admitting, with promises to back it up, that the hunt for “Dudus” and the state of emergency will be the occasion for a vast campaign against organised crime.
In all, since the start of the operations, officially more than 70 deaths have been counted, but there could be more than 100 according to witnesses who report that the authorities made bodies disappear. A good sixty weapons, nearly 80 explosive devices and almost 15,000 rounds of ammunition have been seized over the course of the operations in Tivoli, in downtown Kingston (as on Monday at Matthews Lane) and in St Andrew.
With releases and arrests succeeding one another, the National Arena stadium is not emptying: 600 people are said to be still held there, but only a minority will be prosecuted. The state of emergency, decreed by the government on 24 May, does indeed allow preventive imprisonment on security grounds. It is also under this provision that a list of about 35 neighbourhood leaders was published. Most of them have surrendered and are not expected to be prosecuted for the time being either.
Besides “Dudus”, who is number one on this list, and several of his business associates, his family circle is also affected. His sister Sandra and his brother Leighton, nicknamed “Livity”, gave themselves up thanks to the mediation of Reverend Al Miller. The latter had in fact spoken at length with “Dudus” before the operations on Tivoli.
Many questions remain about the government’s handling of this crisis. Earl Witter, the “Public Defender”, has received a host of testimonies of excessive violence: many cases raise questions and lend credence to the accusations of executions. Several citizens’ organisations (churches, employers, trade unions, media and even retired police officers) are calling on the authorities for greater transparency. They also decry the lack of a long-term strategy, which risks undermining the big promises of change.
To better understand the Jamaican situation, see our Focus: the inside story of the Dudus affair