A Tale Of Two Extraditions

By Saul Landau - Z Space

The US government demanded that Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding extradite a drug dealer. When Venezuela made similar demands on Washington, for arguably the Hemisphere’s most notorious terrorist, the Justice Department brushed off the request.

Compare the recent arrest in Jamaica of “Dudus” (Christopher Coke) to stand trial in New York for drug and arms trafficking to Washington’s response to Venezuela’s extradition petition for Luis Posada Carriles, aka the Osama bin Laden of the Western Hemisphere for plotting the October 6, 1976 bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner over Barbados. All 73 crew and passengers died.

Evidence abounds pointing to his culpability including declassified cables from the CIA. An October 12, 1976 CIA cable from Caracas states that “Posada was overheard to say that `Now we are going to hit a Cuban airplane’.”

22 years later, Posada told NY Times reporters Ann Bardach and Larry Rohter (July13, 1998) he had orchestrated a series of hotel bombings in Cuba to dissuade tourism. An Italian tourist died in one of the blasts.

Posada’s captured underlings – arrested by police after the bombs exploded -- named him as the criminal author. A recent New Jersey Federal Grand Jury gathered evidence showing Posada used money and personnel from Miami to carry out the hotel bombings.

However, instead of charging him with terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder Justice invented a legal inanity and charged Posada with immigration fraud: lying to US officials when he entered the United States in 2004. Since then, the Justice Department has created reasons to delay the case – perhaps as Jose Pertierra suggests, so he will die before going to trial. http://machetera.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/waiting-for-posada-carriles-to...

Compare this dallying with a bona fide terrorist to the “extradite Dudus or else” position taken with Jamaica’s government. Jamaican security forces killed some 70 residents trying to capture Dudus in his Kingston neighborhood. But Washington refuses to extradite the mass murderer Posada.

As Washington intimidated Jamaica’s government over Dudus the drug and gun peddler they ignored the fact that millions of US citizens consume drugs imported from Jamaica; and US banks that launder money from the trade.

But a more sinister fact underlines the Dudus and Posada cases. Both of criminals owe their careers to Washington’s 50 year war against Cuba.

In 1976, Prime Minister Michael Manley told me during the filming of his campaign film, of an unusual invitation. In January 1976, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, vacationing at the Rockefeller estate in Jamaica, invited Manley to visit to convince him to withdraw his support of Cuban troops in Angola. (Castro had sent troops there in October 1975 at the Angolan government’s request to stop CIA and South African invasions of that newly independent African country.) Kissinger’s grimaced as Manley reiterated his backing for Castro’s Africa policies.

“He then assured me,” Manley chuckled, “I should not worry about CIA activities in Jamaica.” But, he said, some interesting “coincidences” occurred shortly after the visit.

Norman Descoteaux arrived to head the CIA station in Kingston, an expert on destabilization campaigns in South America. As journalists arrived in Kingston to cover World Bank and IMF meetings, violence exploded in Kingston’s western slums. Tourists exposed to the media accounts would have had good reason to change plans for a Jamaican vacation. Soon afterward, security forces arrested armed youth who admitted they were getting trained to attack the government, Other gunmen killed two policemen.

Manley applied “heavy manners.” He revived a special court permitting the arrest without bail of persons with unlicensed firearms and formed unarmed, community self-defense groups. The CIA learned from its “mistakes,” however.

In Manley’s 1980 campaign for re-election, the violence far exceeded the 1976 carnage. I heard the nightly roar of gunfire in Kingston streets and filmed people weeping for  their dead kin outside a recently torched housing project in a pro-Manley district. Thousands died in that pre-election period. The gangs bought by Manley’s opponent, Edward Seaga, and the CIA successfully destabilized the government.

Manley lost; Seaga became Prime Minister and the first foreign visitor to the Reagan White House.

Dudus’ father, Lester, emerged from the violence campaigns as head of the Shower Posse (they sprayed their victims with automatic weapons) in West Kingston. Having secured a political alliance with the winner in 1980, and possessing arms from the CIA, he began dealing drugs and weapons.

So powerful had the posse become – now under Dudis the son -- that Labor Party chief and now Prime Minister Bruce Golding tried to defuse the US extradition request for nine months. The State Department assured him that continued resistance would endanger US-Jamaican relations (aid money) and his political career.

But Washington sneers at Venezuelan pressure just as George H. W. Bush in 1990 derided his own Justice Department’s strong advice against pardoning Orlando Bosch, Posada’s co-conspirator in the airline bombing. Judges play along with the charade. One magistrate, without fact or testimony, ruled against Posada's extradition to Venezuela because Posada’s lawyer claimed Venezuela would torture him “while in custody."

The Caribbean states (Caricom) called the 1976 Cubana airline bombing “terrorism in Caribbean airspace.” Ricky Siingh writing in the Jamaica Observer said “no double standards on implementation of bilateral extradition treaties should be permitted on the part of Jamaica and the USA in the case of Christopher Coke; or that involving Venezuela and America for the extradition of Posada.” June 20?? Accusing the United States of double standards is like charging a prostitute with having sex. Indeed, US behavior in the Posada case gives hypocrisy a bad name.

Hubris with Jamaica over a druggie! The stalling game played with Venezuela over a terrorist! Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a nation of law?

Landau directed Michael Manley’s campaign films in 1976 and 1980. Counterpunch published his A BUSH AND BOTOX WORLD.

Source: Z Communications

July 19th 2010

venezuelanalysis

Bahamas Blog International

Christopher 'Dudus' Coke is next to God

'Dudus next to God'
By Pastor Devon Dick:



On Thursday last, an unnamed woman expressed solidarity with Christopher 'Dudus' Coke by stating that "Dudus next to God." This affirmation portrays how she perceived both God and Dudus.

Some Christians might find it an affront to God. And it is hardly likely that the churches that will be observing Trinity Sunday in three days time will have such a formulation as they try to explain God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But it appears to me that this woman was mouthing a concept of God, to which some sections of the church have unwittingly ascribed. Obviously, for her, God is someone who destroys the enemies, dispenses justice quickly without going through legal human channels, provides for them and protects them. And apparently, Dudus has similar attributes. One woman proclaimed that she has six children and Dudus is the godfather, while another testified that she can leave her door open and her children are not raped.

This concept of God is not empowering and definitely one-dimensional. Rather it makes people passive, expecting handouts only. It is a mentality in some sections of the church in which the main philosophy is to give a fish rather than teaching the person to fish. It is a mendicancy syndrome. Therefore, some churches take pride in announcing what they can hand out to persons on the margins rather than challenging the economic system which impoverishes those on the periphery. And there is a similar mentality in our political system in which politicians boast in Parliament how much handouts are given for school fees, to bury dead and to feed people through the Constituency Development Fund.

Hiding behind prayer

Some sections of the church use prayer in this passive role of doing nothing but only waiting on God to do everything. Therefore, as we listen to the prayers to God about our crisis, it is always telling God what to do, as if God does not know the gravity of the crisis, rather than seeking the will of God concerning our role in confronting the tribulations.

So we would rather pray for more rain than build more dams, and channel more rivers to dams and engage in better stewardship of water. We would rather pray to God about the high murder rate rather than have God induce courage to telephone Crime Stop.

And most of our gospel music is not wrestling with issues of economic justice and equality of all. Not even Rastafarian singers will chant, "Get up, stand for your rights".

The Church has largely moved away from an activist role in society. In Rebellion to Riot: The Jamaican Church in Nation Building (2002), I showed that pre-Independence (1962) the Church was leading in nation building in the areas of economic empowerment, educating the people and holistic concept of evangelism, etc. And in the concluding chapter I suggested that we need to return to that activist role.

The Church needs to admit that the theologising that claimed that "Dudus next to God" is a reflection of the failure of sections of the church to present the proper attributes of God. God must be shown also as a God of justice who rewards the righteous and empowers persons to live a life of service and sacrifice, as well as punishes the wicked for their evil deeds.

Let us not blame so much the unnamed woman for the affirmation "Dudus next to God", but perceive it as an indictment on the church which often engages in cowardice and inaction rather than confronting evil and turning the city upside down (Acts 17:6), and serving God rather than man (Acts 5:29).

Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church and author of 'The Cross and the Machete: Native Baptists of Jamaica - Identity, Ministry and Legacy'. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.

May 27, 2010

jamaica-gleaner

Bahamas Blog International

Diehards defend Embattled west Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke

Diehards defend 'Dudus'
jamaica-gleaner:





Embattled west Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke received a fillip yesterday as thousands of vocal residents of Tivoli Gardens and adjoining communities took to the streets supporting him.

The protesters, mainly women and children dressed in white, started their demonstration at the intersection of Industrial Terrace and Spanish Town Road just after 8 yesterday morning.

Initially, they concentrated on the reports by the police that they were being forced to stay at home and that their cellular phones had been confiscated by thugs backing Dudus.

"Dem a talk about our phones take away and if we leave we can't come back and that is a lie," declared one angry protester.

"Anybody can come into Tivoli and see the situation. We can go and come as we want, we can walk peacefully and see mi phone here," the woman added.

Her friend rushed to address the Gleaner team as she blasted the police for their claims.

"We a no hostage, a lie the police a tell because them no like the 'Big Man'. We happy and them fi leave we alone," the scantily clad woman said.

But the focus of the protesters quickly changed as they voiced their opposition to any plan to extradite the man they call 'The President'.

"No Dudus, no Jamaica. Dudus a feed the whole a wi and them fi leave him. The police them always have problems with the Coke dem. If you have a pickney now and him name Coke, by the time him reach 20-year-old them a go accuse him," another protester charged.

The protesters also had harsh words for Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller and the party's point man on the extradition matter, Dr Peter Phillips.

"Portia must tell we if the PNP did extradite Anthony Brown and George Flash when them did wanted. How them did have them man deh free and now them want fi extradite Dudus. A just politics them a play," one woman said, referring to two men who topped the police most-wanted list in the 1970s and '80s.

Not about politics

"Dudus tell we fi wear white today and not green because this is not about politics, and the PNP, dem a play politics and Dudus only want peace," another protester said. Green is the colour of the Jamaica Labour Party which the residents of Tivoli support.

With a strong police presence and marshals from the community ensuring that persons did not block Spanish Town Road, the protesters chanted loudly for more than two hours before a shout from one of their leaders saw them heading across Spanish Town Road into the heart of downtown Kingston.

Around St William Grant Park and across East Queen Street went the crowd which was growing by the minute.

Then came the shout "mek wi march to Gleaner", signalling a sharp left turn on to Duke Street towards the North Street offices of The Gleaner Company.

But by then, the police had had enough and after allowing the demonstrators free rein through the heart of the commercial centre, the cops used their vehicles to form a line on Duke Street in the vicinity of the country's Parliament building, Gordon House.

A single explosion from a policeman's gun was enough to convince the protesters that the cops were serious and that it was time to head along Beeston Street down North Street and back into Tivoli Gardens.

May 21, 2010

jamaica-gleaner

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica: Aftermath of the Dudus extradition

Mark Wignall



A week or so after the extradition, downtown Kingston, effectively void of its 'protector', has become one vast no-man's land. The outburst of violence began at the moment his extradition was announced.

Police personnel in full battle gear and soldiers from the JDF are out in their numbers, day and night, but for all the good that their presence has done to ensure a full or even partial return of commercial activity, they could have instead remained at their homes or at their assigned stations.

The spate of shootings in two weeks has left 20 dead, comprising three members of the security forces, eight vendors, three shoppers, one storeowner and five young men described by the CCN as "gunmen who had brazenly opened fire on the security forces using high-powered automatic weaponry".

The 20 dead are, however, just those confined to the immediate environs of downtown Kingston. From Flanker in St James all the way to Yallahs in the east, the violent flare-ups have been very unpredictable, but the biggest problem facing the security forces is the seeming ability of the roving bands of gunmen to strike and then blend seamlessly into the various communities. So far the death toll related to these sporadic outbursts of violence outside of the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA) has been 15, including two additional members of the security forces, eight members of the public and five gunmen.

Two days ago, a statement made by the prime minister explaining his reasons for accepting the resignation of Security Minister Dwight Nelson, by my own gleanings at street level, has been received by the public with much scepticism. "Nelson neva did a gwaan good anyway. But fi fire di man now is only trying to mek it look like seh him a du sup'm. Dat cyaan fool wi. A him fi resign."

In his statement, the prime minister made it clear that the security forces would have the matter under control "in a matter of days". When pressed by Cliff Hughes to give the nation an indication as to when a new security minister would be appointed, a visibly peeved Golding stared down Hughes and shot back, "The priority now is stemming the tide of violence that has gripped this nation for the last two weeks. That has to be the nation's priority! Next question."

Over the last two days, most businessplaces in the KMA, Spanish Town, May Pen, and to a lesser extent in key sections on the outskirts of the second city, have remained closed as fear becomes the only commodity in the marketplace. Three days ago when I drove along sections of Red Hills Road, lower Constant Spring Road, Hope Road and upper Maxfield Avenue, I saw little activity except vehicles carrying soldiers and police. Thoroughfares such as Grants Pen Road, Waltham Park Road, Olympic Way and Spanish Town Road are not places I would advise readers of this column to pass through.

The sense I had was that the security forces were confounded by the sporadic outburst of gunfire. With a dusk-to-dawn curfew in most parish capitals, some main towns and key sections of both cities, the country seems ready to roll over and go to bed for a long spell.

As it appears, there is some evidence that gunmen with notional attachments to the PNP have been teaming up with those in the forefront; various spokespersons in the PNP have been calling for an islandwide state of emergency. Meanwhile, the information minister has dismissed the idea that the prime minister has formally requested the Americans to send in the Marines.

What happens if Dudus stays


OK, before you start to conclude that I am a purveyor of fear and that I am selling it in support of the JLP administration's refusal to sign the extradition order for Mr Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, boss of all bosses in West Kingston, let me simply state that I was merely attempting to give you my best version of likely happenings based on how the grand game of politics, in the last 50 years, has meshed with the street elements in order to ensure that the JLP and PNP tribes can remain in their parasitic relationship with the people of this country.

A well-known, highly successful businessman who is a friend, wrote recently, "What if I said that the feeling I get, outside of the partisan biases, is that the greatest fear among the citizenry has to do with a feeling that Dudus brings a sense of stability and that this would change to anarchy were he removed... A fear of the perceived awesome firepower in the hands of men incapable of reason and seeking only individual power, in the many islandwide communities that are under the sphere of influence of Tivoli -- The Mother of all Garrisons, according to former Commissioner Hardley Lewin -- bearing in mind the alleged superior firepower and the many in the police force who were schooled and placed there deliberately by dons."

The PNP when it was in power never failed to provoke Tivoli Gardens into violent outbursts when it suited them to do so. I am not saying that the gunmen in Tivoli Gardens were armed by the politicians because I have no evidence of this. Indeed, at this juncture of our sordid history where politicians have been neutered and the street elements attached to them no longer call them boss, the typical gunman in an inner-city community would probably balk at the idea that a politician gave him a gun.

Created by Eddie Seaga, Tivoli Gardens and the wider West Kingston constituency became the template for the PNP's response to fighting fire with fire. As the PNP's South St Andrew constituency became the first line of defence in hitting back at armed young men from Tivoli in the 1970s, the JLP ensured that Rema was well placed as a stub extending from its border with Denham Town a few blocks into South St Andrew.

Rema gunmen were the front-line warriors, ostensibly keeping the PNP horde from raiding further south and pushing Tivoli into the sea. When Rema behaved badly, its gunmen were always seen to be expendable. Just ask those old enough to recount the massacre carried out by Tivoli on Rema in 1984.

My friend added, for contextual support that, "This may very well be the opportunity to clean slate... but for this to be successful... superior, disciplined and coordinated intelligence and force would have to be applied from day one of any such initiative. The old truism 'one can't be half pregnant' is appropriate here."

He then asks a question which focuses on the ability of the state to summon the will to rescue its soul.

"Is Jamaica capable of this, when the target is a friend of those who must summon the political will, mobilise and coordinate this intelligence and force - having ostracised the most likely source of needed assistance? Some things are more easily said than done, and never lose sight of the fact that in Jamaica, the hierarchy is: Self, Party, then Country. This statesman thing is a mere chapter of our history not likely to be repeated."

Question: Who is the 'most likely source of the needed assistance'? No points for a correct answer.

From day one I had suggested that based on how the US extradition request had described the activities of Dudus, automatically his closest political allies would become his most feared enemies. But based on the information coming out of the JLP government, the US authorities must now go back and find some other grounds on which to make a new request.

Is the JLP government saying to the US government that it (the US) has breached that treaty? Let us appreciate that the JLP Cabinet has many members who are quick to give 'respect' to Dudus, therefore, as we know 'fear' follows 'respect'.

To say to the US authorities, "Hell no, he won't go" is to accept that if Mr Coke is as bad and influential as they say he is, then we in Jamaica ought to have known about it and done something about it. Essentially the Americans are saying, "Jamaica, you are incapable of running a viable country. You have accepted our money, our kindness. Now shut the @!/! up and abide by our treaty."

The power of the Americans to cripple our tourist industry by issuing travel advisories is probably the worst action that could be taken, but seeing that we will need every cent of tourism earnings in order to pay back the IMF, it is my view that the Americans will not be doing this any time soon.

If the Americans suspect that the Dudus they have investigated has surrogates with American visas, revoking those visas could be a start. Don't get me wrong, I am not in any way linking the revoking of Wayne Chen's visa with the Dudus extradition request.

The fact is, if Jamaica fails to exercise what most Jamaicans see as the sensible option, the US authorities can bring into play many surreptitious options that only a CIA operative could conjure up.

It is my personal belief that any decision to extradite Dudus lies squarely in Tivoli Gardens. But it could be that the Government is playing two hands in the one game.

On one hand, it opens up publicly and defends the 'sovereign rights of our citizens' and earns the wrath of the citizenry. On the other hand, the possibility is that it could be holding covert meetings with the US authorities simply because it knows that whatever the US wants, the US gets.

One online commentator summed it up as follows, "The only party that holds any cards, aside from Dudus, is the USA. Bruce Golding is simply a noisy spectator. This situation has made it clear that the coup d'état took place many years ago. Dudus is the King of Jamaica!"

March 07, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Jamaica: Golding's 'Dudus' dilemma

Golding and Lightbourne

A.E. Hueman, Contributor

Currently, Jamaica is in danger of becoming something of an international pariah. We were recently downgraded economically by both Bear Stearns and Moody's and also downgraded morally by Transparency International, but these are mere niceties in face of the thing that is threatening to demote us to the status of banana republic or rogue state.

This of course is the face-off between the Jamaican Government and the United States (US) in the matter of the extradition of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. The media are treating the matter gingerly, but already, two companies have received threats from his fans. The public seems to have adopted the attitude that the prime minister (PM) is between a rock and a hard place and is sitting back to watch. The circumstances deserve more attention.

Our seemingly unflappable PM is actually on a slippery slope teetering on the edge of an International Monetary Fund rejection and simultaneously trying to find a foothold as he walks barefoot along the razor's edge between antagonising the US and infuriating his volatile constituents, plus night and day wondering where he is going to find the next few billions to pay the nurses, or the teachers, or the police. And he is handling this ticking time bomb with all the aplomb of a pope - or someone who has O.D'd heavily on tranquillisers. The man is an enigma wrapped in a mystery. One has to applaud his phenomenal cool, but who can understand it?

Whatever one's opinion about the delay on the request to extradite Coke (and other unnamed prominent persons) to face drug and gun charges, any intelligent person must be aware of the gravity of the situation and the impact that the displeasure of the US will have and indeed may already be having on Jamaica's viability. Keep Coke, and we get the big stick from the leader of the free world; hand him over, and we may be able to repair some of the damage to our image and some access to meaningful economic assistance. It is not only the right thing to do, but the only sensible course to take.

Thus, it does appear that Bruce Golding and Dorothy Lightbourne would be best advised that for the good of this country they stop the legal titivating and filibustering and just hand over the multifaceted Mr Coke aka 'Dudus', 'Prezi' or 'The President'.

In Jamaica, Dudus is described as a businessman, show promoter, area leader and don; but in the US, the State Department is alleging that he is an illegal gun trader and a purveyor of dangerous and illegal drugs.

Of course, handing Coke over to the US authority will be unpleasant and possibly have some perilous consequences for residents, for Golding, and by extension, for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Risking civil unrest

Residents may suffer civil unrest, Golding may lose support in his constituency and could even lose his seat in the next election. Trouble is likely if Coke is indeed as popular, powerful and dangerous in this JLP garrison as he is made out to be. But is this really the case? Is it fear or love that controls his supporters? There may well be a large number of well-thinking residents who would prefer to live outside the shadow of a don.

If, as predicted, the removal of Dudus does cause riot and mayhem in Tivoli, it will be the job of the police (hopefully without the help of Reneto Adams) and the army to quell it. Are the prevalent rumours of plans for protests and insurrection and of Tivoli bristling with high-powered weapons true, or just greatly exaggerated? If they are true, is that not another good reason to send in the troops?

No two ways about it: the Dudus dilemma does present an enormous challenge to Golding, and by extension, to the JLP, and more important, to all Jamaica. Perhaps Golding sees the stand-off as a no-win situation in which he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't comply with international law and surrender the don to the US justice system. If Tivoli's response to the extradition is riot and mayhem and Golding has to send in the troops and invoke the Suppression of Crimes Act or call a State of Emergency just before the start of the tourist season, that's another blow to the economy and a double whammy to the economy and the JLP government.

Massive challenge

On the other hand, this massive challenge does come with a huge and enticing opportunity, an opportunity which, if intelligently and energetically used, can rid our island of a curse and transform Golding himself into a genuine National Hero.

Simply put, by cutting Dudus loose, Golding has a God-give opportunity to strike a crippling blow (hopefully the first of many such) against the corrupt gangland culture of the dons, which has taken over our many garrison constituencies, infiltrated mainstream politics, and is now threatening to get a stranglehold on both politics and society in Jamaica, land we love. Which politician would not rather become a National Hero than play second fiddle to a garrison don?

"There is a tide in the affairs of men

That taken at the flood leads on to fortune

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat

And we must take the current when it

serves

Or lose our ventures."

- William Shakespeare

Dear prime minister of Jamaica, we look to you to decide the better option.

Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.

November 29, 2009

jamaica-gleaner

Bahamas Blog Bahamas