Jamaican security forces claimed a tenuous hold over the strong hold of a gang leader sought by the U.S., but only after battles that killed at least 44 civilians, the country's official ombudsman said Wednesday.
Officers and soldiers were still fighting holdout defenders of Christopher Coke, known as "Dudus," in pockets of the Tivoli Gardens area. He was still at large after nearly three days of street battles.
Bishop Herro Blair, Jamaica's most prominent evangelical pastor, told The Associated Press that independent evaluations have put the number of civilian dead at 44 in West Kingston alone. Police have said that at least four soldiers and police officers also have died in fighting in West Kingston and elsewhere around the capital.
Police earlier reported at least 26 civilian deaths and the country's embattled Prime Minister Bruce Golding promised an independent investigation into all civilian deaths during the operation.
Blair and Jamaica's public defender were escorted by security forces into Tivoli Gardens, where supporters of Coke began massing last week after Golding dropped his nine-month refusal to extradite him to the U.S.
Coke has ties to Golding's Labor Party, which gets a large number of votes from the Tivoli Gardens area Golding represents in parliament.
Opinion: I can see both sides of this struggle, Coke has really helped out the slums of West Kingston by helping with grocery bills, putting roofs over peoples heads and providing schooling for the people. He has been doing this through selling coke in New York, which is wrong and causes many people pain. The people of West Kingston really love Coke for there own reasons, and obviously are willing to die for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment