Saturday, May 29, 2010
Christopher "Dudus" Coke
Security forces in Jamaica spent most of this week shooting up a working-class neighborhood in an attempt to capture drug lord Christopher “Dudus” Coke, wanted in the United States on gun and narcotics charges. Acting on a longstanding extradition request from the U.S., Jamaican police and military stormed Coke’s stronghold of Tivoli Gardens, and in the process killed 67 civilians; four other fatalities were security personnel.
The effort to seize Coke began on Sunday, when gunmen loyal to him prevented police from entering the neighborhood. Several days of fighting ensued, with numerous allegations of police randomly shooting civilians without cause.
The U.S. waited nine months for Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding to take action against Coke. Golding’s Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has had close ties with Coke and his father, Lester Lloyd “Jim Brown” Coke, who used his posse to support JLP candidates while building his drugs and gun-running operation. Golding reportedly wanted to avoid going after Coke, and hired lobbyists in Washington, DC, to convince U.S. officials to drop the extradition request.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Gang Leader Still Eludes Police as Death Toll in Jamaica Rises (by Kareem Fahim, New York Times)
Jamaica Violence 'Linked to US Drug Market' (by Jon Silverman, BBC News)
Jamaica's Coke Rebellion (by Ilan Greenberg, Foreign Policy)
United States v. Christopher Michael Coke (U.S. District Court, Southern New York) (pdf)
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