Post-Dudus respite

Tarik Kiddoe, Contributor

As the story goes, one community became so heavily armed over the last 20 years that some would say it challenged the authority of the State. It is said that criminals (and even some businessmen) truly believed that affiliation with 'Presi' made their gangs or other operations islandwide closer to untouchable. Such was the influence and folklore that surrounded Christopher Coke and Tivoli Gardens.

By using his power, influence and even peace as his 'weapon', Coke allegedly had achieved a level of social discipline and order in certain communities that neither JLP nor PNP politicians could.

What happened in Tivoli Gardens was the culmination of extraordinary political hypocrisy practised by both the JLP and the PNP, where everyone saw how bad things had become, but nobody tackled it. Successive administrations feared the real costs of going into this battle. The risk of bloodshed and political fallout was very high.

Nobody had the balls to take on Presi's ants' nest.

That nest became a roaring beast with national tentacles, willing to lash out at soldiers and police. The leaders of this country allowed the problem to grow in strength for years. Reneto Adams spoke prophetically when he said, "Jamaica will pay dearly."

Out of control

We allowed things in Tivoli to reach a point where more than 150 criminals could be willing and equipped to take on the Jamaican army and police force to defend the rule of their don and their way of life. What would we really expect the immediate outcome of that battle to be? Peace?

Before May 24, 2010, more than 125 people were murdered in Jamaica every month. We lived in a slow-boiling massacre, killing an average of four to five people per day at its peak. Since the Tivoli incident occurred, there has been a dramatic reduction in murder and other crimes islandwide. In fact, in the two months that followed, the murder rate decreased by 80 per cent in some parishes. Even since the lifting of the state of emergency, crime has not returned to its previous dimensions. Recent crime statistics confirm this fact.

Hundreds of innocent Jamaicans are alive today - not murdered and not 'statistics'- because somebody was finally forced to tackle that nest with full force. One could argue that by dismantling a major criminal base we actually saved lives.

Somehow, a messy extradition forced the Government, the Opposition (the former government) and a foreign superpower to bypass all procrastination and tackle a problem that has troubled all of us lethally for decades.

Blaming 73 civilian deaths in Tivoli Gardens on just a recent extradition is a social red herring.

The truth is that we, as a people, caused 73 civilian deaths in Tivoli Gardens, simply because in the years before, our disagreements and inaction on serious issues allowed decades of political hypocrisy to interfere with the security of this country. Even arrogant politicians fear voters. We have consistently politicised the task of tackling crime, driving this electoral fear into the hands of our leaders even when those hands should be eager and willing to sign clear and unambiguous 'orders to proceed'.

Lessons to be learnt

Let us learn from this experience.

Crime has fallen. I do not give credit to the US government for our recent drop in crime, nor do I credit the JLP or the PNP. If most politicians, diplomats (and perhaps many other Jamaicans) got their wish, Dudus would have been extradited more smoothly and peacefully. The problem is that, if that happened, Dudus could still be an effective strongman.

Extraditions do not stop organised criminal networks. In fact, this particular national and international criminal network (branded by the USA as the Shower Posse) would be relatively healthy and untouched by an extradition, and would be fully able to conduct business as usual. In all likelihood, more vicious lieutenants would have taken over operations and that would have had an even more detrimental effect on our society. The force of the clash on May 24 stopped all of this from happening, with its devastating effect on the physical and psychological arrogance of the criminal underworld.

This huge clash of 'The State of Jamaica vs Criminals in Jamaica' was absolutely critical to our nation's history. It wasn't the most enjoyable task, but it needed to be done and some would even say it had divine timing even in the midst of chaos.

Those who distort the truth about the Tivoli Gardens incursion are lying about the only action by our security forces in many decades that was successful enough to cause a sustained 50 per cent drop in the national murder rate.

Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and zawdie@yahoo.com.

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