'We want the whole truth'
Published:Friday | March 11, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer
For two Tivoli Gardens residents attending the Manatt-Dudus commission of enquiry, the proceedings might be about the truth, but not the whole truth.
The citizens, while pleased with being able to attend the hearing on a daily basis, are seeking closure and insist they want to know when accountability will come about for the 73 deaths recorded as a result of the security operation in west Kingston to execute an arrest warrant for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
"I want the whole truth, including what happened in Tivoli," said a woman who identified herself as Nicole, one of the west Kingston residents who spoke with The Gleaner yesterday at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, where the enquiry is being held. "This (enquiry) ah go on and it good, but me nah forget."
The women, Nicole and Eve, sat just outside the hearing and spoke slowly, with heavy hearts, about how lives in the community had drastically changed since May 24 last year.
"Every day we talk bout what happened," Nicole said, shaking her head. "Every day."
The women recounted events from last year, such as a woman watching her son die, children "bawling mercilessly" as Nicole put it, and homeless "mad" people (as Eve described) having nowhere to go and then eventually dying.
"Him had a knife inna one hand," Nicole said, recalling a man who also died during the operation, "and a yam in anodda. The yute ah cook, but dem kill him."
Girl in labour
However, the story that took the longest to tell was one of a teenage girl who went into labour when the security forces took to the streets of Tivoli Gardens.
"Me say, she siddung wid di baby alive in her own blood," Eve recounted, holding out her arms as if she were carrying the baby. "She siddung deh with the (umbilical) cord attached to the baby and ah hold di baby. It was a lot of blood.
"Eventually, the baby died. We nah forget these things," she said.
Nicole told the tale of a man seeking God in his time of trouble, crying out for Jesus and a Bible as gunshots rang out throughout the community.
"Him ah flick tru di pages dem, fast, fast, and ah say Jesus, Jesus and lick him foot," Nicole said, rapidly hitting her own thigh. "Him just a bawl out fi Jesus."
The women watched as diehard political supporters walked into the conference centre, and towards the direction of the enquiry.
"This about politics and it shouldn't be," Nicole said as Eve nodded in agreement. "It is about the truth and we want all of it."