Jamaica street violence continues as death toll rises

The death toll in clashes in the Jamaican capital climbed past 50 on Wednesday as the government struggled to regain shaky control of slums where a reputed drug lord is headquartered. The man, a hero in some parts of the Caribbean island but wanted for extradition by the U.S., remained a fugitive and may have escaped the offensive launched to capture him.

On a fourth day of smoldering urban violence, Kingston continued under a state of emergency, many streets deserted and gunfire erupting sporadically.

Jamaican security forces, who responded with a major assault on armed gangs Monday, were securing positions and searching block by block in the disputed Tivoli Gardens area, the purported stronghold of alleged drug trafficker Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

More than 500 people have been arrested, the government’s Jamaica Information Service said Wednesday.

Earl Witter, the Jamaican public defender, said after inspecting Tivoli Gardens that at least 35 bodies, mostly those of young men, were in the morgue, with nine additional deaths reported. The government has said four soldiers and police officers were killed.

Radio Jamaica said it was receiving reports from residents of a number of bodies that still lay on the streets of downtown Kingston. These tolls did not include other parts of Kingston where fighting also raged.

Witter said he expected the toll to rise.

The violence in some ways was a consequence of the government’s risky tolerance of, and even collusion with, Coke and similar gang bosses who lord over Kingston neighborhoods, analysts and experts said.

A succession of Jamaican leaders has allowed alleged drug “dons” to operate mini-fiefdoms in parts of the impoverished capital in exchange for turning out political support for candidates, most in the ruling Labor Party, and for maintaining a form of law and order.

The United States alleges that Coke has been trafficking cocaine into New York since the 1990s, often using young Jamaican women as mules, and is demanding his extradition to face drug and gun-running charges. He is the reputed head of the Shower Posse, so-called for its penchant to “shower” enemies with bullets rather than the standard firing of a shot or two.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding had resisted the extradition request for months but relented under intense pressure from Washington, which, in an increasingly loud voice, complained that Jamaica was an unreliable partner in the drug war. Domestic opposition also grew, jeopardizing Golding’s hold on power.

The government’s decision to execute an arrest warrant for Coke is what ignited the violence, as his supporters rose to his defense and barricaded Tivoli Gardens to keep authorities out. But analysts said that Golding shares responsibility for the violence because he allowed an unholy alliance to fester.

“I think a lot of this could have been solved a long time ago. The longer it took to arrive at a solution … the greater opportunity provided for people to prepare for this sort of military confrontation,” Brian Meeks, a social studies professor at the University of the West Indies, told the Caribbean Media Corp.

Drug traffickers also enjoy popular support because they fill a void left by the Jamaican government’s inaction or negligence. They pay for basic services and hand out money. Jamaican youths, especially, complain of a lack of jobs or other opportunities that drives them into the gangs.

“Christopher Coke is a Robin Hood, Pablo Escobar-type of corrupter,” David Rowe, a Jamaican lawyer and extradition specialist, said in a telephone interview.

“He spends [his] money on the community that he lives in … and they think of him as a hero, but he is to the rest of Jamaica a desperado who has destroyed our international reputation and seriously affected the bilateral relationship between Jamaica and the U.S.”

Golding said he was “offended” by reports that asserted that Coke’s gang was on the government’s payroll, a statement from the prime minister’s office said.

Witter, the public defender, said he was concerned about the disparity between the number of weapons that security forces confiscated as they took control of Tivoli Gardens — four— and the much larger number of dead.

The government maintains that it launched its assault only after police came under attack and that troops have acted “with restraint.” But frantic residents telephoning radio stations contended that the security forces fired indiscriminately, with numerous civilians caught in the crossfire.

Golding promised an investigation of the civilian deaths.

wilkinson@latimes.com

Daniel Hernandez in The Times Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.