Tag: Corruption

Former Police Commissioner Testifies That The Shower Posse’s Code Of Silence Made It Impossible For Authorites To Investigate West Kingston Crimes

JApolice
The former Commissioner of Police testified that the crime that took place in other communities across Jamaica also occurred in the Tivoli Gardens community.

Commissioner of Police Owen Ellington yesterday gave the Tivoli Gardens Commission of Enquiry further insight into the power of the Presidential Click led by Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Ellington — who was responding to questions from attorney Alexander Williams, who is representing several Tivoli Gardens residents — said that the police never gave up on reaching out to the residents of the West Kingston community.

He said that an attempt was made to start a youth club there in the early 2000s, but the plan was resisted by the Presidential Click.

Ellington said that the club was eventually formed, but with the compromise that it be named after the criminal gang.

He said that after the 2010 operation to apprehend Coke, who was wanted in the United States on drugs and gunrunning charges, the club was relaunched and renamed the Tivoli Gardens Police Youth Club.

The former top cop said the police were then able to run the club as they do the other police youth clubs across the island.

During the afternoon session, Ellington — in a testy exchange with Independent Commission of Investigation (INDECOM) boss Terrence Williams — said that he wasn’t pleased with the compromise that was made.

He said the name Presidential Click was associated with a criminal organization and to brand the group like that would be like supporting the gang.

Earlier, during the morning session, the former top cop testified that the crime that took place in other communities across Jamaica also occurred in Tivoli Gardens.

He said, however, that the police were prevented by criminals from accessing the community to investigate these crimes, which included murders. He added that criminals there enforced a code of silence that made it impossible for crimes committed in the community to be investigated.

Jamaica Observer

West Kingston Residents Want An End To The Tivoli Enquiry And Compensation From The Jamaican Government

DudusLove
Dudus’ supporters, largely women, demonstrate along Spanish Town Road during the 2010 incursion.

Residents of Tivoli Gardens and surrounding West Kingston communities have threatened to march in a call on authorities to end the Commission of Enquiry currently taking place at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

The residents say that they are not pleased with the proceedings in the enquiry and are calling for it to be scrapped and a decision made to instead compensate those affected in the May, 2010 incursion by the security forces.

“We have been closely watching the enquiry, but we don’t feel any justice going come out of this for us. We believe it is best the authorities end the enquiry and compensate those residents who have suffered as a result of the incursion,” 60-year-old Marcia Morgan told the Jamaica Observer.

The West Kingston resident was part of a group of women and children who Sunday came out of their homes to voice their views.

“I also share that position; instead of spending all of this money on the Commission of Enquiry a fraction of the money used on the proceedings could help people who suffered to restart their lives,” said Sophia Beswick.

As the women shared their concerns some residents in the crowd said that they were willing to stage a march in the area to let their voices be heard.

“Right now when I look back on what has happened I suffered. I even lost a family member as a result of the incursion, but based on what is taking place in the enquiry I don’t see how that will help me in moving forward,” said another resident who identified herself as Sandra.

“We are calling for the authorities to halt this enquiry right now to send a message. People in the area are willing to stage a peace march to let them know we want an end to all what is taking place, is better them compensate the affected people,” said another resident.

Dave Hanson, another resident, insisted that the Commission of Enquiry is a waste of money.

“I think this Commission of Enquiry is all for show and a waste of money, all it is doing is putting money into the pockets of a set of bigwigs. So many things could be done with the money used to organise the enquiry,” he said.

“Compensate us for our losses, we no want no more enquiry,” added Samantha Clarke, another resident.

Jamaica Observer

‘The Legend of Shorty’ Film to Document the Life of Mexican Drug Lord El Chapo Guzman

elchapoWill Mexican drug lord Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán become more famous now that he is behind bars than when he was hiding in secret tunnels and sewers? It’s hard to tell, but two weeks after his headline-grabbing arrest in Mexico, a new documentary about the life of this nearly mythical figure made its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.

According to those who have watched The Legend Of Shorty, a 90 minute British documentary co-directed by British filmmaker Angus MacQueen and Peruvian journalist Guillermo Galdós, the film is a blend of mythology and hard facts. The Guardian’s film critic Henry Barnes wrote that The Legend of Shorty follows MacQueen and Galdós as they head out on their own investigation into the whereabouts of the world’s biggest drug dealer. “With extraordinary access to the cartel the pair travel to Mexico’s Golden Triangle, bear witness to the batch-loads of cocaine, meth and marijuana being prepared for transport and take part in long, often surreal meetings with Chapo’s inner circle, including a lunch date with his mum,” Barnes wrote.

McQueen told Spain’s Efe wire service that they didn’t think their lives were in danger when they were filming, because they are foreigners. There is a general belief that foreign nationals, whether tourists or otherwise, tend to be less physically vulnerable than Mexican nationals.

It is not clear if MacQueen and Galdós tried and failed to interview El Chapo before he was caught. In any event, the Mexican Navy and the DEA beat them to it when they found the drug lord still in bed at an oceanfront condominium in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, his home state, in the early hours of February 22. The arrest put an end to an international manhunt that has made a mockery of U.S. and Mexican law-enforcement over the past 13 years.

Barnes writes that the film’s directors recruited songwriter Jackson Scott to compose folk songs in English and Spanish telling tales about the past of one the world’s richest outlaws: “We hear how Chapo escaped from a maximum security prison by hiding in a laundry cart, we watch the film-makers compare the kingpin to Zorro, racing through the countryside, answering the call of the common man.”

In an effort to balance what appears to be a friendly portrait  of the man responsible for introducing 25% of the illegal drugs into the U.S. market –including 50% of the heroine– the film discusses the bloody war on drugs and the 80,000 deaths that have resulted from it. Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández, author of Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers, offers “a vital counter-point to the intoxicating legend”, as Barnes puts it, by accusing the Mexican government of protecting El Chapo while he turned his business into a word-wide criminal empire that has no precedent in history.

Barnes calls The Legend of Shorty “an impressive film” and says that El Chapo’s unexpected arrest does not annul its purpose: “To suggest so is to assume that El Chapo’s empire is locked up with the man. That a corporation shuts down because the CEO is absent.”

On that, Barnes has a point. There seems to be a wide consensus, both inside and outside Mexico, that El Chapo’s arrest will change little. “He will have a laptop, [his prison] will turn into a hotel, and he will return to running the cartel from there,” a senior DEA official told The Guardian last month. “That is not something he has to build – it is something he already has.”

Since 2009, El Chapo has been included in Forbes’ World’s Most Powerful People list.

Originally posted on Forbes.com