The death toll from the battle between Jamaican security forces and supporters of alleged drug lord Christopher Coke that erupted over the weekend reached 30 on Tuesday with no end yet in sight. But whether or not Jamaican authorities succeed in apprehending Coke, who faces extradition to the U.S., the mayhem threatens to bring down Prime Minister Bruce Golding — a shake-up that would be welcomed by many crime-weary Jamaicans.
As a front-page editorial Tuesday in the daily Jamaica Observer put it, “For a long time we have been heading for an explosion as those who have held the reins of government have given succor to criminals in their blinkered thirst for political power … The upshot is that we now live in a society that accepts as normal the blatant disregard for the law and respect for the rights of others — a society in which it is considered good to be bad and bad to be good. It has to stop.”
