Kingston's death toll hits 70 as bodies pile up in morgues
The death toll in the battle to capture the international drug baron Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was expected to climb last night as more bodies were delivered to mortuaries in the Jamaican capital, Kingston.
Neil Tweedie, in KingstonPublished: 10:00PM BST 27 May 2010
More than 70 deaths were confirmed by yesterday afternoon but the bodies of many people killed in fierce gun battles in the city's Tivoli Gardens quarter have yet to be recovered due to the siege of the area imposed by the Jamaican army and police force.
As operations continued for a fourth day, the government of prime minister Bruce Golding was unable to give any information on the whereabouts of Coke, who is being sought by the American authorities for drugs and weapons trafficking.
Hero Blair, a clergyman who serves as a government ombudsman, said he had seen a truck transporting decomposing bodies to a morgue.
"I know it (the number of dead) is going to be much higher," he said. "Where are these bodies taken from?"
Despite some 500 arrests, Daryl Vaz, the Jamaican information minister, was unable to confirm that Coke was still on Jamaica.
Rumours abound about the fate of Coke, who is alleged to have masterminded a criminal empire stretching from Tivoli to the streets of New York, where his lieutenants push cocaine and marijuana.
Many in the capital believe he left the island before this week's security operation, the result of the government's belated decision to accede to a US request for his extradition. Others imagine him to be in hiding in a remote area of Jamaica.
Jamaica's gangs have been an integral part of the country's political system, providing on-the-ground muscle for elements of the two main parties, the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party. Coke, whose Tivoli fiefdom forms the heart of Mr Golding's constituency, is considered a major threat to the Jamaican establishment due to his knowledge of corrupt practices by senior politicians.
One unconfirmed report suggests Coke's lawyers may be trying to strike a deal with the United States government for his safe removal to the US to avoid his being silenced by former associates. Coke, Jamaica's most senior crime 'don', is thought to fear that he could share the fate of his father Lloyd, the previous don of Tivoli, who perished in a mysterious fire while in prison awaiting extradition to the US.
Although the government in Kingston has denied receiving foreign help in the hunt for Coke, a US Navy P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft has been seen circling the battleground in Tivoli. The aircraft is equipped with the same camera as the Predator drone used in Afghanistan.
Connected by downlink to laptops on the ground, it provides real-time video of an area. The laptops could be operated by Jamaican personnel but it is equally likely that US personnel are involved, possibly from the CIA.
The battle to find Coke has inflicted major disruption in Jamaica, resulting in the closure of shops, schools and bus services, as well as the cancellation of a series of cricket matches between the West Indies and South Africa. Kingston has been a virtual ghost town after dark, with businesses shutting early to allow employees to get home before nightfall.
That situation has now eased as the fighting is confined to an ever-smaller area in Tivoli. But the ordeal of residents in the slum area, which lies near to Kingston's waterfront, continues. Food and water are in short supply and sanitation has broken down. The government is appealing for donations of blood due to "critically low levels" in hospitals, which have dealt with scores of casualties, some of them children caught in the crossfire.
The intensity of the assault on Tivoli has been criticized by some politicians, who accuse the security for forces of indiscriminate attacks.
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