Timeline Jamaica
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Jamaica is an island of the Greater Antilles. It is
the third largest island in the Caribbean and has 120 rivers.
 (Hem., 12/96, p.30)(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A10)
1494Â Â Â Â Â Â May 5,
During his second voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher
Columbus first sighted Jamaica and commented on the daily rains.
Columbus landed on the island of Jamaica, which he names Santa
Gloria.
   (NOHY, 3/90, p.183)(AP, 5/5/97)(HN, 5/5/98)
1494Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, Columbus found the
natives on Jamaica hostile and left for Cuba.
   (http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1494Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Columbus returned
to Hispaniola. He had confirmed that Jamaica was an island and
failed to find a mainland.
   (http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1502Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11-1504 Nov 7,
Columbus reached the coast of Honduras on his 4th voyage and passed
south to Panama. He returned after suffering a shipwreck at Jamaica.
   (EWH, 1968, p.390)
1503Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 25, Christopher
Columbus beached his sinking ships in St. Anne’s Bay, Jamaica, and
spent a year shipwrecked and marooned there before returning to
Spain.
   (TL-MB, 1988,
p.8)(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v4.htm)
1504Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 29, Diego Mendez, one
of Columbus's captains, returned to Jamaica with a small caravel and
rescued the Columbus expedition. Mendez had managed to take a canoe
from Jamaica to Hispaniola where he chartered the rescue ship.
   (http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v4.htm)
1655Â Â Â Â Â Â May 10, Jamaica was
captured by English.
   (MC, 5/10/02)
1658Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, Oliver Cromwell,
Lord Protector of the New Commonwealth, i.e. ruler over England’s
Puritan parliament (1653-58), died of malaria at age 59. Richard
Cromwell had succeeded his father as English Lord Protector.
Cromwell was responsible for shipping Romanichal Gypsies (i.e.,
Gypsies from Britain) as slaves to the southern plantations; there
is documentation of Gypsies being owned by freed black slaves in
Jamaica.
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Cromwell)(AP,
9/3/97)(http://tinyurl.com/q7kfjwn) (ON, 12/00, p.5)
1692Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 7, An earthquake
struck Jamaica. It rearranged the geology, splitting the rocks,
turning mountains to lakes, and engulfed two-thirds of Port Royal.
On that day and subsequently, five thousand of the inhabitants died.
   (www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n12/mant01_.html)
1692Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 24, Kingston, Jamaica,
was founded.
   (MC, 6/24/02)
1720Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, A government sloop,
commissioned by the governor of Jamaica to capture pirates,
attacked and captured the pirate ship of Captain Calico Jack
Rackham.
   (ON, 12/01, p.12)
1720Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 17, Pirates Mary Read,
Anne Bonny (b.~1700) and Captain Calico Jack Rackham were tried by
an admiralty court in Jamaica. Rackham was found guilty and hanged
the next day. Read and Bonny were also found guilty and sentenced to
hang but pleaded pregnancy. Their sentences were commuted until they
gave birth. Bonny was later pardoned but Read died in prison on Apr
28, 1721. Bonny, an Irish American pirate, had plied her trade in
the Caribbean and died around 1782.
   (ON, 12/01,
p.12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bonny)
1720Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 18, John Rackham
(b.1682), English pirate captain also known as Calico Jack, died in
Port Royal, Jamaica. He had operated in the Bahamas and in Cuba
during the early 18th century. His nickname was derived from the
calico clothing that he wore. Jack is a nickname for "John".
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calico_Jack)
1721Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 29, Charles Vane
(b.1680), English pirate, died at Port Royal, Jamaica. He operated
in the Bahamas during the end of the Golden Age of Piracy.
   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Vane)
1792Â Â Â Â Â Â The British St. George’s
Bay Company transported a 2nd group of settlers to Freetown. This
included 1,196 Blacks from Nova Scotia, 500 Jamaicans and dozens of
rebellious slaves from other colonies.
   (MT, summer 2003, p.8)
1809Â Â Â Â Â Â May 21, Robert Milligan
(b.1746), prominent Scottish merchant and ship-owner, died. Milligan
headed a group of powerful businessmen who planned and built
London's West India Docks (1800). At the time of his death Milligan
owned 526 slaves in Jamaica who worked at his sugar plantation
called Kellet's and Mammee Gully. On June 9, 2020, a statue of
Milligan was removed from the front of the Museum of London
Docklands by the local authority to "recognise the wishes of the
community".
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Milligan_(merchant))
1831Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, Samuel Sharp
(1801-1832) led a slave uprising that was put down at great cost by
the British. The Rebellion lasted for eight days and resulted in the
death of around 186 Africans and 14 white planters or overseers. The
white vengeance convicted over 750 rebel slaves, of which 138 were
sentenced to death.
   (Econ, 2/24/07, p.73)(http://tinyurl.com/3cu2ds)
1832Â Â Â Â Â Â May 23, Samuel Sharp was
hanged in Jamaica for leading a slave rebellion. He is survived by
his immortal declaration: "I would rather die upon yonder gallows
than live in slavery."
   (Econ, 2/24/07, p.73)(http://tinyurl.com/3cu2ds)
1833Â Â Â Â Â Â Annie Palmer, a "white
witch," was murdered in her bed. She had reportedly murdered 3
husbands and various lovers and slaves. She was later said to haunt
Rose Hall.
   (SFEC, 2/14/99, p.T7)
1834Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 1, The British
Emancipation Act began. This ended slavery in the West Indies and
all Caribbean holdings. Slavery was abolished throughout the British
Empire. Some 35,000 salves were freed in the Cape Colony.
   (NH, 7/98, p.29)(HN, 8/1/98)(EWH, 4th ed, p.885)
1864Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaican law banned sex
relations between men.
   (SFC, 8/30/14, p.A2)
1881Â Â Â Â Â Â May 14, Mary Seacole
(b.1805), Jamaican nurse, died. She is best known for her efforts in
the Crimean War during the 1850s. She borrowed money to make the
4,000-mile (about 6500 km) journey by herself and distinguished
herself treating battlefield wounded, often nursing wounded soldiers
from both sides while under fire.
   (AP, 4/19/10)
1883Â Â Â Â Â Â J.A. Rogers, writer, was
born in Jamaica. He later moved to the US and then Europe and
authored the 3-volume work “Sex and Race.”
   (SSFC, 6/16/02, p.M2)
1887Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, Marcus [Garvey]
Garvy (d.1940), Black Nationalist and Jamaican leader who promoted
the departure of African-Americans back Africa, was born. In 1914,
after two years of study in London, Garvey formed the Universal
Negro Improvement and Conservation Association (U.N.I.A.) in
Jamaica, a group that worked for black emigration to Africa and
promoted racial pride, education and black business activity. In
1916 Garvey went to New York and began organizing U.N.I.A. branches
in America from 1916-1925. At his height of popularity, Garvey had
several million followers. He advocated racial separation and
emigration of American Negroes to Africa. He was deported in 1925.
The organization waned in the 1920s with Garvey’s arrest and
conviction and imprisonment on mail fraud charges. He was the
founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. He also
founded the Black Star Line, a steamship company owned and operated
by blacks to link black communities around the world. Marcus Garvey
died in London on June 10, 1940.
   (AHD, p.544)(Civilization, July-Aug, 1995, p.
36)(WSJ, 2/7/96, p.A-12)(HN, 8/17/98)(HNQ, 6/18/99)
1889Â Â Â Â Â Â Canada’s Bank of Nova
Scotia opened a branch in Jamaica.
   (Econ, 3/29/08, p.50)
1908Â Â Â Â Â Â Archie Lindo (d.1990),
Jamaican playwright, was born.
   (http://tinyurl.com/389252)  Â
1930Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 2, Haile Selassie was
crowned emperor of Ethiopia. His coronation was taken as a sign b y
Jamaicans, who became known as Rastafarians, from the term Ras
Tafari, a title held by Selassie.
   (AP, 11/2/97)(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A12)
1930s      Jamaica's first radio
station began operating in the late 1930s.
   (SFC, 12/10/99,
p.AA8)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
1933Â Â Â Â Â Â Nicholas Shoumatoff
captured a couple of small butterflies that were later used to
describe a new subspecies: Thecla celida shoumatoffi, or
Shoumatoff’s hairstreak.     Â
   (Nat. Hist. 3/96, p.11)
1940Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 10, Marcus Garvey
(b.1887), Jamaica-born US black leader (Back to Africa Movement),
died in London. In 1964 his remains were transferred to Jamaica,
where he was proclaimed Jamaica’s first national hero. In 2008 Colin
Grant authored “Negro With a Hat: The Rise and Fall of Marcus
Garvey.”
  Â
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey)(SSFC, 5/11/08, Books
p.5)
1945Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 6, Bob Marley
(d.1981), reggae superstar, was born in Jamaica. He is best
remembered for his songs "Buffalo Soldier" and "Fire on the
Mountain."
   (HN, 2/6/99)(SFC, 12/14/04, p.E10)
1945Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 1, Burning Spear
[Winston Rodney], Jamaican reggae singer, was born.
   (SC, 3/1/02)
1948Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Jamaican-born track
star Herb McKenley set a new world record for the 400 yard dash.
   (HN, 6/2/00)
1951Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 17, Hurricane winds
drove 6 ships ashore at Kingston, Jamaica.
   (SC, 8/17/02)
1958 Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, The British
created the West Indies Federation with Lord Hailes as governor
general. The federation lasted to 1962. It included Barbados,
Jamaica, Trinidad, Tobago and the Windward and Leeward Islands.
   (HN, 1/3/99)(WUD, 1994, p.1623)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 4, Cayman Islands
separated from Jamaica, made a crown colony.
   (Maggio)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â A 2nd state radio station
was formed.
   (SFC, 12/10/99, p.AA8)
1959Â Â Â Â Â Â Clement Dodd (d.2004),
began producing records on his own label.
   (Econ, 5/22/04, p.80)
1960-1966Â Â Â The Ska era of music in Jamaica. The
musicians included guitarist Ernest Ranglin, saxophonist Tommy
McCook and trombonist Don Drummond.
   (SFEC, 4/26/98, DB p.38)
1960s      The radio show "Teen-age
Dance Party" helped push local music genres like reggae and ska.
   (SFC, 12/10/99, p.AA8)
1961Â Â Â Â Â Â May 3, A British Colonial
Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out
of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should
be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police,
military forces, public servants or others eg police informers;
might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used
"unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy",
officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other
former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of
documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was
only made public in 2013.
   (AFP, 11/29/13)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 9, An agreement was
signed to make Jamaica an independent nation within the British
Commonwealth later in the year.
   (AP, 2/9/02)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â May 31, The West Indies
Federation, made up of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Jamaica, and
the Leeward and Windward Islands, broke up after 4 years following
Jamaica’s passage of a referendum to end the alliance.
   (Econ, 6/2/12, p.47)
1962Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 6, Jamaica became an
independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
   (SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 8/6/97)
1963Â Â Â Â Â Â Clement Dodd opened his
record studio at 13 Brentford Road, Kingston, Jamaica, and soon
began recording Bob Marley and the Wailers.
   (Econ, 5/22/04, p.80)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â The ska group Skatalites
formed with Rolando Alphonso on tenor sax.
   (SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)
1964Â Â Â Â Â Â Leicester Hemingway,
brother of Ernest Hemingway, put together floating platforms off the
west coast of Jamaica and called it the Republic of New Atlantis. He
hoped to create a marine research society and help protect Jamaican
fishing.
   (Econ, 12/24/05, p.84)
1966Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21, Emperor Haile
Selassie (Ethiopia) visited Kingston, Jamaica.
   (MC, 4/21/02)
1967Â Â Â Â Â Â Frederic Cassidy (d.2000
at 92), lexicographer, wrote the “Dictionary of Jamaican English.”
He spent much of the rest of his life cataloging American folk
idioms for the 5-volume “Dictionary of American Regional English.”
   (SFC, 6/21/00, p.A21)
1968Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, The pop song
"Israelites" by Desmond Dekker (1941-2006), Jamaican singer, was
released in Jamaica and soon became a worldwide hit. Dekker brought
the sound of Jamaican ska music to the world.
   (SFC, 5/27/06, p.B5)
1969Â Â Â Â Â Â Don Drummond, trombonist,
died in an insane asylum where he was incarcerated for the murder of
his girlfriend.
   (SFEC, 4/26/98, DB p.38)
1971Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica began protecting
crocodiles by law. By 2013 a growing taste for crocodile meat and
even eggs had conservationists worried that the reptiles might be
wiped from the wild altogether.
   (AP, 10/6/13)
1972Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, In Jamaica Michael
Manley (1924-1997, Socialist and champion of the nonaligned
movement, was sworn in as prime minister.
   (SFC, 3/8/96,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Manley)
1975Â Â Â Â Â Â Haile Selassie, the last
emperor of Ethiopia, died. He has a religion named after him and is
worshipped as the savior. Selassie was born of royal blood and
originally named Ras Tafari, and is regarded as the savior by a
religious sect originating in Jamaica whose members are called
Rastafarians. Crowned emperor in 1930 under the title Haile Selassie
I (meaning “Power of the Trinity”), he was by tradition a descendant
of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He reigned as emperor of
Ethiopia until 1974.
   (HNQ, 2/4/00)
1976Â Â Â Â Â Â Michael Manley was elected
for a 2nd term as prime minister.
   (SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)
1976Â Â Â Â Â Â John Issa, businessman,
founded the SuperClubs Int’l. Ltd.
   (WSJ, 7/25/97, p.B1)
1979Â Â Â Â Â Â Gas price riots resulted
when the government increased gas prices.
   (SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)
1980Â Â Â Â Â Â May 20, A fire in nursing
home in Kingston, Jamaica, killed some 153 old women.
   (http://www.jnht.com/disndat/eventide.php)
1980Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 1, Conservative Edward
Seaga (b.1930) began serving as PM of Jamaica. He defeated Michael
Manley as Jamaica was nearly bankrupt, and became a close ally of US
Pres. Reagan. Seaga served as PM for the Labor Party until 1989.
   (SFC, 3/8/96,
p.A21)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Seaga)
1981Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, Bob Marley
(b.1945), Jamaican reggae artist, died of brain cancer in Miami.
   (AP, 5/11/97)(SFEC, 2/14/99,
p.T7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Marley)
1984Â Â Â Â Â Â May 8, The album "Legend,"
the greatest hits by Bob Marley (1945-1981) and the Wailers, was
released. It became the best-selling reggae record of all time.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_(album))
1985Â Â Â Â Â Â Gas price riots resulted
when the government increased gas prices.
   (SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)
1988Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, Hurricane Gilbert,
called the storm of the century, smashed into the Gulf coast. It
slammed into Jamaica with torrential rains and winds of 145 mph,
killing 45 people and causing damage estimated at up to $1 billion.
It also devastated the Yucatan peninsula and left 225 people dead.
The storm hit the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Cuba, Cayman
Islands and Mexico before striking Texas.
   (NOHY, 3/90, p.181)(AP, 9/12/97)(SFC, 10/10/97,
p.A15)
1989Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, In Jamaica Michael
Manley (1924-1997) re-emerged and trounced Seaga in national
elections. He dropped his anti-imperialist rhetoric and espoused
capitalism, private investment and good relations with the US. He
began an economic overhaul program.
   (SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)(WSJ, 4/29/97,
p.A19)(http://tinyurl.com/fx5ps)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 23 In Jamaica Lester
Coke (aka Jim Brown), head of the infamous Shower Posse, died in a
mysterious prison cell fire.
  Â
(www.islandmix.com/backchat/f6/jamaicans-rope-131061/)
1992Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 28, Prime Minister
Michael Manley stepped down from office. He was succeeded by P.J.
Patterson.
   (SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)
1993Â Â Â Â Â Â The ska music style was
featured in the 4-disk set “Tougher Than Tough: The Story of
Jamaican Music” on the Mango label.
   (SFC,11/11/97, p.A17)
1993Â Â Â Â Â Â The Blue Mountains John
Crow National park was established.
   (SFC, 9/1/96, T5)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 16, The UN Law of the
Sea (UNCLOS), ratified in 1993, took effect. Arvid Pardo (d.1999 at
85), Maltese delegate to the UN, proposed in 1967 that the bounty of
the sea should be considered "the common heritage of mankind" and
asked that some of the sea's wealth be used to bankroll a fund to
help close the gap between rich and poor nations. The International
Seabed Authority came into existence as the law took effect. The
first Secretary-General of the Authority, Satya Nandan (Fiji) was
elected in March 1996, and the Authority became fully operational as
an autonomous international organization in June 1996, when it took
over the premises and facilities in Kingston, Jamaica. The UN Law of
the Sea treaty, which extended internationally recognized
territorial waters to 200 miles offshore, came into force one year
after the sixtieth state, Guyana, signed it. As of 2015 it was still
not ratified by the US.
   (http://tinyurl.com/2wsq9p)(SFC, 7/19/99,
p.A22)(Econ, 10/31/15, p.42)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica's government
privatized its sugar factories. [see 1998]
   (Econ, 8/30/03, p.26)
1994Â Â Â Â Â Â In Jamaica Michael
Llewellyn was shot in the back when he tried to escape a beating by
police at his house. His right leg was amputated below the knee as a
result, and he was left unable use the remaining leg. In 2010 he was
awarded $230,000 in compensation.
   (AP, 4/30/10)
1994-1995Â Â Â Jamaica’s government stepped in to
bailout its banks. The bailout eventually cost roughly 40% of GDP.
This money was borrowed from international lenders.
   (Econ, 7/21/12,
p.31)(http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/Jamaica+4109.twl)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 30, It was reported
that NAFTA has had devastating effects on the economy. Garment
exports were down 7% and 7,000 jobs were lost.
   (SFC, 1/30/97, p.A10)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 6, Former Prime
Minister Michael Manley (b.Dec 10, 1924) died.
   (SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Prison guards
walked off their jobs after a commissioner suggested that guards and
prisoners use condoms to prevent AIDS. Anti-gay violence broke out
and within a week 16 inmates were killed and 20 injured at
Kingston’s Gen’l. Penitentiary and St. Catherine District Prison.
   (SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18Â Â Â ,
In Parliamentary elections 2-term Prime Minister P.J. Patterson took
a big lead over Edward Seaga. The People’s National Party won an
absolute majority in the 60-seat parliament.
   (WSJ, 12/19/97, p.A1)(SFC,12/19/97, p.B3)
1997Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica’s population was
about 2.3 million.
   (Hem., 12/96, p.30)(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A10)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â May, The government raised
fines for harassing tourists 100 times to $2,700 for first offenders
along with night courts to handle officers appearances.
   (SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T8)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul, Jamaica withdrew from
the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Court on Human
Rights.
   (SFC, 7/4/98, p.A10)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 2, Barbados, Trinidad
and Tobago, Guyana and Jamaica reported plans to establish the
Caribbean Court of Justice in 1999 and planned to change their
constitutions to free themselves of the British Privy Council. The
effort was pushed to establish the death penalty.
   (SFC, 7/4/98, p.A10)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 22-1998 Nov 9,
Hurricane Mitch was one of the Caribbean's deadliest storms ever
causing at least at least 9,000 deaths in Central America. The storm
hit Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama,
Jamaica, and Costa Rica. Later reports put the death toll in
Honduras to 6,076. In Nicaragua the deaths reached 4,000, in
Guatemala it was157, and in El Salvador it was 222. The storm parked
over Honduras and rain poured for 6 days straight. Aid of $66
mil was ordered from the US, $8 mil from the EU, $11.6 mil from
Spain along with pledges from other countries and private
organizations.
   (SFC, 11/4/98, p.A9)(SFC, 11/6/98, p.A14)(AP,
9/11/04)(www.wunderground.com)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 20, Rolando Alphonso,
tenor saxophonist for the ska group Skatalites, died at age 67. He
was an original member of the group that was formed in 1964.
   (SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)
1998Â Â Â Â Â Â The Jamaican government
took back the sugar factories privatized in 1994 for three American
cents.
   (Econ, 8/30/03, p.26)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 16, The government
announced $100 million in new taxes that included a 30% increase in
gas prices.
   (SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 21, In Jamaica at
least 6 people were killed and 2 dozen injured in Kingston during
protests against new tax increases.
   (SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)(WSJ, 4/22/99, A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 22, Prime Minister
Patterson met with members of a committee to seek alternatives to
the heavy tax increases.
   (SFC, 4/23/99, p.D3)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â May 18, Augustus Pablo
(Horace Swaby), a reggae producer, died at age 46 in Kingston. His
work included "East of the River Nile" and "Java (1972)."
   (SFC, 5/21/99, p.D6)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 2, Junior Braithwaite
(49), one of three survivors of the Wailers, was shot and killed in
Kingston by unidentified gunmen.
   (SFC, 6/5/99, p.A22)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, Singer Dennis
Brown, known as the Crown Prince of reggae, died at age 42. His
songs included "Here I Come" and "How Could I Leave You."
   (SFC, 7/2/99, p.D6)(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.A19)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 6, Michael Wallace,
musician in the reggae group Third World, was shot dead in a
suspected robbery. Some 22 murders were reported in this one week
and 486 murders since the start of the year.
   (SFC, 7/9/99, p.D5)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â cJul 9, Vivian Blake,
alleged leader of the Shower Posse, was extradited to Miami. His
gang was blamed for 1,400 murders in several US states during the
1980s.
   (SFC, 7/14/99, p.C10)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 14, In Jamaica troops
were deployed in Kingston to control gang violence. Some 500 people
had been murdered since the start of the year.
   (WSJ, 7/15/99, p.A1)
1999Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 18, Joe Higgs, reggae
singer, died in Los Angeles at age 59. He was called the "father of
reggae music," fostered the career of Bob Marley. His first 1970s
solo album was called "Life of Contradiction."
   (SFC, 12/23/99, p.A27)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar, Drought left crops
wilted and water level at the Hermitage Dam was less than half.
   (SFC, 3/24/00, p.A8)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 1, Business leaders
met with the prime minister to insist on action TO reduce the high
crime rate.
   (SFEC, 9/10/00, p.T15)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 27, Winston Grennan,
Jamaican drummer, died in Nantucket, Mass., at age 56. He developed
the “one drop” reggae rhythm.
   (SFC, 11/7/00, p.A20)
2000Â Â Â Â Â Â Police killed 140 people
in this year. The 5.4 per 100,000 rate was one of the highest in the
world.
   (SFC, 4/11/01, p.C3)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 14, Seven men were
killed by police in a Kingston suburb during an alleged shootout. 3
of the dead were under 18. In 2003 five police officers were charged
with murder in the deaths of the 7 young men.
   (SFC, 4/11/01, p.C3)(AP, 11/12/03)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 7, A police crackdown
began in the Tivoli Gardens of Kingston following 2 months of
fighting between gangs that killed 37 people. The murder rate for
the country had reached 530 for the half year.
   (SFC, 7/11/01, p.A8)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 9, In Jamaica PM
Patterson ordered the army deployed across the island to restore
calm following 3 days of violence that killed at least 28 people.
   (SFC, 7/10/01, p.A7)(SFC, 7/11/01, p.A8)(SFC,
7/27/01, p.D6)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 16, A government
commission recommended that marijuana, aka ganja, be legalized for
personal use by adults.
   (SFC, 8/18/01, p.E1)
2001Â Â Â Â Â Â In Jamaica some 1300
people were killed this year.
   (SFC, 10/16/02, p.A17)
2002      Sep 29, Hurricane
Lili killed 3 people in Jamaica and headed for Cuba.
   (AP, 10/1/02)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 15, In Jamaica 3
people were shot dead outside Kingston.
   (SFC, 10/16/02, p.A17)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, In Jamaica Prime
Minister P.J. Patterson's party became the country's first leader
elected to three straight terms. Jamaicans turned out in large
numbers to vote despite pelting rains and concerns of violence in an
election they hoped would revive a sagging economy and ease
spiraling crime.
   (AP, 10/17/02)
2002Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 17, In Jamaica gunmen
opened fire outside a busy street market in a rare daylight attack
in Kingston, killing five people and injuring three.
   (AP, 11/17/02)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 29, Excel Motors, a
fledgling Jamaican automaker, exported the Caribbean island's first
locally manufactured car to the Bahamas. The two-door Island
Cruiser, one of 22 built this year at the company's plant in western
Jamaica, sold for $11,500.
   (AP, 8/30/03)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 23, A 3-day dominos
tournament began at the Ocho Rios resort in Jamaica.
   (SFC, 10/24/03, p.D3)
2003Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 25, Thousands of
Jamaicans rioted near Montego Bay's airport, burning buses and
blocking roads to protest the killings of two elderly men by police
in an alleged shootout.
   (AP, 10/26/03)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.35)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 13, In Jamaica
hundreds of people rioted in Kingston, attacking a police station
and setting cars ablaze after a policeman allegedly shot and wounded
a high-school student.
   (AP, 2/13/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, Clement Dodd (Sir
Coxsone), father of reggae music, died in Jamaica at age 72.
   (Econ, 5/22/04, p.80)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 15, Ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide left his temporary exile in Africa
and flew to Jamaica despite opposition to his presence in the
Caribbean.
   (AP, 3/15/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, Hugh Shearer (81),
a prime minister (1967-1972) in the early stages of Jamaica's
independence, died. Shearer had succeeded Donald Sangster, who died
in office.
   (AP, 7/5/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, Hurricane Ivan
lashed Jamaica with monstrous waves, driving rain and winds nearing
155 mph, killing at least 15 people. Total deaths from the hurricane
reached 65.
   (AP, 9/11/04)(SFC, 9/13/04, p.A3)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 12, Hurricane Ivan
skirted Grand Cayman with winds near 155 mph as it churned toward
Cuba. The storm has been blamed for 56 deaths across the Caribbean
so far, including 34 in Grenada and 11 in Jamaica.
   (AP, 9/12/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 13, In Jamaica at
least 15 people were killed from Hurricane Ivan. Hotels and
restaurants in northwestern Negril were particularly hard-hit by
battering waves.
   (AP, 9/14/04)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct, The center of
Kingston, Jamaica, was shut down by gangland violence for 3 days.
Jamaican police counted 85 gangs, up from 35 in 1994.
   (Econ, 11/6/04, p.42)
2004Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov, Human Rights Watch
released a report, “Hated to Death,” on homophobia, violence and
AIDS in Jamaica.
   (Econ, 11/27/04, p.42)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 1, Jamaica's embattled
police commissioner Francis Forbes resigned following record number
of homicides in 2004. The island nation of 2.6 million people,
reported a record 1,145 homicides for 2004, compared with 975 the
year before.
   (AP, 1/2/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar, Jamaica brought in
Mark Shields, a top policeman from London’s Scotland Yard, to help
re-organize police services and stem rising murder rates.
   (Econ, 8/13/05, p.32)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 14, In Athens, Greece,
Asafa Powell of Jamaica, broke the world 100-meter dash record with
a time of 9.77 seconds.
   (WSJ, 6/15/05, p.A1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 9, Murders in Jamaica
reached 1,028, up 25% from 2004.
   (Econ, 8/13/05, p.32)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Nine countries:
Antigua, Belize, Grenada, Guyana, Dominica, Suriname, St. Kitts, St.
Vincent and the Dominican Republic, signed oil deals with Venezuela
in Jamaica. Cuba and Jamaica had previously signed. Chavez urged
Caribbean governments to consider Cuba-style socialism as an
alternative to capitalism.
   (AP, 9/11/05)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, In Jamaica
opposition-led protests left one person dead.
   (WSJ, 9/8/05, p.A1)
2005Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 19, Hurricane Wilma
swirled into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded, a
Category 5 monster whose 175 mph winds and heavy rains were blamed
for killing at least 11 people in Haiti and one in Jamaica as it
bore down on Central America.
   (AP, 10/19/05)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 25, In Jamaica Portia
Simpson Miller, a Cabinet minister was positioned to become
Jamaica's next prime minister and first female head of government,
after narrowly beating a former Rastafarian in internal elections to
head the country's ruling party.
   (AP, 2/26/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 30, In Jamaica Portia
Simpson Miller (60) became Jamaica's prime minister and first female
head of government.
   (Econ, 3/25/06, p.42)(AP, 3/30/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, Jamaican police
arrested botanist George Proctor at the capital's airport as he was
about to board a plane to the United States. Prosecutors later said
Proctor had given a co-conspirator $90,000 to kill 4 women. In 2010
Proctor (89) was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiring to
kill his wife and three other women who lived in the couple's home.
The wife and the three women, whose identities and relationship to
the couple have never been released by authorities, were not harmed.
   (AP, 2/3/10)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Desmond Dekker
(b.1941), Jamaican singer, died. He brought the sound of Jamaican
ska music to the world with songs such as "Israelites" (1969).
   (AP, 5/26/06)(SFC, 5/27/06, p.B5)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 9, In Jamaica PM
Portia Simpson Miller and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, the
first women to be elected heads of state in Jamaica and Chile, met
in Kingston and said they will remove visa restrictions on travel
between Chile and Jamaica and work toward establishing air links to
improve trade.
   (AP, 6/9/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 26, Tropical Storm
Ernesto strengthened over the Caribbean as it headed toward Jamaica
and the Cayman Islands, threatening to become the first hurricane of
the 2006 Atlantic season.
   (AP, 8/26/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 28, In Jamaica Trevor
Berbick (51), the last boxer to fight the legendary Muhammad Ali,
was found dead in a churchyard near his home in Norwich. On Nov 3
police charged two men, one a nephew of Berbick, with murdering the
former world heavyweight boxing champion. In 2007 a jury found
Harold Berbick (21) guilty of murder and Kenton Gordon (19) guilty
of manslaughter in the killing of the former boxer.
   (AP, 11/4/06)(AP, 12/21/07)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 31, A leading
researcher said large species of coral that form underwater reefs
and create rich habitat for marine life are disappearing from around
the U.S. Virgin Islands, Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean.
   (AP, 11/1/06)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica reported some 25
killings per week this year.
   (Econ, 9/8/07, p.42)
2006Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 5, Jamaica reported 15
cases of malaria in the Kingston area, the first in 15 years.
   (WSJ, 12/6/06, p.A1)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, In Jamaica the
Accompong Maroons, descendants of freed African slaves, vowed to
fight any plans for bauxite mining in the forested region where they
have lived in semiautonomy for centuries. Sydney Peddie, the group's
leader, said opening up the territory to mining would breach a
treaty signed between the Maroons and the British in 1739, which
gave the group nearly 25,000 acres in Cockpit Country, an
inhospitable terrain of rocky cliffs and limestone towers.
   (AP, 1/8/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 18, In Jamaica Bob
Woolmer (58), Pakistan cricket coach, was found dead in his hotel
room, hours after Pakistan was upset by Ireland and eliminated from
advancing at the Cricket World Cup. A pathologist report found
Woolmer's death was due to "asphyxia as a result of manual
strangulation." An inquest into Woolmer's death ended with the
Jamaican jury unable to reach a ruling.
   (AP, 3/21/07)(AP, 3/23/07)(AP, 3/18/08)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 28, The 7-week, 1st
Cricket World Cup ended with Australia defeating Sri Lanka.
   (Econ, 5/5/07, p.48)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â May 13, A Jamaican
newspaper reported that Scotland Yard investigators have concluded
that Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer died of natural causes and
was not strangled as local police have said.
   (AP, 5/13/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â May 25, Abdullah
el-Faisal, a Muslim cleric named by the British government as a key
influence on one of four men who carried out the deadly London
transport bombings in 2005, was deported to Jamaica after being
released from prison.
   (AP, 5/26/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 18, Hurricane Dean
barreled across the eastern Caribbean and took aim at Hispaniola,
Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, with forecasters saying it
could turn into a monster Category 5 storm within 72 hours. Dean
claimed at least six lives as it began sweeping past the Dominican
Republic and Haiti.
   (AP, 8/18/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 19, Jamaicans headed
inland and tourists fled the country as Hurricane Dean headed for a
direct hit on the island. Dean hit Jamaica as a Category 4 storm.
   (AP, 8/19/07)(WSJ, 8/20/07, p.A1)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, Jamaica's main
opposition won a narrow election victory, according to preliminary
results, but Portia Simpson Miller, the country's first female prime
minister, said the race was too close to call and the ruling party
would not concede defeat.
   (AP, 9/4/07)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 6, Jamaica's electoral
office confirmed the Labor Party's victory in a close election,
sealing its return to power after 18 years in opposition. The center
right JLP won 50.1% of the popular vote and 32 of 60 seats in
parliament.
   (AP, 9/7/07)(Econ, 9/8/07, p.42)
2007Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, In Jamaica Bruce
Golding was sworn in as the new prime minister and pledged a tougher
approach to crime. He said he wants to resume executions, provide
officers with better forensic training and equipment, deploy more
police to trouble spots and modernize a backlogged judicial system.
Killings in 2005 placed Jamaica, with a population of about 2.8
million, among the most violent nations in the world.
   (AP, 9/12/07)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 27, In Jamaica two
gunmen murdered Douggie Chambers, chairman of the Jamaica urban
Transit Company. The former accountant and fraud investigator had
just finished redundancy terms for 485 workers.
   (Econ, 7/5/08, p.47)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 1, In Kingston,
Jamaica, 39 young American missionaries, from the Georgia-based
Adventures in Missions, were robbed by two gunmen who broke into a
Salvation Army school for the blind where they were volunteering.
   (AP, 7/2/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 16, Carol Huynh, whose
parents fled communist Vietnam in the 1970s, won Canada's first gold
of the Olympics in the women's 48 kg freestyle wrestling. Usain Bolt
of Jamaica was crowned the world's fastest man when he raced to
victory in the Olympic men's 100 meters final in a world record time
of 9.69 sec.
   (AP, 8/16/08)(AFP, 8/16/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 24, The Beijing
Olympics, played out against a background of political intrigue and
featuring 16 days of compelling and controversial action, drew to a
spectacular close. China's haul of 51 gold medals was the largest
since the Soviet Union won 55 in Seoul in 1988. The US won 36 gold
medals and Russia came in 3rd with 23. Jamaica ended up with 11
medals including 6 gold. Cuba took home 24 medals, but only 2 gold.
   (AP, 8/24/08)(Econ, 8/30/08, p.38)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 28, Tropical Storm
Gustav bore down on Jamaica after leaving 67 people dead on
Hispaniola, including 59 in Haiti and 8 in the Dominican Republic.
   (SFC, 8/29/08, p.A2)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 29, Tropical Storm
Gustav drenched Jamaica, killing at least 4 people, and rolled over
the Cayman Islands with fierce winds that tore down trees and power
lines, setting off alarm from Cuba to New Orleans, and at gas pumps
across the US.
   (AP, 8/29/08)(AP, 8/30/08)(SFC, 8/30/08, p.A3)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 10, Police in Jamaica
said armed gangs wrestling for control of 2 communities near the
capital have forced over 200 people from their homes.
   (SFC, 12/11/08, p.A4)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 28, In Jamaica Vincent
Ford (68), songwriter, died. He is credited with composing the Bob
Marley reggae classic "No Woman, No Cry” (1974).
   (AP, 12/31/08)
2008Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica’s population
was about 2.8 million.
   (AP, 1/27/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 27, Jamaican police
said a gunman shot a woman (55) in her one-room wooden shack and
then set it ablaze, leaving her 3 grandchildren to perish alongside
her in the fire.
   (AP, 1/27/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 21, Jamaican
regulators said they are forbidding all explicit references to sex
and violence over the airwaves. The announcement followed a Feb. 6
ban that specifically targeted dancehall tunes and videos depicting
"daggering," a dance style popular among Jamaican youth that
features pelvic grinding simulating sex.
   (AP, 2/22/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 6, The US Federal
Reserve said it will supply new lines of credit worth up to $287
billion to the central banks of Japan, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom and EU.
   (AP, 4/6/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, In Jamaica Stephen
Fray (20) forced his way through Montego Bay airport security and
hijacked a Canadian jet, holding six crew members hostage. He fired
his father's licensed .38-caliber revolver into the air, stole money
from some of the 167 passengers aboard and demanded to be flown off
the island. After 6 hours police and soldiers stormed the aircraft
and captured Fray. On October 8 Fray was sentenced to 20 years in
prison.
   (AP, 4/20/09)(AP, 10/9/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 21, It was reported
that handguns, rifles and bullets enter Jamaica from the US stoking
one of the world's highest murder rates.
   (AP, 6/21/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 20, Usain Bolt of
Jamaica set a world record of 19.19 seconds in the 200 meters at the
world championships in Berlin, adding to the gold he won in the 100.
   (AP, 8/20/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug, Jamaica’s government
received an extradition request for Christopher "Dudus" Coke (40).
By late October it had only responded with requests for more
information about the gun and drug trafficking charges against the
reputed gang leader. Coke, the alleged leader of the "Shower Posse"
gang, is charged in the US Southern District of New York with
conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to
illegally traffic in firearms.
   (AP, 10/29/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 9, In Jamaica John A.
Terry (65), Britain’s honorary consul in Montego Bay, was found
strangled in bed with a note denouncing him as a homosexual.
   (Econ, 9/19/09, p.49)(AP, 10/3/09)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, A US cable, revealed
in 2010, said the Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie told a US Embassy
officer that his administration had collaborated for years with
local drug baron Christopher “Dudus” Coke to fight crime.
   (SFC, 12/23/10, p.A5)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 22, American Airlines
Flight 331 carrying 154 people skidded across a Jamaican runway in
heavy rain, bouncing across the tarmac and injuring more than 40
people before it stopped just short of the Caribbean Sea.
   (AP, 12/23/09)(SFC, 12/24/09, p.A2)
2009Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica recorded 1,672
murders, its highest number on record.
   (Econ, 3/13/10, p.40)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 5, Sheik Abdullah
el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born radical Muslim cleric, was stuck in Kenya
despite attempts to deport him because other nations are refusing to
allow him to transit through their countries. He has called for
Americans, Hindus and Jews to be killed. The British government has
said he was a key influence on July 7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay.
   (AP, 1/5/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 21, In Kenya radical
Muslim cleric Sheik Abdullah el-Faisal was flown out of the country
enroute to Jamaica. El-Faisal once served four years in a British
jail for inciting murder and stirring racial hatred by urging
followers to kill Americans, Hindus and Jews.
   (AP, 1/21/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, In Jamaica a
sleeping 5-year-old boy died after his throat was slashed. Police
soon charged Jermaine Gushman (34) with the murder saying he may
have done it to get back at the boy's father.
   (AP, 5/15/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 7, Jamaica said plans
to open a music museum next year that officials say will feature
rare pieces from the island's music history, such as the sole album
that the late reggae star Bob Marley produced before he gained
international fame.
   (AP, 3/7/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, In Jamaica Vivian
Blake (53), founder of a cocaine-smuggling gang blamed for about
1,400 slayings, died of illnesses at hospital a year after returning
to his native island following a prison term in the United States.
In 2003 Blake's son, Duane Blake, authored "The Shower Posse: The
Most Notorious Jamaican Crime Organization."
   (AP, 3/22/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 2, In Jamaica a
sleeping 5-year-old boy died after his throat was slashed. Police
soon charged Jermaine Gushman (34) with the murder saying he may
have done it to get back at the boy's father.
   (AP, 5/15/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 11, In Jamaica the
gunbattle began when unknown assailants shot at a patrol car in
Waterford, near the capital of Kingston. Bystander Josephine Brown
(45), the mother of 5 children, was hit and killed when police
returned fire.
   (AP, 5/14/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 17, Jamaica's PM Bruce
Golding said he will allow Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a reputed drug
kingpin, to be extradited to the US, ending a nine-month fight with
Washington but raising fears of a violent backlash from the
suspect's supporters.
   (AP, 5/18/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 23, In Jamaica masked
men defending a reputed drug lord sought by the United States
torched a police station and traded gunfire with security forces in
a patchwork of barricaded slums in Kingston.
   (AP, 5/23/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 24, In Jamaica more
than 1,000 police and soldiers assaulted a public housing complex
occupied by heavily armed gangsters defending Christopher "Dudus"
Coke, an alleged drug lord wanted by the US. 2 police officers were
killed and at least six wounded since the previous night, and at
least one Jamaican soldier was shot dead during today's fighting at
Tivoli Gardens.
   (AP, 5/25/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 26, Jamaican security
forces claimed a tenuous hold over the slum stronghold of a gang
leader sought by the US, but only after battles that killed at least
44 civilians.
   (AP, 5/26/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 27, Jamaican security
forces kicked down doors and arrested dozens of people in a
bullet-pocked slum, and said the death toll from four days of
fighting sparked by the search for a reputed drug lord has risen to
73.
   (AP, 5/27/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â May 28, In Kingston,
Jamaica, the Coronation Market was gutted in an early morning blaze.
It stood next to the bullet-pocked complex of Tivoli Gardens, where
security forces have conducted a slum raid that left scores of
people dead in gun battles since May 24.
   (AP, 5/28/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 1, PM Bruce Golding
said Jamaica will launch a sustained assault on gangs that control
poor communities across the island and fuel one of the world's
highest murder rates.
   (AP, 6/2/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 22, In Jamaica reputed
drug baron Christopher "Dudus" Coke (42) sought out a preacher's
advice and tried to turn himself in to US marshals. He was caught by
police at a highway checkpoint before he could get there. 73 people
were killed in the process of catching Coke. He was later extradited
to the US. On Dec 8, 2011, PM Andrew Holness said a US surveillance
plane helped monitor the deadly raid.
   (AP, 6/23/10)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.46)(AP, 12/9/11)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 10, In Jamaica Sugar
Minott (b.1956), a smooth-voiced singer and producer who helped to
popularize reggae music, died.
   (AP, 7/11/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 12, In Jamaica police
shot and killed Cedric Murray, otherwise called ‘Doggie’, a senior
member of the Montego Bay-based Stone Crusher gang, near the border
of Clarendon and Manchester. He was on Jamaica’s ‘Most Wanted List’
for the past five years.
  Â
(www.jamaicasmostwanted.com/2008/05/03/cedric-murray/)(Econ,
9/11/10, p.48)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 22, In Jamaica a top
court ruled that Shahine Robinson, a lawmaker allied to PM Bruce
Golding, is ineligible to sit in parliament because she also holds
US citizenship.
   (AP, 9/22/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 27, In Jamaica
hundreds of medical technicians, nurse's aides and other support
staff at major public hospitals went on strike to demand pay raises
and allowances they say haven't been paid by the government.
   (AP, 9/27/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 29, Jamaica was hit by
Tropical Storm Nicole causing flooding and mudslides that left at
least 5 people dead and 14 missing.
   (SFC, 9/30/10, p.A2)(AP, 9/30/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 15, In Jamaica a bus
plunged over a cliff on the island's north coast, killing a teenage
girl and injuring 39 people. The bus driver fled after the accident.
   (AP, 10/16/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 4, In Jamaica an oil
spill was discovered in Kingston Harbor. Authorities were still
investigating a Nov 22 spill in the capital's harbor, the
7th-largest natural harbor in the world.
   (AP, 12/5/10)
2010Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, Jamaican police
discovered a body buried in a shallow grave at a construction site
outside the capital. The remains were identified as those of Esmond
Morris (32), who had not been seen since Dec 6. He had a gunshot
wound in the back of the head. 2 more bodies were found the next day
and police said they expected to find more.
   (AP, 12/11/10)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 7, A Jamaica coast
guard tried to stop a Honduran fishing boat in lobster- and
conch-rich waters, fatally shooting the captain and wounding two
crew members. Honduras' navy commander soon charged that the
fishermen were unjustifiably attacked.
   (AP, 1/12/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 10, In Jamaica gunmen
brazenly shot up a police station in Spanish Town just outside
Kingston. Intelligence indicated the gun attack was in retaliation
for the deaths of three alleged members of the Klansman gang by
security forces last weekend.
   (AP, 3/11/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 11, In Jamaica gunmen
invaded Spanish Town Hospital and robbed staff of money, phones and
jewelry. There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
   (AP, 3/12/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 23, In Jamaica an
independent investigator for the parliament called for the creation
of a special agency to fight corruption, asserting official graft
has reached "systemic" levels in the Caribbean country.
   (AP, 3/24/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 4, In Jamaica PM Bruce
Golding's party reinforced its narrow parliamentary majority by
winning a by-election called after a governing party lawmaker
acknowledged he held US citizenship in violation of constitutional
rules. The win re-established a 32-28 parliamentary majority for
Labor.
   (AP, 4/5/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr, In Jamaica Chan Tesha
Miller, the reputed Clansman leader, was sentenced to 15 years in
prison after being convicted of robbery, assault and weapons
possession.
   (AP, 12/22/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 5, Jamaica said it has
shuttered all citrus nurseries in an attempt to check the spread of
bacteria causing the incurable “citrus greening” disease. The
bacteria has hobbled citrus production in parts of China and
infested millions of trees in Florida and Brazil.
   (SFC, 7/6/11, p.A2)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 20, In Jamaica a
mother and daughter were beheaded by attackers who invaded their
home in Spanish Town, a gritty area outside Kingston, near where a
wanted 18-year-old gang member was found with his head chopped off
earlier this week. On August 2 police said three suspects had been
arrested and investigators sought six more.
   (AP, 7/21/11)(AP, 8/2/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 25, Jamaica's
governing party announced that PM Bruce Golding (63) will step down
as leader in the coming weeks, possibly averting a rebellion from
ruling party members that could have led to his ouster.
   (AP, 9/25/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 18, Jamaica’s PM Bruce
Golding (63) announced that Andrew Holness (39), the youthful
education minister, has received the unanimous endorsement of ruling
party lawmakers to become the Caribbean island's next leader.
   (AP, 10/18/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 28, In central Jamaica
an 8-year-old girl’s throat was slashed and her mother seriously
wounded in an attack at their home. Officers looked to speak with
the girl's father.
   (AP, 10/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 29, Jamaica’s
Transport Minister Mike Henry issued a statement announcing he is
resigning due to "ongoing attacks" on the management of a five-year
initiative launched in 2010 to upgrade rutted roadways. Allegations
that a $400 million road project has been mismanaged led to his
resignation.
   (AP, 11/30/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, Jamaican
authorities said 217 of 362 police officers, who took voluntary
lie-detector tests this year, failed. Officials denied re-enlistment
to 62 officers this year. An additional 34 have been charged with
corruption and seven dismissed for failing the test.
   (AP, 12/9/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 21, Jamaican
investigators found the severed head and bullet-riddled body of
Navardo Hodges of the Clansman gang, a man they believe was a
high-ranking member of a notorious drug-and-extortion gang known for
beheading victims.
   (AP, 12/22/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 29, Jamaica held
parliamentary elections. The candidate of the ruling center-right
Jamaica Labor Party, Andrew Holness (39), was the youngest prime
minister in Jamaica's history. The top opposition candidate, Portia
Simpson Miller (66) has been a stalwart of the People's National
Party since the 1970s. Voters threw out the ruling party and
delivered a landslide triumph to the opposition People's National
Party (PNP), whose campaign energetically tapped voter
disillusionment especially among the numerous struggling poor.
   (AP, 12/29/11)
2011Â Â Â Â Â Â A Florida court sentenced
David Smith of Jamaica to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty
to 23 counts of wire fraud and money laundering. He was earlier
sentenced to 6 ½ years in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where his
assets were frozen.
   (AFP, 5/25/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 3, In Jamaica final
results gave Portia Simpson Miller's opposition People's National
Party (PNP) a two-to-one margin in Parliament.
   (AP, 1/3/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, In Jamaica roughly
2,000 firearms were melted down in a blazing furnace as part of an
effort designed to combat gun trafficking and corruption while
reducing violent crime.
   (AP, 2/7/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 10, In Jamaica Wilmot
Perkins (80), a veteran journalist considered the island's
"godfather of talk radio," died. He worked for more than 50 years in
radio, launching his first program "What's your Grouse?" on RJR 94FM
in 1960. He quit a couple years later to become a farmer but
returned to radio in the 1970s, ultimately launching a show called
"Perkins On Line" on Hot102 FM.
   (AP, 2/11/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 21, Jamaica’s National
Security Minister Peter Bunting said Jamaica is developing a new
policy to battle crime as gang violence drives the homicide rate
higher. He said 165 killings have been reported by police so far in
2012, compared to 135 slayings during the corresponding period last
year on the Caribbean island of 2.8 million people.
   (AP, 2/21/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 5, In Jamaica a
13-year-old girl, two elderly men and three others were killed
during reported shootouts between police and gunmen. Residents of
the Denham Town slum in West Kingston blame officers for the
killings and the gritty area was put under curfew amid an ongoing
security operation to seize illegal guns and fugitives.
   (AP, 3/8/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 27, In Jamaica some 60
protesters who gathered outside the security ministry in a rare
street demonstration to demand an end to police shootings. A March
16 raid in the poor Cassava Piece neighborhood Diane Gordon, a
mother of two, was fatally shot in the head on the street as she
returned from a child's wake. Police said Gordon was killed during a
shootout between officers and gunmen, but residents deny there were
gunmen in the area. There have been roughly 50 police killings in
Jamaica so far this year, nearly 30 of them in March.
   (AP, 3/27/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 19, Jamaica announced
a new government task force to fight proliferating lottery scams
that mainly target elderly Americans.
   (SFC, 4/20/12, p.A2)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun 8, In NYC Christopher
“Dudus” Coke of Jamaica was sentenced to 23 years in prison for drug
trafficking.
   (SFC, 6/9/12, p.A5)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 21, Jamaican police
torched nearly 15,000 pounds of marijuana seized in raids on
trafficking operations, most of which was found this year.
   (SFC, 7/23/12, p.A2)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 6, Jamaica celebrated
its 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.
   (SFC, 8/7/12, p.A2)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 24, Hurricane Sandy
crossed over Jamaica. An elderly man was killed by a boulder that
crashed into his clapboard house. Sandy killed 51 people in Haiti.
At least 65 people were left dead as Sandy left the Caribbean.
   (AP, 10/25/12)(AP, 10/26/12)(AP, 10/28/12)
2012Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec, After years of
meticulous translation from the original Greek, the Bible Society
released in Jamaica print and audio CD versions of the first patois
translation of the New Testament, or "Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment."
   (AP, 12/7/12)0
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 15, Jamaica’s top
mining official said his country may be able to benefit from newly
found deposits of rare-earth elements that are key ingredients for
smartphones, computers and numerous other high-tech goods.
   (AP, 1/16/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 14, Jamaican officials
said that they are hopeful new legislation will finally result in a
stream of convictions and lengthy sentences for fraudsters behind a
multimillion-dollar lottery scam that has swindled mostly elderly
Americans out of their retirement savings for years.
   (AP, 3/14/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 21, Jamaica’s Senate
passed a bill calling for tougher prosecution of those involved in
multimillion-dollar lottery scams that mostly have targeted elderly
Americans. It was soon passed by the House of Representatives and
the governor general was expected soon to sign it.
   (AP, 3/30/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 22, In Jamaica Dwayne
Jones (16) was beaten, stabbed, shot and run over by a car when he
showed up at a street party dressed as a woman. He had confided to a
friend that he was attending a "straight" party as a girl for the
first time in his life.
   (AP, 8/11/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep, In Jamaica Police
Superintendent Steve McGreggor took over leadership of the tough
West Kingston police division. He said that culture is changing and
vowed to erase every painted image paying respect to gangsters.
   (AP, 10/17/13)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 16, A boat with more
than dozen people, including Jamaicans and Haitians, capsized off
the coast of South Florida. 4 women died and 11 people were taken
into custody. On May 15 Bahamian national Naaman Davis pleaded
guilty in Miami federal court to charges of smuggling. He was paid
to drive the migrant-filled boat and was drinking rum and smoking
crack-cocaine the night it capsized.
   (SFC, 10/16/13, p.A7)(AP, 5/16/14)
2013Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 10, In Jamaica the
Caribbean Community Reparations Commission identified eight nations
that should work with regional governments to address slavery
reparations. Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden were added
to a list that already included Britain, France and the Netherlands.
   (SFC, 12/11/13, p.A2)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 13, Jamaica
authorities arrested a police officer and two others accused of
transporting 23 pounds (10 kg) of marijuana.
   (AP, 2/14/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 14, In Jamaica Leroy
Russell, a dancehall deejay, was charged in a multimillion-dollar
lottery scam.
   (AP, 2/15/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 2, Jamaican police
said they have seized over 2,100 pounds (952 kg) of marijuana and
arrested a suspect in a 2-day operation at a container terminal in
Kingston.
   (AP, 3/2/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 25, Police in Jamaica
arrested 20 people suspected of involvement in a multimillion-dollar
lottery scam.
   (AP, 4/26/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â May 30, Jamaica's
government said it is launching a $5 million welfare-to-work program
that is expected to benefit some 2,000 people. The program will be
implemented in the next two years. The island of 2.9 million people
suffered a 16 percent unemployment rate with nearly 17 percent of
the population below the poverty line.
   (AP, 5/31/14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jun, Jamaica’s government
said it plans to decriminalize possession of small amounts of
marijuana.
   (Econ, 6/28/14, p.14)
2014Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 20, Jamaica’s
environment minister, Robert Pickersgill, said a severe drought is
worsening and that water supplies are already well below normal.
Temporary shutoffs in Kingston were taking place daily.
   (SFC, 7/22/14, p.A20)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 24, Jamaica's
parliament cleared the way for decriminalizing marijuana by
approving amendments to its Dangerous Drugs Act. The act
decriminalized small amounts of pot and established a licensing
agency to regulate a lawful medical marijuana industry.
   (Reuters, 2/25/15)(SFC, 2/25/15, p.A2)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 12, Jamaican
firefighters worked to put out the wind-fanned blaze as it billowed
acrid smoke across Kingston and parts of neighboring St. Catherine
parish.
   (AP, 3/12/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 8, Barack Obama became
the first sitting US president to set foot in Jamaica since 1982. He
was scheduled to meet the CARICOM regional bloc and possibly offer
them an alternative to cheap Venezuelan oil amid a spat with
Caracas. He was also slated to meet with PM Simpson-Miller.
   (AFP, 4/9/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 9, Pres. Obama
announced a $70 million youth initiative for Jamaica after meeting
with PM Portia Simpson Miller.
   (SSFC, 4/12/15, p.A4)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 24, Jamaican
authorities said they have seized more than 540 pounds (245 kg) of
marijuana during an operation in the southeast parish of St.
Catherine.
   (AP, 4/25/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â May 7, In North Dakota
jurors in Bismarck found Sanjay Williams (25) of Jamaica guilty of
conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering for his role in a
lottery scam that cost victims millions of dollars around the
country. About a dozen other defendants were awaiting extradition
from Jamaica.
   (SFC, 5/8/15, p.A6)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Oct 13, Jamaican author
Marlon James won the Man Booker Prize for "A Brief History of Seven
Killings", a re-telling of the attempted assassination of musician
Bob Marley.
   (AFP, 10/14/15)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Dec 9, It was reported
that Jamaican activist Maurice Tomlinson has filed a claim in the
country;s Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of 1864
laws that ban sex between men.
   (SFC, 12/10/15, p.A6)
2015Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica suffered 1,207
murders this year, almost ten times the rate in the US.
   (Econ, 2/20/15, p.30)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 7, In Jamaica gunfire
left 3 people dead as Andrew Hollness, leader of the oppositon
Jamaica Labour Party, spoke to supporters in Montego Bay.
   (Econ, 2/20/16, p.30)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 25, In Jamaica the
opposition narrowly won parliamentary elections, defeating the party
led by the first female prime minister to govern the largest
English-speaking country in the Caribbean. Preliminary results from
the Electoral Commission showed the Jamaica Labor Party capturing 33
spots in the 63-seat Parliament.
   (AP, 2/26/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 1, Jamaican police
said that US missionaries Randy Hentzel (48) and Harold Nichols (53)
were found slain in a rural area of the Caribbean island that has
long struggled with high rates of violent crime.
   (AP, 5/1/16)
2016Â Â Â Â Â Â May 4, Jamaica sentenced
Dalton Forrester of Brooklyn to three years in prison and fined him
about $6,000 after authorities found more than $100,000 in
undeclared cash in his luggage on April 9. Forrester pleaded guilty
to charges that included possession of criminal property.
   (AP, 5/4/16)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 25, Jamaica’s Usain
Bolt lost one of his nine Olympic gold medals when the International
Olympic Committee stripped Jamaica of their 4x100m relay win at the
2008 Beijing Games after relay teammate Nesta Carter, who ran the
first leg of the race, was found to have tested positive for banned
substance Methylhexanamine.
   (AFP, 1/25/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Apr 20, In Jamaica Olympic
medal-winning track and field athlete Germaine Mason (34) died in a
motorcycle crash outside the capital.
   (AP, 4/20/17)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 23, In Jamaica Sean
O’Callaghan (62), former IRA assassin and police informant, drowned
in a pool while visiting his daughter. His popular memoir “The
Informer” was published in 1998.
   (SSFC, 8/27/17, p.C9)
2017Â Â Â Â Â Â Nov 21, Jamaica's PM
Andrew Holness said the government will protect nearly 75,000
hectares (185,000 acres) in the area known as Cockpit Country, a
northwest region dotted by mines that features forests, rivers and
cultural sites.
   (AP, 11/22/17)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Jan 19, Authorities in
Jamaica declared a state of emergency in areas including the popular
tourist town of Montego Bay amid a rise in violent crime.
   (AP, 1/19/18)
2018Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 17, In New York a Fly
Jamaica Airways crew member Hugh Hall was arrested at JFK airport
and agents seized about 9 pounds of cocaine taped to his legs, with
a street value of about $160,000.
   (AP, 3/22/18)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Feb 2, In Jamaica the body
of Dr. Lynvale Bloomfield (59), a member of Parliament, was found at
his home in the northeast district of Portland.
   (AP, 2/4/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Mar 22, US President
Donald Trump met with five Caribbean leaders who have sided with the
United States and most Western countries in backing Venezuelan
opposition leader Juan Guaido as head of state. Trump met with
leaders from the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and
Saint Lucia at his private club in Palm Beach, Florida.
   (Reuters, 3/22/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jul 23, It was reported
that the US State Department has stopped publishing crime data
involving Americans harmed in Jamaica — but it won't say why. The
State Department did warn in its 2019 report that "rape and sexual
assault are serious problems throughout Jamaica, including at
resorts and hotels.
   (USA Today, 7/23/19)
2019Â Â Â Â Â Â Jamaica completed a 6-year
course of austerity prescribed by the IMF.
   (Econ., 8/22/20, p.30)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Aug 14, Prosecutors said
radical Islamic cleric Abdullah al-Faisal (56) has been extradited
from Jamaica to New York City on charges he recruited followers and
fighters for the Islamic State through fiery online lectures and
militant propaganda.
   (AP, 8/14/20)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 3, In Jamaica PM
Andrew Hollness (b.1972) won a 2nd term.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Holness)(Econ., 9/19/20, p.34)
2020Â Â Â Â Â Â Sep 11, In Jamaica Toots
Hibbert (77), the front man for the reggae group Toots and the
Maytals, died in Kingston.
  Â
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toots_and_the_Maytals)(SSFC, 9/13/20,
p.A4)
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End of file