1494 May 13, Columbus found the
natives on Jamaica hostile and left for Cuba.
(http://www1.minn.net/~keithp/v2.htm)
1494 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)
1502 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)
1503 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)
1504 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)
1655 May 10, Jamaica was
captured by English.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1692 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)
1692 Jun 24, Kingston, Jamaica,
was founded.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1720 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)
1720 Nov 20, 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)
1792 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)
1831 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)
1832 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)
1833 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)
1834 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)
1864 Jamaican law banned sex
relations between men.
(SFC, 8/30/14, p.A2)
1881 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)
1883 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)
1887 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)
1889 Canada’s Bank of Nova
Scotia opened a branch in Jamaica.
(Econ, 3/29/08, p.50)
1908 Archie Lindo (d.1990),
Jamaican playwright, was born.
(http://tinyurl.com/389252)
1930 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)
1933 Nicholas Shoumatoff
captured a couple of small butterflies that were later used to
describe a new subspecies: Thecla celida shoumatoffi, or
Shoumatoff’s hairstreak.
(Nat. Hist. 3/96, p.11)
1940 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.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey)(SSFC, 5/11/08, Books
p.5)
1945 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)
1945 Mar 1, Burning Spear
[Winston Rodney], Jamaican reggae singer, was born.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1948 Jun 2, Jamaican-born track
star Herb McKenley set a new world record for the 400 yard dash.
(HN, 6/2/00)
1951 Aug 17, Hurricane winds
drove 6 ships ashore at Kingston, Jamaica.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1958 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)
1959 Jul 4, Cayman Islands
separated from Jamaica, made a crown colony.
(Maggio)
1959 A 2nd state radio station
was formed.
(SFC, 12/10/99, p.AA8)
1959 Clement Dodd (d.2004),
began producing records on his own label.
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.80)
1960-1966 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)
1961 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)
1962 Feb 9, An agreement was
signed to make Jamaica an independent nation within the British
Commonwealth later in the year.
(AP, 2/9/02)
1962 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)
1962 Aug 6, Jamaica became an
independent dominion within the British Commonwealth.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)(AP, 8/6/97)
1963 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)
1964 The ska group Skatalites
formed with Rolando Alphonso on tenor sax.
(SFC, 12/7/98, p.A25)
1964 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)
1967 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)
1968 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)
1969 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)
1971 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)
1972 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)
1975 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)
1976 Michael Manley was elected
for a 2nd term as prime minister.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)
1976 John Issa, businessman,
founded the SuperClubs Int’l. Ltd.
(WSJ, 7/25/97, p.B1)
1979 Gas price riots resulted
when the government increased gas prices.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)
1980 May 20, A fire in nursing
home in Kingston, Jamaica, killed some 153 old women.
(http://www.jnht.com/disndat/eventide.php)
1980 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)
1981 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)
1984 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))
1985 Gas price riots resulted
when the government increased gas prices.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)
1988 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)
1989 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)
1992 Feb 23 In Jamaica Lester
Coke (aka Jim Brown), head of the infamous Shower Posse, died in a
mysterious prison cell fire.
(www.islandmix.com/backchat/f6/jamaicans-rope-131061/)
1992 Mar 28, Prime Minister
Michael Manley stepped down from office. He was succeeded by P.J.
Patterson.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)
1993 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)
1993 The Blue Mountains John
Crow National park was established.
(SFC, 9/1/96, T5)
1994 Nov 16, The UN Law of the
Sea, 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.
(http://tinyurl.com/2wsq9p)(SFC, 7/19/99, p.A22)
1994 Jamaica's government
privatized its sugar factories. [see 1998]
(Econ, 8/30/03, p.26)
1994 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)
1994-1995 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)
1997 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)
1997 Mar 6, Former Prime
Minister Michael Manley (b.Dec 10, 1924) died.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A21)
1997 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)
1997 Dec 18 ,
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)
1997 Jamaica’s population was
about 2.3 million.
(Hem., 12/96, p.30)(SFC, 1/30/97, p.A10)
1998 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)
1998 Jul, Jamaica withdrew from
the Organization of American States’ Inter-American Court on Human
Rights.
(SFC, 7/4/98, p.A10)
1998 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)
1998 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)
1998 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)
1998 The Jamaican government
took back the sugar factories privatized in 1994 for three American
cents.
(Econ, 8/30/03, p.26)
1999 Apr 16, The government
announced $100 million in new taxes that included a 30% increase in
gas prices.
(SFC, 4/22/99, p.D12)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
1999 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)
2000 Mar, Drought left crops
wilted and water level at the Hermitage Dam was less than half.
(SFC, 3/24/00, p.A8)
2000 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)
2000 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)
2000 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)
2001 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)
2001 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)
2001 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)
2001 Aug 16, A government
commission recommended that marijuana, aka ganja, be legalized for
personal use by adults.
(SFC, 8/18/01, p.E1)
2001 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)
2002 Oct 15, In Jamaica 3
people were shot dead outside Kingston.
(SFC, 10/16/02, p.A17)
2002 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)
2002 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)
2003 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)
2003 Oct 23, A 3-day dominos
tournament began at the Ocho Rios resort in Jamaica.
(SFC, 10/24/03, p.D3)
2003 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)
2004 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)
2004 May 4, Clement Dodd (Sir
Coxsone), father of reggae music, died in Jamaica at age 72.
(Econ, 5/22/04, p.80)
2004 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)
2004 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)
2004 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)
2004 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)
2004 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)
2004 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)
2004 Nov, Human Rights Watch
released a report, “Hated to Death,” on homophobia, violence and
AIDS in Jamaica.
(Econ, 11/27/04, p.42)
2005 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)
2005 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)
2005 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)
2005 Aug 9, Murders in Jamaica
reached 1,028, up 25% from 2004.
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.32)
2005 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)
2005 Sep 6, In Jamaica
opposition-led protests left one person dead.
(WSJ, 9/8/05, p.A1)
2005 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 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)
2006 Jamaica reported some 25
killings per week this year.
(Econ, 9/8/07, p.42)
2006 Dec 5, Jamaica reported 15
cases of malaria in the Kingston area, the first in 15 years.
(WSJ, 12/6/06, p.A1)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2007 Apr 28, The 7-week, 1st
Cricket World Cup ended with Australia defeating Sri Lanka.
(Econ, 5/5/07, p.48)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2007 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 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)
2008 Jamaica’s population
was about 2.8 million.
(AP, 1/27/09)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 Apr 19, In Jamaica Stephen
Fray (20) forced his way though 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)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 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)
2009 Jamaica recorded 1,672
murders, its highest number on record.
(Econ, 3/13/10, p.40)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 Aug 12, In Jamaica police
shot and killed Cedric Murray, otherwise called ‘Doggie’, an 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.
(www.jamaicasmostwanted.com/2008/05/03/cedric-murray/)(Econ,
9/11/10, p.48)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2010 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2011 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 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)
2012 Aug 6, Jamaica celebrated
its 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.
(SFC, 8/7/12, p.A2)
2012 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)
2012 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
2013 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)
2013 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)
2013 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)
2013 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)
2013 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)
2013 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)
2013 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)
2014 Feb 13, Jamaica
authorities arrested a police officer and two others accused of
transporting 23 pounds (10 kg) of marijuana.
(AP, 2/14/14)
2014 Feb 14, In Jamaica Leroy
Russell, a dancehall deejay, was charged in a multimillion-dollar
lottery scam.
(AP, 2/15/14)
2014 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)
2014 Apr 25, Police in Jamaica
arrested 20 people suspected of involvement in a multimillion-dollar
lottery scam.
(AP, 4/26/14)
2014 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)
2014 Jun, Jamaica’s government
said it plans to decriminalize possession of small amounts of
marijuana.
(Econ, 6/28/14, p.14)
2014 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)
