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Life beyond the belly
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Without presuming anything at all about the guilt or innocence of Mr Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, we sense that the country is in for a rather embarrassing and dangerous ride as far as the US Government's request for his extradition on drug-trafficking and conspiracy charges is concerned.
In fact, said ride appears to have already started, according to the report in the lead story of last Friday's edition of our sister title about Mr Coke, son of the late Mr Lester Lloyd 'Jim Brown' Coke. For the mere mention of the word 'coke', whether in reference to the family or the illegal contraband, triggers recollections of a chapter in our history of which none of us can be proud.
As Friday's story indicated, there's no talking about the Cokes, especially within the context of the US's extradition request, without recalling the horror stories associated with the infamous Shower Posse, which was allegedly run by the late Mr Coke and the recently deported Mr Vivian Blake. The Shower Posse, as Friday's story reminds us, was a multi-million-dollar drug-dealing gang which wreaked havoc in several US cities and was linked to over 1,000 murders.
Mr Blake himself is on record as saying - rather shamelessly in our view - that the gang was run in much the same way as a conventional multi-million-dollar corporation.
Then there are the allegations, also connected with this story, that the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been probing the activities of senior politicians, police officers and sportsmen in connection with the illegal drug trade. This, coupled with the mysterious circumstances under which Mr Coke burned to death in his jail cell at the General Penitentiary here while awaiting extradition to the United States in February of 1992, makes for ugly reading.
The worst thing about all of this is that there seems to be much more to come. And based on the preceding chapters of this story, we have no reason to hope that any of it will be flattering. For starters, if Mr Coke is indicted and ultimately convicted on charges of drug-trafficking and conspiracy it will raise questions (or should we say even more questions?) about the credibility of our own justice system, which has often been accused of condoning open criminal secrets.
Even if he isn't, the whole ugly past will be resurrected anyway, to the further detriment of the country's image. Given the harsh economic climate which has made the need for investment and other growth stimuli even more critical to our survival, the implications that this newest scandal holds for all of us should be obvious.
For in the same way that our Mr Usain Bolt has, through his magnificent athletic performances, brought us international glory which, with the right skill, can be manipulated to translate into huge economic benefits for the country, others through their nefarious exploits can bring us down. We are aware of what, in our opinion, is a rather misguided school of thought that would condemn the US's request on a variety of grounds which are irrelevant to an enquiry into the guilt or innocence of Mr Coke.
They say he's a 'Don', a good man who has kept many bellies in Tivoli Gardens full over the years. That may be so, but it cannot be the basis on which to resist an extradition request. We must, as a civilised, democratic society, be prepared to stand or fall with the systems of justice to which our Government has subscribed, bellyful or no bellyful.
At the same time, Mr Coke's constitutional right to an extradition hearing in the court cannot be denied by the State.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Without presuming anything at all about the guilt or innocence of Mr Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, we sense that the country is in for a rather embarrassing and dangerous ride as far as the US Government's request for his extradition on drug-trafficking and conspiracy charges is concerned.
In fact, said ride appears to have already started, according to the report in the lead story of last Friday's edition of our sister title about Mr Coke, son of the late Mr Lester Lloyd 'Jim Brown' Coke. For the mere mention of the word 'coke', whether in reference to the family or the illegal contraband, triggers recollections of a chapter in our history of which none of us can be proud.
As Friday's story indicated, there's no talking about the Cokes, especially within the context of the US's extradition request, without recalling the horror stories associated with the infamous Shower Posse, which was allegedly run by the late Mr Coke and the recently deported Mr Vivian Blake. The Shower Posse, as Friday's story reminds us, was a multi-million-dollar drug-dealing gang which wreaked havoc in several US cities and was linked to over 1,000 murders.
Mr Blake himself is on record as saying - rather shamelessly in our view - that the gang was run in much the same way as a conventional multi-million-dollar corporation.
Then there are the allegations, also connected with this story, that the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has been probing the activities of senior politicians, police officers and sportsmen in connection with the illegal drug trade. This, coupled with the mysterious circumstances under which Mr Coke burned to death in his jail cell at the General Penitentiary here while awaiting extradition to the United States in February of 1992, makes for ugly reading.
The worst thing about all of this is that there seems to be much more to come. And based on the preceding chapters of this story, we have no reason to hope that any of it will be flattering. For starters, if Mr Coke is indicted and ultimately convicted on charges of drug-trafficking and conspiracy it will raise questions (or should we say even more questions?) about the credibility of our own justice system, which has often been accused of condoning open criminal secrets.
Even if he isn't, the whole ugly past will be resurrected anyway, to the further detriment of the country's image. Given the harsh economic climate which has made the need for investment and other growth stimuli even more critical to our survival, the implications that this newest scandal holds for all of us should be obvious.
For in the same way that our Mr Usain Bolt has, through his magnificent athletic performances, brought us international glory which, with the right skill, can be manipulated to translate into huge economic benefits for the country, others through their nefarious exploits can bring us down. We are aware of what, in our opinion, is a rather misguided school of thought that would condemn the US's request on a variety of grounds which are irrelevant to an enquiry into the guilt or innocence of Mr Coke.
They say he's a 'Don', a good man who has kept many bellies in Tivoli Gardens full over the years. That may be so, but it cannot be the basis on which to resist an extradition request. We must, as a civilised, democratic society, be prepared to stand or fall with the systems of justice to which our Government has subscribed, bellyful or no bellyful.
At the same time, Mr Coke's constitutional right to an extradition hearing in the court cannot be denied by the State.
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