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EDITORIAL: Don't crow yet about US-Jamaica relations
Published: Sunday | July 3, 2011
It may be, as both sides, especially Kingston, have recently been suggesting, that relations between the United States and Jamaica are again good and healthy after the frostiness over the Christopher Coke extradition affair.
Early last month when Prime Minister Bruce Golding was on a trip to Washington, our diplomats there were able to wangle a meeting for him with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at which she praised Jamaica's "important role" in the Caribbean.
Then at the margins of a meeting in Montego Bay with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers later in June, Mrs Clinton had bilateral talks with her Jamaican counterpart, Dr Ken Baugh, who is also the island's deputy prime minister.
Mrs Clinton emerged to tell journalists how hard Kingston and Washington had worked "over the last two and half years ... to deepen and broaden" their relationship.
So, she was now "very heartened and pleased by the relationship", Mrs Clinton said.
Against that backdrop, this newspaper is more than a little bit surprised by a recent action by the US Embassy in Kingston, which appeared to be a deliberate attempt by the Americans to signal to the Golding administration that it is not entirely out of the doghouse.
We refer to the embassy's statement last week rebuking Prime Minister Golding for statements he made at the commission of enquiry into the Coke issue about the behaviour of the mission's former chargé d'affaires, Mr Isiah Parnell.
Coke is a reputed narcotics and gun smuggler who is awaiting trial in the US after a messy extradition process that consumed Jamaica for the better part of a year. He operated from Tivoli Gardens, a ruling party stronghold in Prime Minister Golding's parliamentary constituency. It was widely felt that the many legal arguments the Government put up against Coke's immediate extradition were contrived, or, at best, weak.
much work to do
For most of the period of the stand-off, Mr Parnell headed the US mission, which was without an ambassador. Apparently, in meetings and telephone conversations with Jamaican officials, he was adamant that the Americans would not back off from their request for Coke and was insistent that the extradition papers were compliant with the law and extradition treaty between the two countries.
Mr Golding, however, as we were reminded by the embassy last week, variously characterised Mr Parnell's attitude as "aggressive", "belligerent" and "harassing". At the time, the embassy said that it would await the completion of the hearings and the release of the report before responding.
That was said three months ago, and many people had forgotten the promise. Most others expected that given the presumed thaw in US-Jamaica relations, and Mrs Clinton's recent praise of Jamaica for its role in promoting regional security and taking on narco-traffickers, the fallout from the Coke issue would be allowed to slide by.
That, however, was not the case. And the embassy would have known that it would again place the relationship and the context of the Coke matter back into the spotlight by publicly taking "exception" to the PM's characterisation of Mr Parnell's behaviour and its affirmation that the mission's communication with Jamaica officials during the controversy was "professionally courteous throughout".
We would be surprised if a statement such as this, especially given the background of the matters raised, could have been issued without clearance from the State Department. Jamaica, it seems, has work to do.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure1.html
Published: Sunday | July 3, 2011
It may be, as both sides, especially Kingston, have recently been suggesting, that relations between the United States and Jamaica are again good and healthy after the frostiness over the Christopher Coke extradition affair.
Early last month when Prime Minister Bruce Golding was on a trip to Washington, our diplomats there were able to wangle a meeting for him with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at which she praised Jamaica's "important role" in the Caribbean.
Then at the margins of a meeting in Montego Bay with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) foreign ministers later in June, Mrs Clinton had bilateral talks with her Jamaican counterpart, Dr Ken Baugh, who is also the island's deputy prime minister.
Mrs Clinton emerged to tell journalists how hard Kingston and Washington had worked "over the last two and half years ... to deepen and broaden" their relationship.
So, she was now "very heartened and pleased by the relationship", Mrs Clinton said.
Against that backdrop, this newspaper is more than a little bit surprised by a recent action by the US Embassy in Kingston, which appeared to be a deliberate attempt by the Americans to signal to the Golding administration that it is not entirely out of the doghouse.
We refer to the embassy's statement last week rebuking Prime Minister Golding for statements he made at the commission of enquiry into the Coke issue about the behaviour of the mission's former chargé d'affaires, Mr Isiah Parnell.
Coke is a reputed narcotics and gun smuggler who is awaiting trial in the US after a messy extradition process that consumed Jamaica for the better part of a year. He operated from Tivoli Gardens, a ruling party stronghold in Prime Minister Golding's parliamentary constituency. It was widely felt that the many legal arguments the Government put up against Coke's immediate extradition were contrived, or, at best, weak.
much work to do
For most of the period of the stand-off, Mr Parnell headed the US mission, which was without an ambassador. Apparently, in meetings and telephone conversations with Jamaican officials, he was adamant that the Americans would not back off from their request for Coke and was insistent that the extradition papers were compliant with the law and extradition treaty between the two countries.
Mr Golding, however, as we were reminded by the embassy last week, variously characterised Mr Parnell's attitude as "aggressive", "belligerent" and "harassing". At the time, the embassy said that it would await the completion of the hearings and the release of the report before responding.
That was said three months ago, and many people had forgotten the promise. Most others expected that given the presumed thaw in US-Jamaica relations, and Mrs Clinton's recent praise of Jamaica for its role in promoting regional security and taking on narco-traffickers, the fallout from the Coke issue would be allowed to slide by.
That, however, was not the case. And the embassy would have known that it would again place the relationship and the context of the Coke matter back into the spotlight by publicly taking "exception" to the PM's characterisation of Mr Parnell's behaviour and its affirmation that the mission's communication with Jamaica officials during the controversy was "professionally courteous throughout".
We would be surprised if a statement such as this, especially given the background of the matters raised, could have been issued without clearance from the State Department. Jamaica, it seems, has work to do.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure1.html
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