Jamaica’s balance of fear

Press, 17 September 1976, Page 12

Jamaica’s balance of fear

By

JOHN HATCH

in the “Guardian,” London

On June 19. a state of emergency was declared in Jamaica on the advice of Mr Michael Manley’s Government. It was designed to halt the violence of the last six months in which more than 100 people, including 17 policemen, lost their lives.

The security force- were given powers to detain people considered likely to endanger public safety without having to bring them to court, although an appeal tribunal was established. The Opposition supported the emergency, though complaining that it was being used unfairly against its members. The Prime Minister has since given details of the discoveries made by the security forces. The most serious concern two members of the Opposition, the Jamaica Labour Party First there was a briefcase belonging to Mr Peter Whittingham. an L.J.P. candidate for the coming elections. It contained documents listing trained and indoctrinated men, quantities of rifles, machine guns, barrels of gunpowder, and anti-Govem-ment pamphlets designed to characterise Mr Manley and his government as Communits. Mr Whittingham is a former officer of the Jamaica Defence Force, a trained soldier. Machine guns, rifles and gunpowder are hardly the weapons of normal criminals.

The second case was that of Senator Peamel Charles, Deputy Leader of the J.L.P. In his house the security forces discovered two tapes recording secret transmissions of the j—int police military security operations. Since then caches of arms, including 257 sticks of dynamite and five rolls of fuse wire in Montego Bay, have been unearth-d in different parts of the inland. They seem to justify the fear of the security forces that much of the violence this year goes beyond normal criminal activities and must be described as sophisticated, para-military subversion.

Mr Manley asserted that tb- discoveries were evi-

dence of “a deeper and wider conspiracy at work aimed at national objectives involving she stability of the society and the security of the constitutionally elected Government.” If there was a conspiracy aimed at overthrowing the Government by force, where did it originate? The ruling People’s National Party believes it originated from an alliance between sections of the J.L.P. Jamaican .x--patriates in North America, some members of the local wealthy establishment and the C.I.A. all opposed to Mr Manley’s democratic socialism.

The C.I.A. allegation remains unproven. It is known, however, that the Caribbean desk in the,State Department is divided between those who fear that Jamaica is becoming a satellite of Cuba, and those who see the island as a continuing bastion of Western-type democracy. There is also reason to believe that the Americans remain uncertain whether Mr Seaga, Leader of the J.L.P. , could provide a viable alternative to Mr Manley, but are still trying to come to a decision.

Just before the emergency was declared Mr Herb Rose, a member of the J.L.P. executive, resigned from the party, alleging that it had turned to violence and terror to gain victory at the next election. He told reporters: “It is the violence of a deliberate, well-planned and phased programme to ensure that the energies of the security forces will be spent in trying to cope with it in an election year.” However that may be, members of the P.N.P. and the Opposition, have been detained. It would seem that some members of the P.N.P. were prepared to join in the political violence, if only in retaliation.

The fact is that whether or not the security forces have discovered who is organising the violence, they have not revealed it. Has the declaration of the emergency. then, solved any of Jamaica’s problems? Has it justified keeping more than 100 Jamaicans in detention without trial?

The application of the new security forces’ powers has certainly reduced the violence. The crime rate declined to less than one-

half the pre-emergency rate during the first month. The fear that a combination of Jamaican dissidents and Cuban exiles in Miami were planning to disrupt the Caribbean Festival of Arts held in Jamaica at the end of July has been assuaged. A bomb blast intended for a Cubana flight only wracked a baggage cart at the Norman Manley Airport, because the plane arrived late. The festival was not disrupted. The emergency powers have also been welcomed by the tourist industry, which has been hit by the hostile North American press. In almost all parts of the country life has continued peacefully. The next few weeks, during which certain detainees will be put on trial on specific charges, may reveal more of the character of the violence and whether its roots have yet been removed. In the meantime Manley has announced a new economic strategy.

In spite of financial stringency, he and his Government are injecting new capital into agriculture, construction and small businesses. They are gambling on a continuation of the comparative peace which the state of emergency has induced — plus, of cou ’se, a more positive attitude to productivity by employers, trade unions, and workers. At the same time they have reduced their import ceiling, hoping to restore the foreign exchange balance and stimulate local production.

Thus Jamaica remains balanced on a knife-edge. Electioneering has already started, with the two parties in consultation on how to preserve legitimate political activity under emergency regulations. It seems virtually certain that Opposition fears of the emergency being used to postpone or cancel the general election due by next June at the latest have proved groundless.

But the conduct of that election and possibly its outcome, will depend heavily on the degree of success attained hv the security forces in rooting out the violence without discriminating .in favour of either political party — plus restraint on those Americans tempted to regard Jamaica as another Cuba.