PM will have no ‘Dudus’ under his watch

The public was assured earlier this week that drug barons in St.Vincent and the Grenadines will not be able to control territory here.{{more}}

This promise was made by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, as he shared his views on the deadly gunbattle in Jamaica between law enforcement officers and thugs of Tivoli Gardens and its environs who support Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Gonsalves said: “Give them a chance they will do exactly like Dudus.

“We have a lot of copy cats. I assure you. You ain’t going and have that on my watch. I assure you of that,” said Gonsalves quite sternly, at a press conference on Tuesday.

Gonsalves said he hopes the Jamaica situation helps Vincentians to understand the gravity of allowing drug dealers to take control.

“There are people who will tell me when you act like this you lose votes. Well, okay, you lose votes. You don’t do it, we all lose our lives and our dignity,” said the prime minister, who had launched an assault on the drug operation in St.Vincent and the Grenadines one year ago when he staged the exercise ‘Vincy Pac’.

“Keeping law and order doesn’t give you any votes you know, because when you are maintaining law and order there is always somebody who wants to criticise you for maintaining law order,” said Gonsalves, adding not having law and order will make it difficult for people to enjoy any of their rights.

“I hope what is happening there has come home to Vincentians that you cannot give these organised drug traffickers and money launderers any space,” Gonsalves warned.

Gonsalves said at a court hearing here, well known activists of the New Democratic Party went about with their SUVs with drinks to share out among those who had come to support an alleged drugman or money launderer. He described the drug dealer as “a kind of mini Dudus, a micro Dudus, a baby Dudus, a Dudus in an earlier evolutionary state”.

“But mark my words, you give them a chance they will do exactly like Dudus,” Gonsalves reiterated.

Gonsalves predicted that other areas of the Caribbean were likely to be affected by the Jamaica uprising.

“That would affect our tourism, too,

you know, because when they (international media) talk about the Caribbean people are going to say ‘no, I don’t

want to go to the Caribbean’,” said Gonsalves, noting that the rest of the region will have to promote their

destinations as different than what is

happening in Jamaica.

On May 17, 2010, a deeply apologetic Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica announced that Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne will sign the authority for extradition proceedings to commence against Coke who is wanted by the United States to face gun and drug-running charges. The U.S. authorities had been seeking Coke’s extradition since August 2009.

Violence, however, rocked sections of Kingston on Sunday, May 23, 2010, when armed men brazenly took on the security forces in a sustained attack on police stations in anticipation of the apprehension of Coke.

Four police stations came under attack.

The government immediately declared sections of the capital a state of emergency and law enforcement officers, soldiers and police officers, launched an offensive on Tivilo Gardens.

By press time Wednesday, the number of civilians confirmed killed in the security force operation in West Kingston had reached 44.