Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 Source: The Herald-Sun (NC) Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun Contact: http://www.herald-sun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428 JAMAICA GANG VIOLENCE CHRONOLOGY A Look At Gang Violence In Jamaica Over The Past Three Decades: 1970s: Jamaica's two main political parties enlist gangs to intimidate voters, arming them and dividing Kingston's poor neighborhoods into areas loyal to either the People's National Party of Prime Minister Michael Manley or the Labor Party of Edward Seaga. 1980: More than 800 people killed in the general election campaign in which the conservative Seaga wins power from the socialist-minded Manley. With the gangs firmly entrenched, most poor people are forced to affiliate themselves with a party since they rely on party patronage for jobs, houses and land. 1980s: The Kingston gangs move into the lucrative cocaine and marijuana trade. They become financially independent from politicians, and more dangerous as they battle for territory in urban wars that claim an increasing number of innocent lives. 1989: General elections tainted by gang violence restore Manley to power. He retires in 1992. 1993: Armed gangs burst into polling stations and grab ballot boxes, spoiling general elections that elect Manley's hand-picked successor, P.J. Patterson. 1997: Even as gang violence rages, political party leaders sign the "declaration of political tolerance," sponsored by former President Jimmy Carter and Gen. Colin Powell, the son of Jamaican immigrants. But the country suffers a high murder rate and increase in drug-related violence. 1999: Patterson sends troops into dangerous Kingston areas who impose curfews and disarm gangs. His government attributes the crackdown to an 11 percent decrease in murders that year, along with lowering other violent crimes like robberies and rapes. 2001: With some 600 murders in the first six months of the year -- nearly 40 in gang wars in May and June -- Patterson sends in the troops again. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom