It took more than four years, but Jamaica has finally signed  a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States (US) that seeks to stamp out corruption at the ports, which has, for decades, facilitated the inflows of guns, drugs and other illicit items The 20-page MOU has been in Washington for the past nine weeks going through the various stages of approval.

I am very skeptical of Jamaica signing this deal based based on the historical disrespect and abuse of Jamaicans in the similar Shiprider agreement.

In 2004,  The Governments of Jamaica and the United States signed a protocol known as the Shiprider Agreement, which set out to:

  • further cooperation in deterring the movement of illicit drugs through Jamaican territorial waters from South America to the United States.
  • allow for cooperation in ship boarding, ship riding and over flight.
  • Allow US Coast Guard law enforcement detachments operating from specific foreign government ships to board suspected ships in Jamaican waters.
  • speed up the provision of technical assistance including drug detection technology between the two countries and puts a framework in place for the exercise of jurisdiction in each nation’s continuous zone.
  • ensure greater protection for civil aircraft including an agreement that neither the US nor Jamaica will use force against civil aircraft in flight.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? Well this agreement has been used to abuse and victimize innocent  Jamaican fishermen.

Outrage 1
On 13 September 2017 Jamaican fishermen went missing after setting out for sea from the village of half Moon Bay. However, their quest for tuna and snapper was supposed to last about two days. But, it was not until five weeks later the men re-emerged in Miami, covered in burns and blisters.  The US Coast Guard officers had snatched them off their boat on suspicion of marijuana smuggling, then held them at sea for more than a month, shuffling them among various vessels en route to the US to face trial.

The Jamaicans were forced off their boat at gunpoint and brought aboard the Coast Guard vessel. Then they were stripped naked and forced to wear a thin white overall. Then the ship’s officers chained each of them by one of their ankles to metal cables that ran the breadth and length of the ship’s deck. When night fell, the Jamaicans, still chained to the deck, watched in disbelief as a Coast Guard officer fired a flare at their boat. The boat burst into flames and then sank after Coast Guard officers riddled its hull with bullets.
They remained ankle-chained for four days, and were freed from the cable only to relieve themselves in buckets or over the side of the ship. Their only protection from the elements was a plastic tarpaulin hung over them.  The  officers chained the fishermen up on decks exposed to the elements—even while sailing straight through Hurricane Maria—fed them little, and denied them contact with their loved ones.
No drugs were ever found on the boat. However, in court in Miami, they pleaded guilty to lying to investigators because their attorney told them it was the fastest way to get home. They were sentenced to ten months in prison and deported.

Outrage 2
On October 11, 2020, the Jamaican-registered vessel Lady Lawla was intercepted some 100 miles south of Jamaica by the US Coast Guard.. At the time of the interception, Lady Lawla was in international waters, with the closest landmass being Jamaica. The US Coast Guarded boarded the ship, searched it, and arrested the four Jamaican crew for drug trafficking. This charge was based on finding containers of 150 gallons of liquid cocaine. Within two days, they blew up the Lady Lawla, a twenty foot vessel, estimated to cost over US$600,000. Subsequently the men were jailed for several weeks and then. taken before the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.. The judge found that there was no evidence of cocaine being seized as the substance in question was in fact gasolene. Even after they were cleared of all charges, they languished in jail for another 2 weeks before sent back home to Jamaica on December 31, 2020, clad in their white prison jumpsuits. Imagine being captives from October 11 until December 31!

 

After all this, Jamaica signs a new agreement, putting the US Coast Guard ships into Jamaican ports! It is obvious that the US has no respect for Jamaica and will subject Jamaicans to more bullying and victimization. Of course, instead Jamaica should be seeking to jettison the Shiprider agreement.  I am pretty sure Jamaica Prime Minister Holness really did not have a choice under US inevitable threats. I will close with my editorial I wrote in Hot Calaloo about the first outrage:

Editorial: What an outrage! Jamaican fishermen or any other non-American fishermen, must live in fear that any time they venture out into international waters to put food on their table, the US Coast Guard may pounce on them and subject them to weeks of horrible abuse because of their suspicions.  I hope these fishermen receive a multi-million dollar settlement, but even that is not enough. The Jamaica government should raise this issue in the UN or the International Court of Justice. How will Jamaican fishermen live under such a dire threat of US Coast Guard piracy?

Can black Jamaicans get justice in an American court against the mighty US Coast Guard? Often innocent black American citizens shot by police do not get justice here.  I am not optimistic and especially with the environment created by the racist President Trump.

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About the Author
Michael Irving Phillips has kept abreast of Jamaican and the rest of the Caribbean by his one-man production of Hot Calaloo, a newsletter about Caribbean news and views. From April 1992 to December 1999, it was published monthly and was transferred to the web at hotcalaloo.com since then.

He was born in Jamaica and left home for Howard University in the US where he received MA (Education) and BS (Chemistry) degrees. Previous books includes :"A Jamaica Poor No More", "Boycott Money And Save Your Soul – Launching The Goodwill Revolution:, “Leave the Rat Race To The Rats” and “Poems for Husbands and Other Underdogs

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