December 27, 2001
JAMAICANS UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY Dear Friends, Surprise. Surprise. Despite proof that senior police officer Reneto Adams has presided over several executions by his Crime Management Unit (CMU) he and his death squad, created by the prime minister of Jamaica, have been cleared of any wrongdoing by the police high command. This is the most recent proof that police extrajudicial killings is a policy of the government and the police force of Jamaica. Before being appointed head of the CMU Adams personally supervised the killing of Sylvestre "Punkie" Wint of a Kingston address. Adams was shown on national television telling the most ridiculous lies about the circumstances under which he or his men killed Wint. Soon thereafter he was rewarded by being made a senior superintendent and then being appointed head of the CMU. Since its creation the CMU has carried out numerous killings throughout the country the most notorious being the killing of seven youth in Braeton and the July massacre in western Kingston. There was also the public execution of Andrew Phang (at least 50 eyewitnesses were present). One eyewitness reported on public radio that he overheard a police officer asking for instructions on police radio about what to do with Phang. After receiving his instructions, Phang, who was handcuffed, was taken to the back of a house and executed. Within minutes after the execution Adams arrived on the scene. Was he the one who gave the instructions? In the case of a CMU killing at Jose Marti school in September it was reported to me by a survivor that Adams gave instructions to members of his unit to "mash him up." On appeal to another senior officer his life was spared. By all indications the new minister of national security Peter Phillips is preoccupied with maintaining "social order" and the "security" of the state not with addressing the corruption and brutality of the security forces and the violations of human rights. Phillips is prepared to downplay human rights abuses because he believes that only a "superior entity," i.e. the state, can guarantee rights and "[t]he right of the state to survive must be the priority right to be recognised." These views are in total accord with Adams, who has said on many occasions that when he kills it is the state that does the killing and that such killings are in defense of the state against the threat of "anarchists" and "narco- terrorists." Phillips as a former political science lecturer at the University of the West Indies is no doubt aware, contrary to popular misconception, that in a class society as Jamaica is the state does not represent all classes. One example is that the pattern of abuse and killings by the security forces, backed by the indifference of the justice system and government, is clearly targeted against the poor and inner city residents. To posit state security before human rights and justice for the poor is an admission that the Jamaican state is irreconcilably in conflict with its citizens who are poor and working class. In this new phase of the struggle for human rights, and taking a cue from Philips, human rights activists of any relevance are clearly being challenged to open up a broad discussion about who does the state represent. If it is clear that the state is unable to reform itself, and is unable to guarantee basic human rights such as the right to life, then the question of changing the social and class character of the state is a legitimate topic for public discussion. Lloyd D'Aguilar
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