US agents stream into Jamaica

Move seen as effort to push ‘Dudus’ extradition

AGENTS from two American intelligence-gathering organisations have descended on Jamaica in unusual numbers over the last six months in what political watchers believe is a move by the United States to add more muscle to its request for Jamaica to extradite Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

A highly placed source told the Sunday Observer that some of the agents have been given strict instructions to pay close attention to three Government ministers, several members of the security forces, and two major downtown business operators.

Sunday Observer sources say that a batch of 23 arrived in the island during the last three months to complement others already here.

Yesterday, one source with knowledge of the country’s security operations said that a significant number of foreigners, believed to be US agents, arrived in the island last Wednesday at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

“The flight arrived before midday,” said the source, who added that the agents were posing as tourists, consultants, business executives and other professionals.

According to our sources, this is the latest tactic being used by the USA to have Jamaica extradite Coke, who a New York grand jury indicted last year on drug- and arms-trafficking charges.

Former national security minister Dr Peter Phillips, in an interview yesterday, said he had no way of confirming the number of agents revealed by our source. However, he believes that it would be unusual for such a large number to arrive in one contingent.

“We have always had agents from other agencies and other countries in Jamaica,” said Phillips. “I can’t confirm the numbers you have suggested, but Jamaica has been co-operating with other countries in the sharing of intelligence and it would not be strange for agents to be here.”

According to Phillips, if the agents are operating in an “official” capacity, the receiving country would be informed through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“This is the way it is done, if a sending country perceives full co-operation between itself and a receiving country,” said Phillips. “The receiving country is informed because, for those who need to bear arms, permission would have to be granted. So there would be a need to know. And the receiving country would be notified before the agents arrive.”

Phillips said agents from the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have operated in Jamaica, dating back several years.

“This is not a new relationship. If there is a view that a country is hostile or unco-operative, they might not even be told about who is present. That information depends on the relationship between the countries,” said Phillips. “Under normal diplomatic postings, the foreign affairs ministry would know. But there are no guarantees that if hostility is perceived, that they would inform a receiving country.”

He said agents may use diplomatic cover, or they may simply be tourists.

Attempts to get a comment from foreign ministry officials yesterday were unsuccessful.

During the 1970s when the People’s National Party administration, headed by Michael Manley, declared itself a democratic socialist government and damaged Jamaica’s relations with America, CIA agents were active in Jamaica, fuelling many political fires. Some, operating as journalists, deliberately fed erroneous information to overseas media.

Veteran calypsonian Lord Laro’s famous hit Foreign Press captured some of the sentiments at the time. So, too, did Manley in his book Struggle in the Periphery, in which he commented on what he termed psychological warfare and its effects.

Yesterday, Phillips pointed out that Jamaica and the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, have co-operated on many issues, including the sharing of information to track criminals in transnational drug- and arms-trafficking.

In addition, Jamaican security officials have, in the past, been placed abroad in intelligence capacities.

However, Jamaica’s relationship with Washington has deteriorated significantly since the indictment of Coke last August, as the Bruce Golding administration has refused to act on the extradition request, arguing that the evidence gathered against Coke was obtained in breach of Jamaican law.

When contacted, a spokeswoman in the DEA Office of Public Affairs in Washington said no one was available to provide information on the number of agents operating in Jamaica.

She referred the newspaper to the local DEA office in Jamaica. However, the Sunday Observer was unable to obtain a contact for that office.

(Source: The Sunday Observer, April 11, 2010
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Covert-agents-in-Jamaica)