Jamaica buying coke

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Jamaica buying coke

I had heard mixed reviews about Jamaica. That people are everywhere trying to get you to buy drugs. But, what really happened during our port stop in Montego Bay? A great and diverse travel group. I deal with this by planning. Planning usually helps calm me and makes me feel prepared instead of feeling anxious. And, it works, most of the time! So, based on everything I had read, Jamaica was a place where a plan was needed! I tried to heed that warning. Generally speaking, we are not a group that loves touring islands in a van. This was the first time any of us had been to Jamaica and many of the cruise line sponsored excursions included a two hour trip in order to get to that excursion. So, we opted to plan something where we could spend more time enjoying the area of Montego Bay and less time… in a van. This goal of mine will become humorous later. We were going to take a quick taxi to Dr. Caves Beach and spend some time walking around that area. Simple enough…and we could see Margaritaville from the ship. Bonus for safety, right?! When we left the ship, we ended up in a line of people waiting for transportation. Once we left the port area, the very charismatic driver pulled over and asked everyone if they wanted to go to the beach. He would also take us for special price shopping, give us a tour, wait with us at the beach and return us safely to our ship. It was at that point I knew that we would not be going to Dr. We had been baited by the promise of the van taking us to the beach we chose. We were switched into a much higher priced tour, with very few exit options. I began to panic. This was not the plan. Did we even bring enough cash? We first toured an area that he said was his neighborhood. He explained how people built their homes and how they got loans for each small part. People would work on a portion, add on, etc. It was interesting and hopefully gave our children an appreciation for their own cushy existence. Next stop was at a school that was hosting a summer day camp. The children were adorable and more than willing to have their picture taken. I will post a picture of our crazy crew. After the school we went to a large souvenir shop where our driver gave us a sticker to receive a special discount. You believe that right? There were a large quantity of Rated R ash trays at this shop. The kids settled on a t-shirt each and we moved on. Tip: If you have young children you may want to be careful when souvenir shopping in Jamaica. It may have been specific to this one but there were a lot of items for mature audiences. Not Dr. Caves Beach…but a beach. We sampled the local Red Stripe Beer and spent a couple of hours at the beach. The boys hopped on the waterslide and the rest of us enjoyed a few minutes of fun music and a Margarita. We were there for about a half hour and then we loaded back into the van and back to the ship. At the end of the day, it all worked out. And, we certainly had a little less cash in our pocket at the end of the day. But, we were all together and enjoyed our time. I was out of my comfort zone but I guess I need that sometimes. I know sometimes I need to be a little bit more flexible but other times I need to be more comfortable standing up and saying, no thank you, this is not what we asked for. TIP: If you are in a similar situation and you really want out. Tell the driver as soon as possible that the rest of your group was funneled into another taxi and that you are meeting them at a specific location. You are unable to call them and tell them that you are changing the plan. This is easier said that done because there is usually someone trying to quickly get vans filled and on to the next. Do you worry when you travel or get overwhelmed? Does planning help you? Have you been in a situation where you immediately knew you should have handled the situation differently? Please comment below. See more travel pics from Finding Jillian on Instagram. Join our cruise-loving community on Facebook. Sharing is caring! We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you agree to the use of cookies. Ok Privacy policy.

A History of the Caribbean's Most Powerful Drug Kingpins

Jamaica buying coke

This article was published on InSight Crime on May 12, To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Caribbean countries have seized record amounts of cocaine in recent months, but the roots of the region's persistence as a key corridor for the drug stretch back half a century. Below, InSight Crime examines the legacies of some of the most influential Caribbean kingpins who helped to shape the region's current drug trade dynamics. In the s, Colombian traffickers moved an estimated 15 tons of cocaine per day from South America to the United States. Understanding the value of their strategic location between the two continents, Caribbean criminals stepped in to assist in transporting the drug, building fame and fortune. The Cuban-American duo established Miami as the capital of the global cocaine trade, generating massive wealth and criminality. After their arrest, multiple potential witnesses were killed and jurors bribed, but both traffickers eventually ended up in prison in the United States. Today, cocaine seizures in Florida and the Bahamas -- the starting point for many of the duo's voyages -- suggest the route no longer has the importance it once did for cocaine moving from South America to the US market. However, Florida and the Bahamas remain crucial hubs for lucrative organized criminal economies such as arms trafficking , money laundering , and human smuggling. For years, Charles Miller held a tight grip on the small island of St. Kitts, using his influence and violence to traffic drugs with impunity. His reign was emblematic of the massive impact that cocaine influx can have on small Eastern Caribbean nations. In the s, he masterminded the movement of tons of Colombian cocaine into the United States through Miami using the cargo airline Amerijet. US authorities made an extradition request for Miller in , but magistrates twice blocked the request. In , Miller threatened to kill US students at St. Kitts' Ross University if he was extradited. In , Miller was eventually extradited to the US and sentenced to life in prison. Today, St. Kitts and Nevis and the eastern Caribbean play a smaller role in the transnational drug trade. Still, levels of violence mirroring those of the Charles Miller era continue to define the region. Four of the five most violent countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in were island nations, with leaders blaming a flow of American-made guns for contributing to the brutality. Nankissoon Boodram, alias 'Dole Chadee,' was the pioneer of Trinidad and Tobago's cocaine highway from Colombia, utilizing violence and connections with high-level Trinidadian authorities to build a criminal empire. While the amount of cocaine trafficked by Boodram remains unclear, his influence within Trinidad and Tobago was formidable. A report into the country's drug landscape connected Boodram with state authorities as high up as the then-chief of police. Ultimately, it wasn't Boodram's drug trafficking crimes that finished him; he was sentenced to death and executed in Trinidad for murder in Today, seizures suggest that Trinidad and Tobago plays a small role in the transnational movement of cocaine. Authorities seized just 5 kilograms of cocaine in the first nine months of , according to a US State Department report. However, due to its location just off the coast of Venezuela -- where the cocaine trade has essentially become state-sanctioned -- and its poor drug interdiction capacity, its role could be much more significant. A string of crackdowns by US law enforcement through the s and s caused the Caribbean cocaine route to largely dry up. But a group of determined criminals was able to evolve. During this period, some grew beyond their role as subcontractors to become outright traffickers, buying cocaine from Colombian and Venezuelan groups to sell directly in the United States. The ability to make such connections remains a crucial feature of successful Caribbean traffickers. Figueroa started as a low-level retail drug seller in Puerto Rico but joined the ranks of established drug traffickers in the early s. He was jailed in for years for murder but escaped in Between and , the organization led by Figueroa and others trafficked and distributed over 10 metric tons of cocaine and heroin. He was arrested again and given a year sentence for drug trafficking charges. Figueroa was released in after serving 10 years at a correctional facility in the US state of Indiana. As US law enforcement continued their Caribbean crackdown, Christopher Coke, alias 'Dudus,' emerged as Jamaica's most prominent trafficker. Dudus took control of the infamous Shower Posse gang from his father in the early s and proceeded to utilize its international network to traffic tons of cocaine and marijuana to the US and Canada. Coke's leadership style was more discrete than that of his father, at least internationally. Jamaican gangs were implicated in 1, murders in the US between and , according to US authorities. Under Dudus, however, the Shower Posse committed much less violence, as he sought to avoid provoking US law enforcement authorities. However, he was ultimately unsuccessful. In May , US authorities sought his extradition from Jamaica. A battle between his supporters and security forces ensued, and at least 73 people were killed. He was extradited later that year. No drug lord of comparable power has since emerged to replace Coke. Rather than large hierarchical organizations, Jamaica's drug trafficking landscape is now run by smaller gang cells. Incessant gang fighting has seen the island's homicide rate rise. In and , Jamaica had the highest homicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean. While Jamaica continues to see large shipments of cocaine reach its shores, none of Jamaica's present-day groups rival the international reach once enjoyed by Coke's Shower Posse. Rising cocaine demand in Europe led to a resurgence in the importance of the Caribbean cocaine route, as underlined by recent large seizures. Traffickers in countries including the Dominican Republic and islands in the Dutch Caribbean have created wide-reaching criminal networks to cater to the European demand for cocaine. He gradually grew in power as his peers were arrested. He used legitimate businesses like nightclubs to launder drug proceeds and gain access to the Dominican Republic's business and political elites. Medina is also the godfather of one of the children of Peralta's sister-in-law, Berlinesa Franco. He fled to Colombia where he was arrested and extradited to Puerto Rico. In November , he pleaded guilty to trafficking multiple tons of cocaine into the United States. Quant led the NLS' beginning in the cocaine trade, organizing the smuggling of small quantities on flights from the Caribbean to Europe in the early s. Quant was arrested in Dubai in November , where he remains under house arrest. Leave a comment. Share this post. Copy link. Discussion about this post Comments. Ready for more? Start Writing Get the app. Substack is the home for great culture. This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts.

Jamaica buying coke