Jamaica battles kill 30 in slums

Called “president’’ and “shortman’’ by his supporters, Coke does not wear flashy clothes or hold court at Kingston nightclubs like other powerful gang bosses. The few published photographs of the 5-foot-4-inch Jamaican the Justice Department calls one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords show an unassuming man with a pot belly.

Yesterday, masked gunmen in West Kingston vanished down side streets barricaded with barbed wire and junked cars. The sound of gunfire echoed across the slums on Jamaica’s south coast, far from the tourist meccas of the north shore.

Schools and businesses were closed across the capital and the government appealed for blood donations for the wounded.

At the epicenter of the violence are the West Kingston slums, known as garrisons, which include the Trenchtown ghetto where reggae superstar Bob Marley was raised.

The son of an alleged gangster, the 41-year-old Coke has strong ties to the governing Jamaica Labor Party, which has counted on gunmen inside his Tivoli Gardens slum to intimidate election rivals. By exposing the ties between gangs and politicians, some hope the explosion of violence will put Jamaica on a path to reform.

“I think it certainly has been a wake-up call for the entire country,’’ said Peter Bunting of the opposition People’s National Party.

Members of Coke’s Shower Posse and affiliated gangs began barricading his stronghold last week after an announcement by Prime Minister Bruce Golding that he would approve Coke’s extradition on drug- and gun-running.

Golding, who represents Tivoli Gardens, had stonewalled the US request for nine months, straining relations. A State Department report this year questioned the Caribbean island’s reliability as an ally in the war against drugs, and Golding also faced domestic opposition that threatened his political career.

Police spokesman Corporal Richard Minott said yesterday that the fighting in West Kingston alone has killed 26 civilians and a security official.

The violence has not touched the tourist meccas along the Caribbean island’s north shore or the nearby Montego Bay airport.

However, several hotels reported cancellations and Air Jamaica rescheduled four flights on Tuesday because of the unrest in Kingston.