标签： Jamaica

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s most prominent umbrella faith organization, the Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches (JUGC), has publicly denounced what it describes as the shameful and dehumanizing mistreatment of Latoya Bulgin’s corpse by Jamaican law enforcement officers, following the woman’s fatal shooting by police over the weekend.

In an official public statement released Monday, the interdenominational coalition confirmed it was deeply distressed by the killing, which unfolded in the Granville community of St James parish this past Sunday. The group’s statement draws heavily on widely circulated security camera footage of the incident that has spread across social media and local online platforms in recent days.

“What the circulating footage appears to capture goes far beyond a simple breakdown of standard police procedure. What we see is a desecration of a human life. Every person is created in the image of God, and no one deserves to be treated in this way,” the JUGC governing council stated.

The coalition acknowledged that the officer implicated in the incident has already been placed on interdiction, and that Jamaica’s Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom), the country’s independent police oversight body, has launched a formal probe into the shooting and subsequent handling of Bulgin’s body. Even with these initial steps, the group stressed that the Jamaican public is owed a full, trust-building investigation that addresses all outstanding critical questions and delivers meaningful accountability for the life that was lost.

Citing a passage from the biblical book of Amos 5:24 — which calls for justice to “roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” — the organization noted the verse is not only a source of comfort for those grieving, but a mandate to hold powerful institutions to account.

“Peace and justice cannot be separated, particularly here in Granville, where community calm is already fragile. We cannot accept a return to quiet that comes at the cost of ignoring the truth,” the statement read. The JUGC also pointed to the publicly circulating CCTV footage as clear proof of the urgent need for mandatory body-worn cameras for all Jamaican police officers. While the group acknowledged recent comments from the police commissioner about ongoing progress on rolling out the technology, it emphasized that the current moment demands a public, clear implementation timeline, binding accountability mechanisms, and measurable progress to deliver on the policy.

The coalition also voiced deep, growing alarm over the steady rise in fatal police shootings across Jamaica in recent months. It stressed that all Jamaican citizens deserve full confidence that officers sworn to serve and protect the public consistently exercise restraint, disciplinary control, and every possible effort to preserve human life in the line of duty.

“We are calling on churches, local community leaders, ordinary residents, and public officials across the country to collaborate to uphold the value of life, maintain equal rule of law, and deliver justice for every Jamaican,” the group said.

It also issued a direct call to Prime Minister Andrew Holness to address the nation clearly, and give a public guarantee that allegations of unlawful killings and excessive force by state agents will not be normalized, excused, or buried to avoid scrutiny.

Closing its statement, the coalition reaffirmed its commitment to seeing the process through: “The Church is watching, and we will not rest until we get answers that deliver full justice and complete transparency for this incident.”

ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — Frustration is running high among hundreds of Jamaican taxi operators, who have agreed to pause planned nationwide industrial action only until the outcome of a scheduled Monday meeting with Transport Minister Daryl Vaz, according to Charles Powell, president of the Southern Taxi Association.

Powell told reporters on the day of the meeting that the minister’s invitation to bring together all island-wide taxi association heads has convinced drivers to hold off on strike plans for the moment. “If he had not extended this invitation to talk, our members would have already walked off the job across every corner of Jamaica,” Powell explained. “Right now, we are simply holding our breath to see what concessions, if any, come out of this discussion.”

The high-stakes gathering was set to kick off at 10:00 a.m. on May 18, 2026, at the Half-Way-Tree transport hub in St Andrew.

Powell’s association alone counts roughly 300 drivers, all of whom are deeply discontented with a trio of long-running issues: unaddressed demands for a fare hike, steadily climbing fuel prices, and shockingly poor road infrastructure across southern parishes.

At the top of the list of grievances is a 16% fare increase approved for operators more than two and a half years ago that has yet to be implemented. Second is the abysmal state of roads across Manchester, Clarendon and St Elizabeth, which Powell says has sent vehicle maintenance costs skyrocketing. He also pushed for greater leniency in government roadside vehicle inspections, arguing that it is unfair to penalize drivers for wear and tear directly caused by crumbling road surfaces.

“You can’t expect our vehicles to stay in perfect condition when we’re navigating roads pocked with unmaintained manholes and broken pavement that local representatives have ignored for years,” Powell said, calling out specific stretches including the route from Mandeville to Alligator Pond down Spur Tree Hill, and the Santa Cruz to Black River corridor through Holland Bamboo. “The road is so bad that replacement costs for front-end vehicle parts have tripled. Keeping a taxi on the road is more expensive than it’s ever been.”

Compounding these infrastructure-driven costs, Powell noted, is the relentless rise of global fuel prices, which has eaten away most of drivers’ daily earnings. He estimates that more than 60% of a typical taxi operator’s daily income now goes directly toward covering fuel costs, a burden so heavy that many drivers can no longer afford to keep their vehicles on the road, leaving many taxis parked at garages or stranded mid-route from running out of gas.

“Operating a taxi is simply no longer financially viable under current conditions,” Powell said. He went on to criticize Minister Vaz for delaying the already approved fare hike, arguing that the government has dragged its feet on the issue for so long that the original adjustment is already outdated. “The government keeps telling us this deal is still on the table, but at this point, that table’s got mildew growing all over it. It’s been so long that we’re already due for another round of fare negotiations just to keep up with rising costs.”

In the tight-knit community of Burnt Savannah, Westmoreland, simmering frustration over a months-long curfew boiled over into public protest on Friday, May 15. Local residents and small business owners have taken to the streets to decry the restrictions, which they claim have destroyed their livelihoods, subjected community members to aggressive police harassment, and exposed a total lack of attention from national leadership in the wake of a recent natural disaster.

The curfew, which has been in continuous effect for more than two months, restricts all public activity through 6:00 pm from Wednesday to Sunday each week, leaving only the two slowest business days of the week – Monday and Tuesday – for evening operations. Community members are pushing for an extension of curfew hours to midnight, a small adjustment that would allow them to recoup much-needed income after severe economic disruption. Many local families are still struggling to rebuild their lives and finances in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, covering ongoing childcare costs and basic living expenses even as the curfew slashes their earning potential.

The demonstration was directly triggered by a violent incident that unfolded on the night of May 14, during a candlelight vigil held to honor Clayon “Taj” Campbell, a local community member who died in a recent motorcycle crash. Relying on unconfirmed local reports that the curfew had been lifted for the evening, residents gathered to pay their respects to Campbell and support his grieving family – only to be confronted by a large contingent of Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) officers who moved to shut the event down at 7:00 pm.

Kalia Forrester, a community spokesperson speaking on behalf of the protesters, described the chaotic scene to reporters. After seeing just two police vans arrive initially, additional units surrounded the gathering from both sides, boxing attendees in. Even after Campbell’s mother appealed to the crowd to cooperate fully with police orders and residents began cleaning the site to leave, officers escalated tensions by deploying pepper spray into the crowd, Forrester alleged. The chemical agent triggered a stampede that left multiple people injured, including an 8-year-old child who was directly sprayed. Attendees further claimed officers chased fleeing residents with machetes and later harassed the father of the injured 8-year-old at his home.

Beyond the curfew’s economic harm, the most heated grievance among residents centers on the aggressive and dehumanizing treatment they say they have endured from law enforcement during the restrictions. “That is not how they should deal with it, they are talking to us like we are animals,” Forrester said.

Community members are also demanding formal clarity on the curfew’s legal status, noting that the JCF has failed to publish any official notice of the Burnt Savannah restrictions on its social media channels – the standard protocol for announcing such measures in Jamaica. According to residents, police simply arrived unannounced one evening and informed the community the curfew had been implemented over unspecified recent murders, with authorities claiming unmarked back roads connecting Burnt Savannah to neighboring Georges Plain and Frome were being used by criminal groups to move through the area.

Residents push back hard against this justification, pointing out that the unregulated back roads cited by police remain unpatrolled and unblocked even during curfew hours, and that violent crime including murder has continued uninterrupted since the restrictions were put in place. They argue the curfew does nothing to improve public safety and instead unfairly targets local small business operators, who rely on evening trade and community events to earn a living.

Many local business owners depend on popular community gatherings such as the recurring Bar Hop party series to generate enough income to cover household costs and school fees for their children. These events have been completely banned under the curfew. Residents also point to inconsistent enforcement of the restrictions: some local establishments are allowed to operate late into the night with no interference, while others are aggressively forced to close, leading to accusations that the policy is intentionally designed to cut off income for certain community members rather than reduce crime.

Forrester added that residents have even been threatened with violence for gathering in groups, claiming officers have stated they will open fire on large assemblies and that if residents want to host community events, they must travel outside the area to Savanna-la-Mar or Grange Hill.

Compounding these grievances is widespread anger over the Jamaican government’s failure to deliver disaster relief support to Westmoreland in the months after Hurricane Melissa hit the region. “Our Prime Minister has turned a blind eye to us. Westmoreland hasn’t really gotten anything for the Hurricane Melissa relief. So we have to help ourselves,” Forrester explained. With little outside aid, local families have leaned entirely on small business revenue to rebuild – a lifeline that the curfew has now cut off.

“When we are under curfew from six in the morning till six in the evening, how are we going to cope? How are we going to take care of our children?” Forrester asked.

As frustration reaches a breaking point, protesters are calling directly on Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness to intervene in the situation. They demand the full removal of the curfew, an end to excessive use of force against community members, and the implementation of targeted, effective policing that actually addresses root crime concerns rather than punishing local residents and business owners. As of press time, Jamaica’s Observer Online has not received any comment from the Westmoreland Police Division on the residents’ allegations.