Business
Simpson-Miller: Jamaica would benefit greatly from a Greece-style bailout
Simpson-Miller said that austerity measures to pay off debt could harm efforts to control drug gangs. Former Prime Minister Bruce Golding declared a state of emergency in 2010 to contain violence related to the extradition of an accused drug lord to the U.S.
“Criminals will be allowed to survive if we can’t provide for the peace loving people who live in communities the gangs operate in,” Simpson-Miller said.
Drug Lord
Tourism, which accounts for about 10 percent of gross domestic product and half of foreign exchange earnings, has rebounded since drug dealer Christopher “Dudus” Coke was captured and prosecuted in New York, she said.
Gangs still control areas of Kingston, the capital, though the violence has not affected the beaches, resorts and golf courses popular with tourists on the country’s north shore.
Simpson-Miller, who is Jamaica’s first female prime minister, joins a recent crop of female leaders in Latin American and the Caribbean, including Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina and Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica.
