Word: manley
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Nighttime Sounds. The Prime Minister, announcing the state of emergency, also gave a vivid example of the kind of violence he intended to stop. On the night of May 19, Manley recalled, in what has become known as the "Orange Street Massacre," a gang seeking vengeance for the stabbing of one of its members set fire to a tenement house. With gunfire the gang held firemen at bay and the occupants inside the burning building. Eight children and three adults died in the fire...
...Ambassador Sumner Gerard has protested that the CIA is not in any manner trying to upset the Jamaican government, even though Washington is less than happy about Manley's warming friendship with Fidel Castro. Gerard's denials were reinforced last week by William H. Luers, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Affairs, who told a House subcommittee that allegations of U.S. interference were "totally false." If American citizens are engaged privately in "destabilizing" activities, Luers added, "we are prepared to cooperate fully with the governments of the area to bring them to justice...
Prime Minister Manley is not totally convinced. "We have not said that destabilization in Jamaica is the result of deliberate top-level U.S. Government policy," he told TIME Correspondent Bernard Diederich last week. "Dr. Kissinger has said that it is not so, and that may be so. Nonetheless, what upsets people now is that assurances were being given Allende and his ambassadors up to a few weeks before [his death]−bland assurances saying 'Of course we're not doing that'−and yet we now know it was happening...
Specifically, Manley blames the violence on his right-wing political enemies who are trying to impede Jamaica's path to socialism. If, in fact, they do get help from American sources, he claims, it is partly because of his friendship with Castro (who may visit Kingston in August) and partly because Jamaica backed the pro-Soviet regime of Agostinho Neto in Angola. The U.S., argues Manley, "has been resentful of any country in the Western Hemisphere that came out in support of Neto and the Cubans against the South Africans. They have been very bitter about...
...more plausible explanation for Jamaica's unrest is Manley's efforts to turn the island republic into a socialist state. Even the Prime Minister's supporters concede that the economy is in a shambles. Unemployment is running at about 22%, and is particularly high among urban youth, who police say are guilty of most of the recent murders. The country's foreign exchange earnings, principally from bauxite, sugar and tourism, are down 40 to 60% below last year's total of $400 million, and reserves have dropped from more than $102 million in November...