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DE RUEHKG #0753/01 3441745
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O 101745Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY KINGSTON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0373
INFO EC CARICOM COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 0114
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINGSTON 000753 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR (J.MACK-WILSON, V.DEPIRRO, W.SMITH) 
L/LEI (C.HOLLAND, A.KLUESNER) 
INR/IAA (G.BOHIGIAN) 
JUSTICE FOR OIA (P.PETTY) 
TREASUTY FOR ERIN NEPHEW 
INR/RES (R.WARNER) 
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/10 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CVIS SNAR PINR ASEC CJAN KCOR KCRM JM XL
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: OPPOSITION GRILLS PRIME MINISTER IN PARLIAMENT ON 
COKE EXTRADITION DELAYS 
 
REF: A. KINGSTON 749; B. STATE 125895; C. KINGSTON 680 
¶D. KINGSTON 699; E. KINGSTON 1050 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Isiah Parnell, CDA; REASON: 1.4(B), (D) 
 
------------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) The continuing controversy over the Christopher "Dudus" 
Coke extradition request exploded into partisan rancor and 
bitterness in Jamaica's Parliament on December 8, as Peter 
Phillips, Member of Parliament (MP) for the opposition People's 
National Party (PNP) and former Minister for National Security, 
accused Prime Minister (PM) Bruce Golding and his Jamaica Labour 
Party (JLP)-led Government of Jamaica (GOJ) of "taking longer than 
the average period of time" to comply with the request. The PM , 
however, adopted what would seem to be a new tack in the continuing 
drama in alleging that in fact it was the U.S. that has been 
responsible for the delay by failing to comply with Jamaica's 
Mutual Assistance Criminal Matters Act, although he refused to 
provide any details. Pandemonium reportedly ensued, as backbenchers of both parties heckled speakers and House Speaker Delroy Chuck struggled unsuccessfully to restore order. The imbroglio 
illustrates both the GOJ's paralysis over the issue as the Golding 
administration flails for new legal points on which to delay a 
decision, as well as the PNP's determination to use the issue as a 
means of attacking the JLP's moral authority to govern.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
 
Golding Moves The Goal Posts 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Peter Phillips, PNP MP and former Minister of National 
Security told Emboff that he had tabled a series of fairly 
innocuous written questions to Parliament as a means of engaging 
the PM as to the status of the Coke extradition request.  Amidst 
shouting from MPs of both parties, Golding insisted that the 
three-and-a-half month delay that has elapsed since the U.S. State 
Department submitted the request was "not unusual" and was in fact 
necessary in order to ensure that due process was followed. 
Furthermore, the PM attributed the delay to the USG's failure to 
"follow proper procedure" in issuing the request.  In defending his 
administration's handling of the Coke extradition request, Golding 
accused both the PNP and the media of "taking positions in 
ignorance" and not having "access to the facts [and] procedures 
that must be followed," while "the Minister of Justice enjoys no 
such privilege [and] must uphold the laws of the country." 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) The PM implied that the evidence presented in the 
extradition request may have been collected in violation of 
Jamaican law, although when asked to do so by PNP backbencher 
Ronnie Thwaites he would not cite the specific law in question. 
"Most requests that have been received depend for their process on 
the provisions of the Extradition Treaty with the particular 
country and on the Extradition Act," Golding noted, but added that 
"[t]his particular request is somewhat different in that it also 
relies for its validity on the provisions of the Mutual Assistance 
Criminal Matters Act. The Government of Jamaica has raised with the 
U.S. authorities issues regarding its compliance with that Act." 
Therefore, Golding maintained, "it is not a matter as to whether 
(Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne) is inclined to authorize 
the extradition, it's a question that the minister would be 
authorizing something that she knows would be in violation of the 
law." 
 
 
 
¶4. (SBU)(NOTE: In recent demarches on the Coke extradition, the GOJ 
has raised concerns that evidence acquired through wiretaps in 
Jamaica were apparently not processed through the Mutual Legal 
Assistance Treaty (MLAT) and has requested direct consultations on 
 
 
this point between representatives of Jamaica's Ministry of Justice 
(MOJ) and the USG's Departments of State and Justice (Reftel A). 
The DOJ's position, however, maintains that the MLAT did not 
represent "an exclusive means for sharing of law enforcement 
information" (Reftel B). The Departments of State and Justice have 
agreed to meet with the MOJ representatives in Washington on 
December 17.  (Reftel B). End Note). 
 
 
 
Pandemonium in Parliament 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Obviously dissatisfied with the PM's response, Phillips 
contended that Golding's explanation "did not stand to reason" and 
pressed for more details. Golding refused, insisting that the GOJ 
and the USG had agreed not to discuss the matter publicly. (NOTE: 
Golding maintained that he had indicated to the USG that he would 
brief Parliament on the status of the case without providing 
specific details. Soon after the extradition request had been 
submitted, an envoy from the PM's office had requested that the USG 
refrain from publicly pressuring the GOJ over the politically-sensitive issue (Reftel C). Although Post has generally refused to comment on the matter publicly, there has been no such explicit agreement or understanding between the GOJ and Post. End Note). Golding maintained that the delay was not unusual and cited several cases in which the previous PNP-led government had delayed granting extradition requests, in one case for as long as three years. The PM also pointed out that since taking office in September 2007, a total of 31 Jamaicans had been extradited to the U.S. 
 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) As the debate continued and became more and more heated, House Speaker and JLP MP Delroy Chuck attempted unsuccessfully to bring order to the proceedings and to prevent Phillips from asking questions that were "inappropriate." "It is not for trial in the Parliament," Chuck maintained. "If the Prime Minister indicates that there is a breach of domestic law, why are we inquiring 
further?" Amid shouts of "sit down" from JLP backbenchers, Thwaites 
replied "Because we need to know. We are the ultimate arbiters of 
the law." 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) When Phillips referred to a recent newspaper article 
alleging that members of the Cabinet had met with Coke and asked 
whether such a meeting would be appropriate, Chuck objected to the 
question on the grounds that "you have no evidence that that member 
met with the person," while the PM referred to the House's Standing 
Orders in refusing to respond. "The member knows he cannot ask a 
hypothetical question like that," Golding stated. "He may very well 
be seeking to grandstand, but he knows it's against the Standing 
Orders." Golding, however, did make a veiled reference to the PNP's 
own ties to criminal organizations, citing Phillips' attendance at 
the funeral of garrison community don in 2001. 
 
 
 
Golding Denies Advance Knowledge of Extradition Request 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
--------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Phillips also asked the PM whether USG authorities had 
briefed him on the Coke case on assuming office in 2007. Despite 
Chuck's attempt to prohibit the question as "prejudicial" to Coke, 
the PM nevertheless responded that he had first received 
information about the extradition request the day before the USG 
submitted it to the GOJ on August 25. (NOTE: Post disputes the PM's 
recollection, noting that former Ambassador Johnson briefed the PM 
on the case in January 2009. Phillips himself reported to Emboff 
that as the outgoing Minister of National Security he briefed the 
PM on the case shortly after the September 2007 elections that 
 
 
brought the JLP to power (Reftel D) End Note). 
 
 
 
¶9. (C) In comments to Emboff, Phillips noted that he had planned 
the altercation with the Prime Minister by tabling the questions 
and felt that the PM had been "twisting and turning" in trying to 
justify the GOJ's inaction on the extradition request.  Phillips 
alleged that the GOJ is "determined to take the side of the Shower 
Posse (the criminal organization with which Coke is associated) 
rather than that of the people of Jamaica," and that he's not aware 
of any "timetable for action" on the part of Golding administration.  As he'd implied in Parliament, Phillips maintained that two Cabinet members - Minister of Information Daryl Vaz and Attorney General Dorothy Lightbourne - as well as JLP Senator and Coke attorney Tom Tavares-Finson met with Coke regarding the extradition request sometime between September 21 and 24; when confronted with this allegation in Parliament, Phillips noted that the PM did not acknowledge that such a meeting occurred, nor did he deny it. 
 
 
 
PM Fails To Recognize Severity of Situation 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶10. (C) Phillips maintained to Emboff his belief that the PM 
remains unconvinced of the seriousness the USG attaches to the Coke case, and that the PM will not give way on the extradition request without pressure from two sources: the USG and Jamaican public opinion.  Given that the Coke issue is the subject of almost daily speculation and debate in newspaper editorials and on talk radio, Phillips contends that without action on the part of the USG the PM is unlikely to budge on the issue and to assume that it will recede 
in importance over time.  According to Phillips's sources, the 
Golding administration has been quietly reaching out to friends in 
the U.S. Congress and the administration through backchannels to 
try to circumvent the Departments of State and Justice and to make 
their case to the White House.  Phillips also told Emboff that many 
key JLP stalwarts - Minister of Finance Audley Shaw, Minister of 
Education Andrew Holness, Minister of Housing Horace Chang, and 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Kenneth Baugh among them - have 
expressed to him their dissatisfaction with the Golding 
administration's handling of the Coke extradition request, but that 
they're unlikely to break with Golding over the issue, nor would he 
expect any JLP MPs to cross the aisle over the issue. 
 
 
 
Concern Over Lack of U.S. Ambassador, IMF Agreement 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------------------- 
------ 
 
¶11. (SBU) The PM also addressed the USG's delay in naming an 
ambassador to replace Brenda LaGrange Johnson, who departed Post in January 2009. Speculation has been rampant in recent weeks that the White House's decision to nominate Anne Slaughter Andrew as Ambassador to Costa Rica, and not to Jamaica as had been 
anticipated, as well as the delay in announcing another nominee was 
due to the GOJ's intransigence on the Coke extradition request. 
Similarly, many see the slow progress of the GOJ's talks with the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a standby agreement as 
evidence that the U.S. is stymieing the resolution of the 
negotiations (Reftel E).  Golding insisted that the delay in naming 
a new ambassador was due to "preoccupation with other matters" on 
the part of the White House and the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, and pointed out that the "processing and approval of the 
President's nominees for several postings," such as Trinidad and 
Tobago, had taken a great deal of time as well. "We await the 
appointment of a U.S. Ambassador, in the same way that many other 
countries are," the PM noted. (NOTE: Post is unaware of any linkage 
between the Coke extradition request, the IMF negotiations, and the 
naming of a new ambassador. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories are 
ubiquitous in Jamaica, and the belief that these issues are related 
 
 
is widely held. End Note). 
 
 
 
Foreign Minister Apologizes 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶12. (C) On the evening of December 9, Foreign Minister Kenneth 
Baugh telephoned CDA to apologize for the PM's remarks in 
Parliament and to express regret that Golding had been put in such 
a position by Phillips.  Despite the PM's statements and the 
headlines to the contrary, the Foreign Minister assured CDA that 
Golding had been misquoted and that it was not the position of the 
GOJ that the USG had violated the MLAT or the extradition treaty. 
Interestingly, although the Office of the Prime Minister issued a 
press release on the morning after the debate highlighting the PM's 
comments on the delay in naming a new U.S. ambassador, there was no press release correcting or reinterpreting the PM's comments 
suggesting the USG was responsible for the extradition delay. 
 
 
 
Summary and Analysis 
 
------------------------------ 
 
¶13. (SBU) The GOJ's raising of the MLAT issue privately in the 
December 3 demarche (Reftel A) and now publicly on the floor of 
Parliament suggests that the Golding administration is sensitive to 
increasing concerns raised in the media and by the opposition that 
the GOJ is stalling, grasping for any legal rationale it can find 
to forestall the extradition of the politically-connected and 
powerful Coke, who controls the garrison community of Tivoli 
Gardens in Golding's own West Kingston constituency.  The GOJ 
appears to be trying to have it both ways - publicly blaming the 
USG for the delays, while privately assuring CDA that this is not 
the position of the Golding administration.  However, in publicly 
accusing the U.S. of violating Jamaican law while blaming his 
refusal to provide specifics on a nonexistent agreement with the 
USG, Golding can have the best of both worlds - casting off 
responsibility for the delay while remaining confident that the USG 
will not contradict his version of events. 
 
End Summary and Analysis. 
Parnell