"All ah we tief" - Rolling Caribbean Politics Thread

Don't think there was a rolling Caribbean news / politics thread before. Now's the time to start one.

For the first time since the 1990 coup d'etat, the government of Trinidad & Tobago has declared a national state of emergency and regional curfews that bar residents of certain areas from leaving their homes between the hours of 11pm and 4am. The initial state of emergency was intended to last fifteen days, it has now been extended to December.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/25/trinidad-and-tobago-state-emergency

The official line is that this has been done to tackle drug gangs after eleven people were murdered over the course of 48 hours last month but there's speculation that this isn't the whole story. This week's edition of Private Eye mentions rumours that two large shipping containers packed with military-grade weapons were stopped by Customs officials but that one has disappeared from under police / army guard. Might be nonsense but it's troubling against the backdrop of a reported rise in political / racial tensions.

Fans of the rolling 'lol Fifa' thread will be pleased to know Jack Warner is going as strong as ever as Minister of Works & Transport.

Over in Jamaica, the biggest story of the last couple of weeks has been the plea agreed by Christopher Coke. He's the gang leader whose personal army went to war with the police in an effort to stop his deportation to the US. Coke has admitted drug smuggling and conspiracy charges and the New York court has agreed to look the other way on the allegations that he's responsible for dozens of murders, including personally killing one guy with a chainsaw.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/01/christopher-dudus-coke-us-court?INTCMP=SRCH

It's pretty convenient for many of Jamaica's politicians as it won't require anyone to spill the beans on their close ties to his drug empire. The government dragged its heels for months in an effort to hold up the case against him.

Jamaica to (finally) become a republic:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/06/prime-minister-jamaica-republic-portia

Although this may be ominous in terms of the number of people being executed:

Simpson Miller said she could replace the privy council in London with the Trinidad-based Caribbean court of justice as Jamaica's highest court of appeal. She said this would "end judicial surveillance from London."

http://news.co.tt/public_html/article.php?story=20130729233907591

Jack Warner won his bye election with twice the number of votes as the guy in second place. The thread title has never been more appropriate.

He just spent a ton of money right, he's not being accused of stealing votes, is he?

No, he hasn't stolen votes. He's stolen money and used it to buy support. That said, he's still really popular in that specific area. The underlying idea that all politicians are crooked is pervasive (Warner's big campaign tactic was to accuse his opponent of getting five houses with dirty money) and Warner's alleged crimes mostly involved getting international, rather than domestic, bribes. He still hasn't lost his identity as a kind of lovable rogue for many.