Jamaica is experiencing a wave of crime that is terrifying its residents and shutting down the tourist industry as the government calls for a state of emergency yet remains powerless to curb the violence.
Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that Jamaicans “have to hide under their beds, hide their daughters, can’t go to church, and they see their sons and their boyfriends and husbands killed. That’s the reality.”
The U.S. State Department on Oct. 5 issued a level 3 travel advisory, indicating that Americans should “reconsider travel” due to an increased risk of crime in the country. The advisory noted that “violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults and homicides, are common” and that “sexual assaults occur frequently,” even at all-inclusive resorts.
“Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents,” the advisory stated. “Emergency services vary throughout the island, and response times may vary from U.S. standards. The homicide rate reported by the Government of Jamaica has for several years been among the highest in the Western Hemisphere.”
Jamaica appeared to acknowledge the severity of its problem by declaring a state of emergency on Nov. 15 in order to better empower authorities to deal with the crime in the capital of Kingston as well as popular tourist spots like Montego Bay, then when that was ineffective, it issued a renewed state of emergency on Dec. 6 due to increased violence and gang-related crimes.
The state of emergency has proven controversial as authorities can arrest people and search buildings without a warrant, potentially leading to police abuse, critics argue, but Holness stressed the need to crack down on the problem.
“We have some really serious criminal threats facing us, and we have to use all the powers at our disposal,” Holness said.
The U.S. accounted for the most significant spending and best-performing market for tourists to the island in 2021. The one-two punch of a U.S. travel advisory and a national state of emergency could seriously threaten Jamaica’s economy, according to David Katz, a former U.S. federal agent who is the founder and CEO of Global Security Group Inc.
“In years past, the State Department, depending on the political situation, was sometimes reluctant to even issue a warning,” Katz told Fox News Digital, adding, “For me, for Jamaica to say ‘we have a state of emergency, we are completely out of control,’ that’s going to have an impact,” Katz said.
Tourism provides Jamaica its main source of income, accounting for as much as 29% of the country’s GDP in 2019 (pre-pandemic) according to Statista, and tied with remittances (money or goods sent back from nationals who emigrated from the country).
Katz concluded with: “We would recommend in our practice: defer all non-essential travel unless there was something really, really critically necessary about the trip. Put it off”.
