THE EDITOR, Sir:The following personal statement was sent to the editors of the London Times:
Dear Sir/Madam,
WITH regard to the remarks by Mr. Phil Sinkinson, Deputy High Commissioner in Kingston (Jamaica), let me say the following: It is very unfortunate that Mr. Sinkinson put his justified concerns in the terms which he chose. Unless he can provide confirmed statistics for his conjecture that the amount hidden by a number of couriers is "up to 30 kilos on each plane" coming from this island, we need to consider his words for what they are an unproven assertion. Indeed, as you rightly reported, Lord Harris of Haringey, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said that the actual numbers were "frankly unknowable".
The Jamaica Gleaner also quoted Mr. Sinkinson as saying that at least one in 10 passengers on flights from Jamaica are drug-carriers. I have to express my sincerest regret that this representative of the United Kingdom's highly regarded diplomatic service chose these quasi-slanderous terms to express his concern about a problem which is complex and global in nature, and which does not simply derive from one country or another.
In fact, cocaine transfers from South America to the metropolitan "markets" have wreaked havoc on the social fabric of Jamaica itself, and the local authorities are greatly concerned about this development.
To blame - as Mr. Sinkinson does - "single mothers" and "poverty," phenomena which also exist in industrial societies, is to engage in simplistic stereotyping of the worst kind. This is frankly not the kind of "diplomacy" one would expect from the British Foreign Service.
I would therefore encourage the responsible minister to immediately recall Mr. Sinkinson from his position in Jamaica for his irresponsible and damaging accusations.
I am, etc.,
HOLGER HENKE, Ph.D.
hhenke@igc.org
Assistant Director
Caribbean Research Center
Medgar Evers College
The City University of New York
Brooklyn, New York
11225
