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Twenty-two TCI students attending schools in Jamaica are safe, but most will be coming home Saturday, May 29, because an outbreak of violence prompted a state of emergency declared May 25.

“The Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Culture, in addition to liaising with the students who are still in Jamaica, has been in contact with their parents to advise them of the plans of the ministry to facilitate the students’ return to the Turks and Caicos Islands,” the ministry said.

“Of the remaining students in Jamaica, a few, having completed their end of year exams and projects, are scheduled to arrive in the Turks and Caicos Islands on Saturday, May 29. Some students, because of their location in Jamaica, have opted to stay on until the academic year comes to a close.”

The students are attending University of the West Indies, University of Technology, Mico University College, Monroe College and Northern Caribbean University, the ministry said.

The death toll in Kingston rose Wednesday, as criminals seized on the bloody chaos over the quest to capture Jamaica’s  most wanted man to commit acts of violence, authorities said.

Public Defender Herro Blair told Jamaican radio that 44 people have been killed. Police say some 211 people have been arrested since Sunday, when gunmen loyal to alleged Shower Posse gang leader Christopher “Dudus” Coke set fire to downtown Kingston police stations.

Last week, the gangs blocked off Coke’s Tivoli Gardens neighborhood in an effort to keep the military and police from arresting Coke, who is wanted in New York on federal drug and weapons charges.

On Monday, the Jamaican Defense Force launched an offensive as warfare broke out in the streets against marauding groups of gunmen.

At least two officers were killed.

“This country is under siege, and the time has come where it is going to be dealt with and this government is ready to deal with it,” Information Minister Daryl Vaz said in a nationwide address.

Criminals had begun to use the issue as an excuse to commit more crime. The bloodshed now, Vaz said, is no longer about executing a warrant.

“The fact of the matter is that I can categorically state that the time has come when we have to take the (fight) frontally, without any apologies.”

The United States considers Coke one of the “most dangerous narcotics kingpins” in the world. But the Jamaican government refused to turn him over for months, arguing that the wiretap used was illegal.

Under pressure to resign over his handling of the matter, Prime Minister Bruce Golding abruptly changed his mind last week. Health Minister Ruddy Spencer begged gunmen not to attack hospital workers, as the nation made a call for blood donations.

The U.S. State Department warned against travel to Kingston, and the U.S. Embassy there remained closed.

“We continue to work with the government of Jamaica collaboratively to counter illicit trafficking,” State Department spokesman Charles Luoma-Overstreet said. “As this is an on-going operation, we are not going to discuss specifics of that cooperation or any law enforcement operations.”

As of mid-day Wednesday, Coke was still at large.

Source: Frances Robles of the Miami Herald (MCT)