Country Snapshot

Population: 2,695,867 (July 2003 est.) Size, comparable to U.S.: slightly smaller than Connecticut Per Capita GDP, not adjusted for PPP (year): (2001): $2,771. Income, wealthiest 10% / poorest 10%: 46.0/2.7 (2000) Population earning less than $2 a day: 13.3% (1990-2001) Ranking, Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index: 57 out of 133 Defense Expenditure as a percentage of GDP: NA% Size of armed forces: 3,000 (2001) U.S. military personnel present: 11 (2003)

Counternarcotics

Most U.S. aid to Jamaica’s security forces assists efforts to stop drugs -- both marijuana grown in Jamaica and other substances made elsewhere -- from reaching the United States. Assistance to Jamaica under the State Department’s International Narcotics Control (INC) program benefits both the police force (Jamaica Constabulary Force, or JCF) and the military (Jamaica Defense Force, or JDF).¹

Within the JCF, the Narcotics Unit, Contraband Enforcement Team, and Port Security Corps have received much U.S. training and equipment, including a new program of “integrity training” for customs personnel.² INC support helps the JDF maintain U.S.-provided helicopters, funds fuel for law-enforcement operations, and pays salaries of marijuana cutters.³

A September 1998 emergency counternarcotics drawdown for the Jamaican security forces provided survey and design services, field gear, weapons, and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) training valued at $1 million.⁴

In February 1998 Jamaica implemented a bilateral maritime counternarcotics agreement allowing U.S. Coast Guard craft, with Jamaican officers aboard as “shipriders,” to carry out anti-drug law enforcement activities in Jamaican territorial waters. The first joint maritime operation between the U.S. Coast Guard and the JDF Coast Guard, “Rip Tide,” took place in mid-1998.⁵

A State Department document notes that U.S. Military Information Support Teams (MISTs) have deployed to Jamaica and “have worked closely with national demand reduction agencies to develop and distribute materials reinforcing an anti-drug message.”⁶

Other training and exercises

With about $500,000 in each of the past few years, Jamaica is consistently among the hemisphere’s top ten recipients of International Military Training and Education (IMET) funding. The majority of IMET courses attended by Jamaican students in 1998 provided technical training. Expanded IMET courses have not accounted for more than five percent of the Jamaica IMET budget in any year since 1996.⁷

U.S. Special Forces paid two training visits to Jamaica in 1998. A Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) deployment practiced light infantry skills with a JDF contingent, and a counter-drug deployment carried out joint infantry training with members of the JCF Narcotics Unit.⁸

Jamaican personnel participate frequently in the U.S. Southern Command’s regular multilateral military exercises, including Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarian, Fuerzas Aliadas Peacekeeping, and Tradewinds. A “New Horizons” Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) exercise offered construction and medical services in Jamaica between May and August of 1998.⁹

Arms transfers

Jamaica shares in the Caribbean Regional Fund of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. These funds, according to the State Department’s 2000 Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, will contribute to “maintaining the capability of the Jamaican Defense Forces and reducing illegal migration.”¹⁰ Jamaica also purchases weapons and equipment through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) programs. Recent acquisitions include patrol boats, spare parts, small arms and ammunition.¹¹ According to a State Department document, the JDF purchased several helicopters at the end of 1998.¹²

Sources:

¹ United States, Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation (Washington: Department of State: March 1999): 35 <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/fy2000_budget/latin_america.html>.

² Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation 36.

³ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Fiscal Year 2000 Budget Congressional Presentation 36.

⁴ United States, Department of State, "Memorandum of Justification for use of Section 506(a)(2) special authority to draw down articles, services, and military education and training," September 15, 1998.

⁵ U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998, (Washington: Department of State: February 1999): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/major/Jamaica.html>.

⁶ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

⁷ United States, Department of Defense, Department of State, Foreign Military Training and DoD Engagement Activities of Interest in Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999: A Report to Congress (Washington: March 1999).

United States, Defense Security Assistance Agency, "International Military Education and Training Program: Expanded-IMET Students Trained," memo in response to congressional inquiry, Washington, October 1997: 2-3.

United States, Defense Security Assistance Agency, Standardized Training Listing as of 17 September 1997 (Washington: DSAA, September 1997).

United States, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, memo in response to congressional inquiry, Washington, March 5, 1999.

⁸ United States, Defense Department, "Report on Training of Special Operations Forces for the Period Ending September 30, 1998," Washington, April 1, 1999.

United States, Defense Department, State Department, "Foreign Military Training and DoD Engagement Activities of Interest In Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999: A Report To Congress," Washington, March 1999: 4.

⁹ United States Southern Command, J34, Exercise Program Quick-View, (U.S. Southern Command: October 13, 1998).

United States, Department of Defense, U.S. Southern Command, "New Horizon - Jamaica 98," Slideshow document, 1998.

¹⁰ United States, Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2000, (Washington: Department of State: March 1999): 903.

¹¹ United States, Department of State, Department of Defense, Foreign Military Assistance Act Report To Congress, Fiscal Year 1996 (Washington: September 1997).

United States, Department of Defense, Defense Security Assistance Agency, Defense Articles (Including Excess) and Services (Including Training) Furnished Foreign Countries and International Organizations Under the Foreign Military Sales Provisions of The Arms Export Control Act, Chapter 2 (Washington: August 1998).

United States, Department of Defense, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Defense Articles (Including Excess) and Services (Including Training) Furnished Foreign Countries and International Organizations Under the Foreign Military Sales Provisions of The Arms Export Control Act, Chapter 2 (Washington: July 1999).

United States, Department of State, Department of Defense, U.S. Arms Exports: Direct Commercial Sales Authorizations for Fiscal Year 97 (Washington: August 1998): 1.

United States, Department of State, U.S. Arms Exports: Direct Commercial Sales Authorizations for Fiscal Year 98 (Washington: July 1999): 54.

¹² Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.