‘This is part of a broader plan,’ Dr. Elizabeth Ward, a member of the European Community bloc’s technical assistance team dedicated to studying crime prevention in this Caribbean country, told The Gleaner newspaper.

The course was developed by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and adapted to the Jamaican context by a technical assistance team from the EU, which financed the actions.

Jamaica, with nearly three million inhabitants, reported some 2,000 murders in 2022, up from 1,338 in 2021, according to official figures.

The gangs, known here as ‘platoons’, are linked to political forces and use extortion, drug trafficking and lottery scams to finance their activities, which lead to a significant number of crimes.

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