Word: kingstone
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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...American-born, Harvard-educated leader of the Jamaica Labor Party. An experienced international economist whose campaign promised closer ties with the U.S., Seaga has already obtained financing from commercial banks to cover the country's $157 million debt through the end of the year. The shootouts that terrorized Kingston's slums during the bloody nine-month campaign have tapered off as a result of nightly curfews and police raids; tourist bookings are picking up again, and Jamaican professionals who went into exile during the hard times of Manley's rule are beginning to return home...
Supporters rang brass bells in celebration. Swooning youths snaked through dances of joy. Party workers tearfully embraced one another. With a sobriety that contrasted with the noisy jubilation all around him, Edward P.O. Seaga, leader of the Jamaica Labor Party, emerged into the spotlight at his Kingston campaign headquarters and claimed "the most dramatic electoral victory in the history of the country." Unlike much of the preceding campaign's rhetoric, this was no exaggeration...
Seaga's landslide victory climaxed the most divisive and bloody campaign experienced by the island since it became independent from Britain in 1962. Fierce party loyalties divided the black ghettos of Kingston block by block, and many on both sides took to carrying guns. One of the casualties was Roy McGann, 43, a junior Cabinet minister and People's Party candidate for reelection, who happened to drive near a Labor Party rally; a fracas broke out, and McGann was shot and killed. Officials estimated that more than 500 people have been killed this year in fratricidal bloodletting...
...election day, steel-helmeted army troops, backed up by armored cars and helicopters, guarded polling places and patrolled the streets. Nonetheless, the gunfire echoed through the tough slums of Kingston all day long. The Kingston Public Hospital, located in the center of the trouble, took in a dozen casualties. One young man, who had allegedly tried to steal a ballot box, had nearly been decapitated by a machete. The casualty toll just for the ten-hour polling period: three killed and 20 wounded...
Reported by Bernard Diederich and William McWhirter/ Kingston...