Britain hoped that its worries in Jamaica were over when it granted limited self-government to its turbulent, dusky islanders 14 months ago. But last fortnight Kingston erupted in a chaos of strong-arm politics, union shootings, and escaped lunatics.
The Hon. Alexander Bustamante, half-Irish boss of riotous Bustamante's Industrial Unions and self-styled "Prime Minister of Jamaica," was out to break the rival Trades Union Council, made up of government and public-service workers. Bushy-haired Bustamante had swept Jamaica's first democratic elections in 1944, boasted "I am the government," now ran roughshod over mild Governor Sir John Huggins.
Attendants and nurses at Kingston's dismal...
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