The week at a glance...Americas
Americas
Kingston, Jamaica
PM resigns over drug case: Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding unexpectedly announced his resignation last week, citing the political fallout from his handling of drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke’s extradition to the U.S. last year. The U.S. first requested Coke’s extradition to face drug trafficking charges in 2009. Golding stalled for nine months before reversing course under U.S. pressure in May 2010. He sent security forces into Coke’s West Kingston stronghold, setting off four days of gun battles that left 76 people dead. Golding’s political reputation never recovered. Questions about the Coke saga “have remained a source of concern in the minds of many people,” he said in explaining his resignation. Coke, who was extradited to the U.S. in June 2010, pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in August. He faces 23 years in prison.
Puerto Maldonado, Peru
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Sex slaves freed: Peruvian police have rescued nearly 300 girls and women who were forced into prostitution in the country’s Amazon region. In the three-day operation, which began last week, 440 police officers raided some 60 brothels in Puerto Maldonado and along a highway to Cuzco, and arrested five men on charges of sexual exploitation. Fortune hunters have flocked to the region’s illegal gold-mining operations in recent years, and women and young girls have been lured there with false promises of jobs as shop assistants or domestic workers, only to be forced into brothels once they arrived. A Peruvian government official said some of the girls rescued were as young as 12 years old.
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