Caribbean societies are reportedly being devastated by the highest rates of violent crime in the world. According to the United Nations, Bahamians, Jamaicans, Haitians, Puerto Ricans and Trinidadians are four times more likely to die by gun violence than a North American.
Worryingly, homicidal violence is worsening and spreading to countries previously thought immune.
The region’s political leaders are anxiously casting gangs as the new villains.
Although young men have long been recruited into gangs with support from local politicians, they are now being singled out as murderers, drug traffickers and, increasingly, terrorists. Fearful that local gangs are going global, the Caribbean is now at the centre of an international battle against organised crime.
