COVER GIRL: Ambassador Audrey Marks makes Washington Diplomat debut

The following are excerpts from the story 'New envoy aims to stem fallout from Jamaica's drug debacle' by Larry Luxner, published in August 2010 edition of The Washington Diplomat.

Barely six hours after Jamaica's new envoy, Audrey Marks, sat down with us to describe her government's efforts to bring law and order to the troubled Caribbean island, the police finally arrest reputed drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke in a Kingston slum - ending one of Jamaica's worst outbursts of violence in recent memory.

The June 22 arrest, and our exclusive interview, took place just days into Marks' new job. One week later, President Obama accepted her credentials as Jamaica's first female ambassador to Washington.

From the beginning, it was anything but smooth sailing.

"The day I arrived in the United States, the extradition request the US had been negotiating was signed," she said. Almost immediately, "Jamaican authorities had to take a sort of insurgency from criminal organisations protecting the subject of the extradition".

Yet Marks insisted that "there was no connection", between the Coke case and her appointment as ambassador - the timing of which seemed to imply she'd been brought in as a sort of diplomatic crisis-control manager.

"My being here is more a function of the Government wanting a different approach to diplomacy," Marks told The Washington Diplomat over steaming cups of Jamaica's famous Blue Mountain gourmet coffee. "We wanted to have someone here with a strong business background, because a major focus of the Jamaican Government is to increase foreign direct investment and expand trade with the United States and part of my background as a former president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Jamaica (AmCham Jamaica), for three years, had me interacting with influential US politicians and business executives."

An elegant, well-coifed woman who loves reggae, plays golf and steers clear of political jargon, Marks represents a glamorous break from the embassy's male-dominated past.

In fact, in mid-July the White House announced its intention to nominate Pamela E. Bridgewater as ambassador to the Caribbean island - a post that had been left hanging since January 2009. Both countries denied that the delay in filling the vacancy was due to strained bilateral ties in the wake of Washington's demand to bring Coke to justice - and Golding's nine-month delay in acting on those demands.

Initially, Golding claimed that evidence cited in the US indictment relied on wiretaps illegally obtained under Jamaican law. But he changed his mind amidst a flurry of embarrassing news stories revealing deep ties between Coke's Shower Posse and Golding's ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Marks defended the prime minister's initial refusal as well as his eventual decision to extradite Coke - whom the Obama administration called "one of the world's most dangerous narcotics kingpins" - so that he could stand trial in New York on gunrunning and drug smuggling charges.

"Tivoli Gardens is very loyal to the JLP. Therefore, it was a major political risk to Golding's ability to get re-elected to make decision that could be unpopular if it wasn't clear that he had thoroughly examined the issue and was doing the right thing," explained Marks. "But it was also important for the prime minister to convince [the people of Jamaica] that it wasn't like throwing an innocent man to the wolves. Golding went through a process and came to the conclusion that he did."

Asked about the Manatt deal, Marks said, "There's nothing wrong with engaging a lobbying firm. Clearly it was just a misunderstanding that has been resolved. The prime minister came out and explained the relationship. Manatt was hired by the party, not by the Government."

Marks passionately describes Coke's extradition and the police crackdown required to enforce it as a "turning point" in the modern history of Jamaica, which achieved independence from Great Britain in 1962 but suffers one of the Western Hemisphere's highest homicide rates.

"We must not only look at the suppression of crime in order to ensure stability and prosperity, but also socio-economic intervention in these communities," she declared.

My mandate is threefold: to enhance our political and economic relationship with the US government, to expand business and investment opportunities in Jamaica, and to help develop the Jamaican Diaspora and its economic resources," she said.

As a businesswoman, Marks said she's proud of Jamaica's economic achievements under Golding's tenure.

"Not long ago, Jamaica had one of the highest debt burdens in the world, and people were worried about rising food and fuel prices. But this Government has been able - for the first time in my life - to change the macroeconomic landscape to one where we can look to growth in the future," she said. "For the first time in 20 years, Jamaica has a single-digit interest rate and our currency is actually appreciating."

In addition, Jamaica's legislature recently legalised controlled casino gambling over the objections of church leaders who for years blocked casinos on religious and moral grounds. Yet Marks - a mother of two daughters and a devoutly Christian woman who led Bible study sessions in her home every Friday night for years - says she's behind the new law 100 per cent.

"This Government is very business-focused, and our position is that the benefits of controlled gaming as part of our tourism product far outweigh any of the negative consequences," she said. The ambassador also pointed out that it's much better to have carefully monitored casinos in five-star hotels than illegal, unregulated gaming on street corners, which is now the case.

Read the complete article at: www.washdiplomat.com