KD Knight

THE Jamaican government yesterday asked the Americans to tone down a travel advisory the State Department placed on the island on Wednesday, saying the post-Hurricane Ivan warning was "inappropriate" and "unnecessarily harsh".

The message, conveyed by the foreign ministry to US Ambassador Sue Cobb, came on the heels of Prime Minister PJ Patterson's attempt at damage control during a visit to Westmoreland Wednesday afternoon. He wanted the whole world to know, he said during a closed-door meeting with Negril business interests, that Jamaica was safe and open for business.

"We are not faced with insurrection, we are not faced with riots, we are not faced with civil disturbances," the prime minister said. "We have, however, a responsibility to ensure that despite a hurricane or a natural disaster, we can maintain essential supplies of goods and services, and that we have the necessary powers to ensure the maintenance of public safety throughout the island of Jamaica."

Sue Cobbs

The advisory, posted on the State Department's website after the island had already started its recovery process, pointed out that the Jamaican government had declared a state of emergency, urged Americans to avoid travelling to Jamaica in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan and gave the go-ahead for non-essential Embassy employees to return home.

The warning appeared dated, as it incorrectly stated that the Norman Manley International Airport was still closed and telephone service was "widely unavailable" in the island.
Flights resumed at the Norman Manley Airport on Tuesday and there was never a widescale problem with telephone service even during the category four storm that hit Jamaica on Friday and Saturday.

But despite the government's disquiet, the wording of the advisory will have to wait until the US State Department decides that an update is necessary. Yesterday, US embassy spokeswoman in Kingston, Orna Blum, said the wording was the prerogative of the State Department and was based on information from the local embassy about the situation in Jamaica.

In an interview with the Observer on Wednesday, Blum had sought to downplay the advisory, saying it had arisen out of the problems embassy officials were experiencing as they tried to work while faced with the challenges of interruptions to the island's electricity and water supplies. According to US policy, any withdrawal of embassy personnel, Blum said, had to be accompanied by an advisory to all Americans in the island.

Over the past week, the US State Department has issued travel advisories for Grenada, Cuba and the Cayman Islands, which have also been battered by Hurricane Ivan, but there has been no word how those islands' governments and tourism officials have reacted.

Yesterday, the warning about travel to Jamaica drew sharp criticism from president of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association Godfrey Dyer, who described it as "wrongly timed" and called for it to be immediately withdrawn.

"For this to have been issued (Wednesday) when the majority of the hotel sector is back to normal - it's very unfortunate and I hope that they will see the wisdom of lifting it immediately," he said.

Staff reporters Balford Henry and Mark Cummings contributed to this story.

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