Marcus Garvey, Jamaica’s first national hero, has been caught up in American politics.

Well. Not really.

Whether or not he meant it, US President Donald Trump’s pal Roger Stone calling the name of a man who stood up for the black race, and who numerous people have lobbied to have pardoned for trumped up mail fraud, was sure to ring a bell.

The defiant Stone, who was arrested by FBI agents in a predawn raid on his home Friday, was asked if he would seek to have the president pardon him if he goes to jail. He replied that he would be vindicated, and on the spur of the moment told the CNN that: “The only person I have advocated a pardon for is Marcus Garvey.”

It was already revealed that Stone, the latest victim of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election in which Trump unexpectedly beat Hillary Clinton, has sought pardon for the exiled WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange.

Assange is believed to have played a major role in the hacking distribution of Clinton’s email and that of other officers of the Democratic Party in the lead-up to the 2016 vote.

How then did Garvey’s name get on the lips of the flamboyant Stone at a time when his back is against the wall for false statements, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering?

It’s not sure if anyone has ever lobbied Trump to pardon Garvey, but it is surely at least one thing that would win him the hearts of some Jamaicans.

Efforts stretching over many US Administrations to secure a pardon for the Jamaican who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association, have so far been futile.

— Pete Sankey