ORGANISERS of the controversial party series, Mocha Fest, are blaming popular Negril hot spot Rick’s Cafe for breaches of the country’s COVID19 protocols at one of its events held on Thursday.

The staging of the event triggered widespread outrage among locals who have been prohibited from hosting or attending parties since March 2020, when Jamaica recorded its first COVID-19 case.

In a statement posted to the event’s website yesterday, organisers said that the backlash received from the public has forced them to cancel the rest of activities that were planned for the festival.

Mocha Fest was expected to run from May 24 to 31 at locations within the tourism resilient corridor.

“As many of you may be aware by now, Mocha Fest has become the centrepiece of the local media over the past 24 hours. Videos of the afternoon we spent at Rick’s Café went viral, which ultimately triggered a series of backlash from local promoters and other members of the entertainment community. We must first declare, as was made clear in the newsletters we sent out, modifying our itinerary to remove all our public events, our intention was to visit the island of Jamaica and enjoy this trip while isolating the group from the local community.

“We managed to successfully do that with some of our activities; however, we could not have Rick’s Café agree to exclusive use of the venue for our guests. We moved forward with the group to Rick’s, trusting that as a reputable and licensed attraction, they would do what’s necessary and close the gate once maximum allowed capacity was reached in accordance with local COVID protocols, to which they verbally agreed to do. To our disappointment, they did not close the gate,” the statement read.

Rick’s Cafe has since apologised for breaching the COVID-19 protocols and has been ordered shut for seven days.

The Tourism Product Development Company Ltd has also revoked the entity’s COVID-19 compliance certification with immediate effect due to the violation.

“Due to the local protest and media backlash on Mocha Fest and the local Government, our hotel partners have informed us that they have no choice but to have Mocha Fest guests participate in the regularly scheduled hotel itinerary. This means we will no longer be hosting our private activities at the respective host resorts,” said the statement.

The organisers said they are prepared to compensate patrons who have been impacted by the festival’s abrupt ending.

Patrons are being offered, among other things, a full complimentary general party pass to Mocha Fest Jamaica 2022.

It is, however, not clear if this event will take place as an investigation has been launched with warnings issued for sanctions.

— Kimone Francis