Maroon Chief Richard Currie has declared that he reserves the right to defend his people “using modern means” if the Jamaican Government, in his estimation, continues to infringe on the Independence of the Maroons. 

Currie was responding to reports that the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) has launched a probe into a shotgun seen strapped to his back during a standoff with armed men who have since been confirmed to be police officers.

National Security Minister, Dr Horace Chang, in an interview on Nationwide Radio on Wednesday, commended the police for their actions during the anti-narcotics raid, adding that to his knowledge there is “no such thing as maroon land”.

In an Instagram video on Thursday, Currie rebuked those statements by Chang, insisting that the Maroons were a sovereign people. 

“I am a bloodline descendant of the island’s first people. I’m proud to say that I hold their traditions of independence, freedom and self-sufficiency. This land of my people is ours and ours alone. Our ancestors fought bitterly from the time of the Spanish up until 1738 to defend this land and we will never stop defending it,” declared Currie.

“We will never stop honouring the ways of our ancestors and the sacrifices that they made to ensure that we had a place to call home. This is not land we begged for and this is not land King George II gave to us but rather land that we have possessed since prehistoric times,” he added. 

Currie, who is the leader of the Accompong Maroons, argued that, “As the duly elected representative of my people, I am also charged to be their protector and defender. To lead them fearlessly in the face of adversity and to be the first line of defence for their rights.”

Against that background, he claimed that no Maroon would seek the help of the police or any other government entity when they are in need.

“When the Maroons are in need, they do not seek to call 119 or any string of numbers, they call their chief. The members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Firearm Licensing Authority are not elected by my people, I am,” he argued.

In the Cockpit Country, Currie said, the Maroons believed “in democracy and the political freedom of the people”.

On that premise, he informed the Jamaican public that he does not “seek permission to defend my people”, reiterating that it was his duty to defend them.

“We are no longer in a time of bows, arrows, spears and slingshots. We are in a time of modern warfare: guns, bombs, and all manner of weaponry. I unequivocally reserve my right to defend my people using modern means as this is my right. I do not seek permission to execute it,” asserted the Maroon chief.

He added: “The protection of my people, and their property, is my fiduciary duty, and there is no power on Earth — temporal or spiritual — that can separate me from my duty and my undying love for my people.”

Currie also urged the Government of Jamaica to “keep the peace and to allow me to look after my people in peace and to allow my people to live comfortably in their ancestral homeland as we trouble no one and deprive no one of their rights by doing so.”

“Thank you very much,” he said at the end of the six-minute long video.

On Tuesday, videos posted on Instagram by Currie showed the Maroons facing off with the police holding a high powered rifle in the community of Bethsalem in St Elizabeth. 

He claimed that armed men trespassed on maroon lands in the Cockpit Country on Tuesday with the intention of “extorting Maroon farmers for money or threatening to burn and take their crops”, including marijuana. 

However, he said that “Maroon Cannabis is NOT illegal in Cockpit Country.”