Adams banned from entering the USA

Retired Senior Superintendent of Police Reneto Adams has been barred from entering the United States of America (USA) for what the State Department said is his "involvement in gross violations in human rights in Jamaica".

A feared crime-fighter when he served as a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), Adams has been penalised for his role in the May 7, 2003 killing of four persons in Kraal, Clarendon.

Along with Adams, the State Department has also designated Devon Bernard, Patrick Coke, Shayne Lyons, Leford Gordon, and Roderick Collier as being unwelcomed in the USA.

"In their capacity as officers in the Jamaican Constabulary Force Crime Management Unit, these individuals were involved in the extrajudicial killings of four people on May 7, 2003. Immediate family members of these officers are also covered by this designation," the State Department said in a report published yesterday, Human Rights Day.

The Department of State pointed to a provision in its law that says that where the Secretary of State has"credible information that officials of foreign governments have been involved in a gross violation of human rights or significant corruption, those individuals and their immediate family members are to be designated publicly or privately and are ineligible for entry into the United States".

Kraal incident

In the Kraal incident, 45-year-old Angella Richards, 38-year-old Ferris Lewena Thompson, Matthew James and a man known only as 'Renegade' were killed, according to police, during a shoot-out with members of the Crime Management Unit. Two illegal firearms - a Taurus 9mm pistol with six cartridges and a Winchester rifle with 14 rounds - were seized.

After several weeks of investigations in the aftermath of the killings, Adams and his fellow police officers were charged with murder. They were, however, acquitted in December 2005.

Documents published by Wikileaks indicated that Adams' United States' visa was cancelled after the trial. The leaked cables said that following the publication of an article in The Gleaner, which stated that his visas was revoked, the senior lawman visited the U.S Consular section of the embassy to make checks. After being informed that his visa had in fact been revoked.

Adams stated publicly that he would not appeal the revocation. He said he had visited the U.S. only once in the previous 25 years, and that the visa was "very unimportant" to him.