( MORE: Can JamaicaвЂ™s Sprinters Fight Crime?) So far weвЂ™ve got 6,000 persons employed in infrastructure projects, and weвЂ™re getting people trained for even better jobs. WeвЂ™ve created a new anti-organized-crime task force to target kingpin finances, but one of the biggest challenges is job creation and our new Jamaica Emergency Employment Program (JEEP). IвЂ™ve spent my political life fighting all those in our country who bill themselves as вЂњdons.вЂќ If you empower people in their communities and get them jobs, no one like Dudus Coke can win their hearts and minds and hold them hostage. Jamaica has one of the worldвЂ™s highest murder rates - so can you replace the influence of kingpins like Coke? Poverty is a hellish state.Д¬ritics of JamaicaвЂ™s severe economic inequality say those left behind too often have to turn for help to criminal вЂњdonsвЂќ like Kingston druglord Christopher вЂњDudusвЂќ Coke, who was just sentenced to 23 years in a U.S. As for inner-city constituencies like mine, I want the world to know that we do have strong businesses and industry there, that we do produce professionals, yet people there are still too poor, and we canвЂ™t continue to leave them behind. But I do believe women are natural caregivers who bring that certain perspective to leadership, having more women in leadership is pushing governments forward around the world. I was actually born in deep rural Jamaica and came to Kingston as a high school girl. Do you represent a historical shift, not only as JamaicaвЂ™s first female Prime Minister, but also as the first to hail from the sort of urban, working-class and predominantly Afro-Caribbean community that many, if not most, Jamaicans themselves are from?

We would remain a member of the Commonwealth. But as I said, independence for us is a long journey, from slavery and then from colonialism, and now it is time for us to have our own form of government. In your January inauguration speech, after your landslide December election victory, you called for a referendum on eliminating the British monarch as your head of state and making Jamaica a republic. Jamaica is more than just the вЂњbrandвЂќ the world recognizes so well itвЂ™s a place of pride for the people who live here, its educational institutions, its sports achievements, its science and technology growth. WeвЂ™ve proven a strong and determined people. Independence is a long journey, and despite our challenges, I think weвЂ™ve done very well on balance our first 50 years. Excerpts:Д«eyond JamaicaвЂ™s impressive national branding and Olympics fame, how would you describe the countryвЂ™s feeling of accomplishment, and perhaps also disappointment, as it approaches its 50thВ anniversary?

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, 66, the countryвЂ™s first female leader, spoke with TIMEвЂ™s Tim Padgett at her Jamaica House office in the capital, Kingston, about her reform plans - and the mix of jubilation and angst that Jamaica and the Caribbean are feeling this summer. Five of the worldвЂ™s 13 most indebted nations, as a share of gross domestic product, are Caribbean islands, including Jamaica. warned this year that the regionвЂ™s economies are being stunted by inordinately high violent crime - though murder is down in Jamaica, it still has one of the worldвЂ™s highest homicide rates. And from reggae music to Rastafarian chic, few small, developing countries have ever branded themselves as famously as Jamaica has - a point likely to be driven home at the London Olympics by a juggernaut of Jamaican sprinters, led by Usain вЂњLightningвЂќ Bolt, who could win every race at the same moment their nation marks its break from British rule.Д«ut those triumphs canвЂ™t hide the social and economic crises that Jamaica and the strategically located Caribbean basin face. Institutions like the University of the West Indies have gained international respect. 3 million) of 10 Caribbean islands to win independence from Britain, Jamaica has a lot to fete: itвЂ™s kept up a working, uninterrupted democracy, no mean feat for any former colony. Follow celebrates its 50thВ anniversary on Aug.

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