Residents predict 'ZOSO babies'

With residents being required to be off the streets at nightfall, many residents of Mount Salem, St James, the first community to be named a zone of special operations (ZOSO), are predicting that there will be an explosion of 'ZOSO babies' come next year.

"As night come down, dem (the police and soldiers) start send people to dem bed. So, instead of hanging on the corner and playing domino, sex a wi new form a recreation," a middle-aged man told Western STAR last week. "When dem finish with dis 60 days of ZOSO, Mount Salem a go full a breeding (pregnant) woman."

In emphasising his point, the man drew reference to the situation in Naples, Italy, in the late 1980s, when Argentine superstar Diego Maradona joined Napoli FC and had such an impact on the city that the vast majority of the babies born in the city that year were named Diego.

"... we can name the Mount Salem baby dem ZOSO, even as nickname," the man said.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Interestingly, it would appear that even some of the older women in Mount Salem are engaing in other activities. During a recent visit to the community by Peter Bunting, the former Opposition spokesman on national security, an elderly woman intimated that she, too, was getting in on the action.

"If mi wasn't an old woman, mi probably would a pregnant already," said the woman, who drew grins from bystanders as she spoke. "We want back our old life. I don't like this going to bed as night come down."

According to some residents, some of the soldiers and the police have already forged intimate relationships with some of the young women in the community.

"Di girls dem always hanging around dem. Nuff a dem a come back a night time come look fi gal when dem off duty. A nuff time mi even pass pon di front (main road) and see soldier and gal a tek selfie pon dem phones," a young man told Western STAR.