Jamaica's image took a battering in the foreign press last week, as events surrounding the United States extradition request for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, attracted international attention. The deadly barricades thrown up around Tivoli Gardens, and the issuing of a US travel alert, gave the developmemnts front page billing in major American newspapers and television networks, triggering fears of a fallout in the tourism industry. Here is a sampling of the reports:

Jamaica slum controlled by alleged drug kingpin in standoff with police over extradition to US, says Fox News

"In a gritty slum, they are preparing for war. They are building barricades of junked cars and sandbags, making Molotov c**ktails and pitching barbed wire over power lines.They are waiting for the police, who they believe will come for Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a 5-foot-4-inch neighbourhood boss that the US Justice Department calls one of the world's most dangerous drug lords. Kingston has been jittery since Prime Minister Bruce Golding this week reversed his long-standing refusal to extradite Coke to the United States on drugs and arms-trafficking charges," Fox News reported an AP story on Saturday.

US warns of possible civil unrest in Jamaica, Yahoo News reports an AFP story

"The US State Department warned Friday of the threat of civil unrest in Jamaica amid reports that criminal gangs were massing in Kingston and the military was mobilising.

In a travel warning, the State Department urged US citizens to weigh the risks of traveling to and within the Kingston metropolitan area.

"The possibility exists for violence and/or civil unrest in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan area," AFP quoted the State Department in a story carried Saturday.

US issues travel alert for Jamaica - CNN

The respected Cable News Network's (CNN) report on Jamaica was also based on the travel advisory.

Slum standoff in Jamaica over don's US extradition, says the Seattle Times

The Seattle Times' story was the same one written by AP reporter David McFadden which was picked up by Fox News. The story was datelined Kingston.

In the meantime, a number of law-abiding citizens of this Caribbean country have been avoiding downtown Kingston because of the fear of an outbreak of violence over the pending extradition of Coke, who is wanted by the US to answer arms and drug trafficking charges.

The police on Friday appealed to Coke's lawyer, Don Foote to bring him in to allow the extradition process to begin, but he is yet to act on the instructions of the police.