MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica. Internationally acclaimed marathon swimmer Eva Buzo completed a 30-kilometre swim along the north coast from Trelawny to St James on Sunday to draw attention to the fight for public beach access in Jamaica.
Buzo swam from Half Moon Bay in Falmouth to One Man Beach in Montego Bay over roughly 10 hours as part of the Swim for Rights Jamaica campaign organised by the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JaBBEM). It was the second in a series of swims on the issue, following a 40-kilometre swim in Puerto Rico earlier this month.
Buzo, who is also a human-rights attorney, said the project aims to unify movements around the world where ordinary people are being displaced from public lands to make way for luxury resorts. Her collaboration with JaBBEM began in August after she swam in support of the Flamingo Revolution in her native Albania, a protest movement that began in May over the sale of protected lands for resort development.
JaBBEM president Dr Devon Taylor said the campaign is meant to bring fresh attention to the group’s concerns about the Beach Control Act of 1956, which it says restricts Jamaicans’ access to their own shoreline. He called the swim “a demand to repeal the colonial law and write a new one”.
— LRTVS News Desk
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