Smile Jamaica Concert of the concert series. Stir It Up: The CIA Targets Jamaica, Bob Marley and the Progressive Manley Government, an alternative historical novel by David Dusty Couples, weaves fact and fiction to dramatize the concert. The novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings" by Marlon James dramatizes the attempt on Marley's life, including other events leading up to the Smile Jamaica concert. Smile Jamaica Concert The Smile Jamaica Concert was a concert held on December 5, 1976, at the National Heroes Park, Kingston, Jamaica, performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers. Marley originally agreed to perform one song for the 80,000
Bob Marley assassination attempt the JLP, and behind them was the CIA in terms of getting weapons in and getting money in.” Leading up to the 1976 presidential elections, violence between rival gangs in Kingston loyal to JLP and PNP increased dramatically. Michael Manley declared a national State of Emergency on June 19, 1976. The State of Emergency lasted until June of 1977, almost a year in full. Michael Manley and the PNP began insinuating that the CIA had an active destabilization plan for Jamaica. “I cannot prove in a court of law that the CIA is here… strange things are happening in Jamaica