Aruba: One Alcohol Intoxicated Island … Should Bars be Responsible for Over Serving?

Does Aruba have a right to complain about the over consumption of alcohol when they do nothing to regulate the serving to minors or the quantity in its bars and clubs?

Does Aruba have a culture of over consumption of alcohol? We are constantly told by the “pro-Aruba” media that it is the tourists fault for their over consumption of alcohol. However, how does that explain its own citizens? The recent  article in Amigo expands on this very issue as there was a rash of individuals needing medical attention at Horacio Oduber Hospital.

The personnel of Horacio Oduber Hospital was very busy from December 21 to 26.  The reason was mostly consumption of too much alcohol.  At least 28 victims of traffic accidents were brought in, versus 12 last year. 

Why does Aruba promote the over-consumption of alcohol when it makes them a profit and then complains and blames the victim and makes accusatory comments like Gerald Dompig did against Natalee Holloway when that over-indulgence causes crime?

Why does Aruba not make its drinking establishments responsible for the amount of alcohol it serves like HERE, HERE or HERE? Let alone what may be slipped into someone’s drink unexpectedly. Do bars in Aruba care whether they serve people under age? In another much publicized case in America, the rape and murder of Imette St. Guillen, The Falls bar lost its liquor license and was closed down after under age sales and after hours violations, due to the clamor arising from a crime that occurred.

The closing may have been accelerated by the murder case but the bar was ultimately shuttered under a Police Department nuisance abatement action. The court order cited the bar for three instances of selling alcohol to a minor and one charge of selling alcohol after hours since the start of the year.

So why does Aruba continue to promote the excesses of alcohol in their drinking establishments and provide no criminal consequences when crimes occur? The answer is money is more important than health and safety.

In Aruba its not About the decrease in Tourism, but the Increase in Drugs

Rush hour in hospital

ORANJESTAD – The personnel of Horacio Oduber Hospital was very busy from December 21 to 26.  The reason was mostly consumption of too much alcohol.  At least 28 victims of traffic accidents were brought in, versus 12 last year. 

Of the 28 victims, 15 were injured due to physical violence, 2 had an overdose of alcohol and/or drugs, and 6 were injured in accidents in and around the house.  Only 6 traffic accidents victims had to be admitted for further treatment.  Five of the fifteen victims of physical violence and five of the six persons that were injured in or around the house were admitted, of which 2 in the ICU. (Amigoe: 12/28/2007)