Diario Editorial: Natalee’s case and the Aruban People

Let us not forget what Thomas Jefferson said about “Freedom of Speech” and the role of the newspaper (press).

“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them.” –Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1787. ME 6:57

“The press [is] the only tocsin of a nation. [When it] is completely silenced… all means of a general effort [are] taken away.” –Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Cooper, Nov 29, 1802. (*) ME 10:341

Diario; April 18, 2006: E Caso di Natalee y pueblo Arubiano

Editorial: Natalee’s case and the Aruban people

I have said on many occasions that in Aruba, the people many times are not taken duly into account by their authorities and things that affect them directly – their well-being, the solidity of their economy, their good name as a hospitable people – have all been pushed into a corner and buried in such a manner that it’s not able to be discovered. This is not done for their defense, but to abide by rules that are good for nothing because they maintain the ignorance as to what’s going on.

At DIARIO, many years back, we took the decision not to hide anything from the people, not keep them in a box to then throw them in a well of forgetfulness. All we find out, we pass it on directly to the people, so that they are aware of everything that’s going on in their island. Natalee’s case is no exception, but a confirmation that we are not going to keep anything secret and whatever falls into our hands, we pass it on in turn to the people, so that they too have the latest news, so that they can judge what has happened in the case.

Yesterday, we published the transcript of a conversation that police recorded in a police car that was bringing the three suspects (Joran, Deepak and Satish) from KIA to the Court Building, in Dutch and in Papiamento. The document is very revealing of three suspects’ character, their way of speaking, their way of formulating sentences and their violence.

From the transcript, we know from Joran’s mouth that his father is the one who arranged for lawyers for the Kalpoes; from Deepak we heard that he warned Joran that if they find the girl’s body or any of her remains, Joran is going to be locked up 15 years; from Joran we heard that he threatened that if the Kalpoe brothers spoke with the police, he would tell the latter that Satish hit a girl with a car; all in all, accusations and counter-accusations, but all based on a categorical knowledge that all three had of what happened with Natalee. Of this, there is no doubt.

J says to D: My friend, the only thing my father wanted to do was to help you.
J says to D: My father only wanted to help you. My father even arranged a lawyer for you.
J says to D: And this is how you pay him back.
J says to D (angry): I have to give you both a klap/wanta [punch in the face?]

This came out clearly in the audio-tape recording transcript.

S says to J: I didn’t declare anything.
J says to the brothers: Of course you did.
S says to J: What did I say / against your father?
J says to the brothers: You said that he (Joran’s father) said that if there’s no corpse there’s no case, or I don’t know what more sorts of shit.
J says to the brothers: That’s not true, the only thing he (Joran’s father) said that if there’s no body there don’t have a case.
D says to J: That’s true.

Joran’s attorney is flapping his gums in the U.S. as if he were a great messiah who knows all; one of his colleagues accused me of leaking the document, despite the fact that it was the day before yesterday that we found it in our mailbox, after all American channels already had it and were even passing it on the air piece by piece; Tacopina paints Joran as an angel with wings of purity; that he’s a good student; that he has a scholarship; finally, all that he’s missing to fly up to heaven are wings of snow. However, evidence compiled by DIARIO paints Joran in a completely different light; a violent youth; abusive with younger kids at his school (and in his home!); an out of control youth who inappropriately involves himself with others’ money; a youth with no manners in his manner of speaking; a criminal instinct that he exhibited in the transcripts when in moments of rage he wanted to break faces and even went as far as threatening to kill the Kalpoe brothers; in the end, a completely different portrait than that Tacopina speaks of.
(The rest of the translation at Getagrip)