Steve Cohen & Aruba the Truth: Missing in Aruba

Has anyone seen this man? Steve Cohen has suddenly found himself in the “where are they now files”. Steve Cohen is added to a long line of  former Aruban spokes people that have faded off the map in to obscurity. Have the budget cuts in Aruba due to the dwindling tourism cost Cohen his funding?

MISSING: STEVE COHEN

Last seen spinning a yarn on TV and back tracking on a previously made statement implicating the three suspects.

(Pic Hat Tip: Klaas)

It seems as though Aruba figured out that maybe if they say nothing, that is better than insulting peoples intelligence with the SPIN that was being spewed with regards to Natalee, her disappearance, the investigation and the family. News Flash … not commenting is no comment.

The lack of a comment is also looked upon as an admission of guilt.

It would appear that Tim Miller and Texas Equusearch may have to be called back to Aruba to find Steve Cohen as well. Steve, has the cat got your tongue? Or is it the Aruban officials? For a spokesman you are not saying much these days.

Steve Cohen, the artist formerly known as the “Special Adviser to the Aruban Government,” has been conspicuous by absence. Was Steve Cohen a victim of the Aruban budget cuts due to the loss of tourism in response to how Aruban officials have handled the Natalee Holloway case?  Or was he a victim of his own comments like promising arrests and closure of the case with the next few months? Of course that promise came from Steven Cohen on January 17, 2006.

Spokesman for the Aruban government, former CBS journalist Steve Cohen, is predicting a closure to the case in the next six months.

Mr Cohen expects one or all three suspects – Dutch national Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – to be charged for rape and murder.

He says he’s optimistic that they’ll be able to wrap up their current probe and be able to present a case to the judge “in the next few weeks or a few months”.

 Or was it because he stated that the prosecution believes the three suspects are guilty of wrongdoing  against Natalee Holloway.

Dr. Phil asks him, ”From your opinion, based on what you know, do you believe that these boys are guilty of wrongdoing here?” Steve says that he does. “Do the prosecutors believe they are guilty of wrongdoing?” Steve says that they do. “Do you believe that [the boys] have available, intimate knowledge of what happened to her that night?” Again, Steve confirms that he does.

The Aruban OM and Defense were certainly not happy with some of those comments. The ATA and Briesen also disturbed about Cohen’s comments. What, that they may have been true?

Maybe Steve Cohen is no longer in the picture because he tells the Travel Video the boys had sex with Natalee. Then of course there was the promise and prediction that Cohen made during the Christmas holiday that Joran Van der Sloot would be re-questioned within the next 10 days.

Steve Cohen has not been seen from in months. The spokesman for The Aruba Strategic Communications Task Force is MIA. For that matter so is The Strategic Task Force. The web site “Aruba Truth” must have run out of more “truths” to tell.

Just in case Aruba Truth thought they had lost all the posts that they had previously done, we wanted to make sure everyone still had access to them. Aruba Truth archive. I know you would not want all that information lost. We are only looking out for you.

Aruba, if you think you can ignore this and its just going to go away … think again. No justice … no tourism. Solve the case and find those responsible and get on with it. While you are at it why don’t you prosecute those that were complicit in the negligence in this investigation.

Aruba: One Safe Island; Walk-out by police

With the spot light of safety and the perception that Aruba is doing everything possible for the safety of tourists comes this almost inconceivable act. A police walk out. In a time where many wonder where the police investigation in the Natalee Holloway case was, the police thought it was in everyone’s best interest to just walk off the job.

At the First Caribbean Tourist Safety Conference Peter Tarlow said the following:

“Aruba should invest a lot of money in the promotion of the safety on the island.  Aruba had done nothing to brush up her image after the Holloway-affair.  At least, I haven’t seen that.  I have only heard the negative aspect of it. Do not hide the affair, but show actively how safe it can be for a tourist to walk on the beach here for example”.

 

It takes only one incident to damage the image of a safe island for a long time and that’s what the disappearance of the American teenager did to Aruba.Police officers went on strike this morning and left the police station.

One wonders which is worse, the fact that the Aruban government does not want to pay for a recourse that goes hand in hand with the protection of not only Arubans and tourists, but their economy as well. Or the fact that the police just selfishly walked off the job and jeopardized island safety. Do these people not comprehend that they are one tourist crime away from never seeing tourism come back for a generation?

All it would take is one more tragic incident against an American tourist in Aruba and they can all but kiss away any promises of hotels coming to Aruba, let alone tourists. What are they thinking that they would allow police to walk off the job and that the police would actually do such a thing?

Amigoe; June 19, 2006: Walk-out by police

ARUBA – The police corps of Aruba walked-out this morning because they are not satisfied with the policy of the government.  They were told that from now on, overtime will be paid partially.  In the past two weeks, police union SPA has been asking Justice-minister Rudy Croes (MEP) on numerous occasions to explain this decision and the idea behind it.  Up till today, Croes has not reacted on the request and this was enough reason for the union to call a meeting with its members.

SS Aruba: Avoided and Iceberg and Hit American Tourism Justice

As with most iceberg, its not what you see above the water line that causes the damage.

(Vanderbilt – ‘06)

Natalee Holloway went missing May 30, 2005. Since then Aruba tried to downplay the initial story as they must so others to protect their coveted tourism. Between downplaying or purposely not properly investigating the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, Aruba has made more mistakes and mis-steps that has cost them their so beholden tourism.

Read more

Amigoe: Ahata and Dumfries (MEP) fight over room tax

The the friction in Aruba keeps getting worse and worse. Now they are battling over who is to get the reduced tax dollars for their use. The AHATA, Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association wants to  use 3% of the proceeds from room tax without it being disbursed to the Aruban government first.

All these issues caused because the could not take the investigation of an American teenager seriously. Now they must pay the piper.

ARUBA — Aruba Hotel And Tourism Association (Ahata) regrets the statements of parliamentarian Dirk Dumfries (MEP) about the room tax.  According to Dumfries, Ahata is planning to take the proceeds of the room tax away from the government.  Ahata denies this in a press release.  “All we want to do is manage part of the room tax, not take it away.” 

According to Dumfries, hotel guests pay 7 percent room tax, and Ahata says that the room tax percentage is 6.  This room tax goes into the treasury.  Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) promotes Aruba abroad and the government finances ATA’s work. 

Ahata as well as ATA are trying to boost up Aruba’s image gains, after it was affected by the negative publicity around the disappearance of Natalee Holloway.  And we have to do this, says Ahata, because the number of tourists has dropped.  Such marketing campaign cost about 12 million dollars and ATA’s budget is 4.5 million dollars max. 

During a consultation with Tourism-minister Edison Briesen, Ahata suggested to manage 3 percent of the room tax, so that the marketing money can be available sooner that when the government has to decide on this first.  Ahata said that it wants to manage the money, but that Briesen will be responsible for the spending of the budget. 

Dumfries was present during this consultation and was positive about the plan. Therefore, Ahata does not understand why Dumfries call the plan a devil’s plan now and thinks that Ahata wants to take money away from the government.

Aruban Police Threaten Walk Out; “One Happy Island”

Aruban Police threaten Walk Out

These are the slow trickling effects of individual choice not to travel to an island because of the manner in how they handled the investigation of the Natalee Holloway disappearance and the victims family. The effects of a decline in tourism were never going to happen overnight. However, once they took hold, it is a long road back if ever.

Now the police are walking off the job. Or at least threatening to. I am sure this will give tourists an even greater reason to feel safe traveling to Aruba. I guess no one was listening at the “First Caribbean Tourist Safety Conference” the other day.

Aruba should invest a lot of money in the promotion of the safety on the island.  Aruba had done nothing to brush up her image after the Holloway-affair.  At least, I haven’t seen that.

(Click on picture for larger image to read article)

(AM Digital)

Instead the answer is not to pay the police and have them walk off the job. Heaven help your country if one more bad thing happens to a tourist while police are no where to be found.

Once again we will show the very first post ever done my Scared Monkeys on the disappearance of a then unknown Mountain Brook, AL teenager.

This Can’t Be Good For Tourism, Where’s Natalee Holloway

Once the rock starts rolling down the hill, its awfully hard to stop.