Aruba, One Safe Island … Crime … Island Caribbean Paradise or Inner City, You Decide

It is billed as One Happy and Safe Island yet lately Aruba has resembled nothing more than a typical inner city with the crimes being committed. Drug arrests, murders, robberies and an abundance of traffic deaths one has to wonder what is going on in this tiny Caribbean Island. For many years Aruba prided itself on not being this way. Crimes existed on other islands. No longer. Places where people vacation are not supposed to be like inner cities. It is supposed to be a vacation.The travel agents may want to add an addendum to their brochures to warn tourists.

Maybe this is partially because the Aruban police consistently bring a knife to a gun fight, metaphorically speaking. Is it a standard practice to continually not arrest criminals due to a lack of evidence? There seems to be a pattern. It was not just Joran Van der Sloot who was released for lack of evidence in the case of missing Natalee Holloway. Interestingly enough, criminals always find a way to stay in trouble with the law.

 … chief of police Peter de Witte didn’t want to say yet whether the police had indeed run up against a criminal network during a routine action.

The in Colombia born Hernan Tobias Quiñonez Villareal, popular as ‘El Flaco’, was guilty of several drug- and violent crimes.  He has been arrested before, but not convicted due to lack of evidence. 

Suspect in the shooting tragedy still on the run (Amigoe: 4/28/2008)

Police officers carrying off the body of the 38-years old marksman ‘El Flaco’.

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The Legacy of Natalee Holloway … Safe Travels for Years to Come & Aruba has been Branded

Aruba’s loss is a college students gain. The disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005 has not been forgotten. The memory and legacy of Natalee Holloway will be that future teens and college age students will be taught the risks of traveling abroad. Safe travels aboard does not necessarily target Aruba as the only unsafe place to travel; however, it has become the poster island for safety abroad and has been branded. However, in the case of Natalee Holloway it is not just a message of traveling safe while on vacation, it’s a message of what could potentially happen with an investigation afterword’s in a foreign land.

As long as safety abroad is taught and Natalee Holloway’s name is referenced so will Aruba. The two have become synonymous and Aruba’s bad PR clock will never stop ticking. In America, a human life is more important than tourism.

Waits said she likes to think Natalee is at Auburn now though, since has spent the last two years looking at safety guidelines for students traveling abroad for the foundation Beth Holloway founded in her daughter’s memory — the International Safe Travels Foundation.

“When I paid attention to Natalee’s case, what I saw was a young girl,” Waits said. “I saw every young person.”

Like Beth Holloway, Waits didn’t want to see anything like what happened to Natalee happen again. And, at the time, she needed a research topic for graduate school.

Waits decided to look into how aware students are of safety guidelines when traveling. Her research has become the curriculum Beth Holloway shares with traveling students across the country. Waits said it was first introduced to Auburn students studying abroad last spring.

“Students are pretty confident before they leave,” she said, but, when she asks them about the process of say, court proceedings, in their destination country, they are at a loss.

“No one can say what happens over there,” Waits said. “It’s not their fault though. They’ve just never been told.”

“Beth experienced this. She went through it,” Waits said. “She wants to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” (OA Now)

RED Reports Against Premier Nelson Oduber & Minister of Tourism and Transport Edison Briesen … Accountability, Forgery & Bribery?

Corruption in government in Aruba? Say it isn’t so. So says Rudy Lampe and Armand Hessels of RED. Supposedly Prime Minister Nelson Oduber and Minister of Tourism and transport, Edison Briesen, are being accused of violations of the accountability act, forgery and possible bribery. So the thought is brought to mind, how does a tourist who has a crime committed against them get a fair shot of justice then?

Party-leader Rudy Lampe of opposition party RED and his fellow party member Armand Hessels reported violation of the accountability act and forgery in the harbour project in Aruba against Premier Nelson Oduber (MEP) and his fellow party member Minister of Tourism and transport, Edison Briesen, with the Public Prosecutor (OM) on Monday afternoon.  According to RED, there is supposedly also bribery involved.

RED reports against Premier Oduber and Minister Briesen  (Amigoe: 4/22/2008)

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Labor Strike Continues in Aruba … Who Does it Really Hurt & What Must Tourists Think?

The labor strikes continue in Aruba, but ultimately who is being hurt by the protests? A strike is generally not supposed to hurt the very people that it is intended to help. A protest for higher wages destroying the very economy where the wages are derived. What a concept. Does anyone is Aruba not think that is a tourist was inconvenienced in any manner during their vacation that they will have anything good to say? Arubans are obviously unfamiliar with the concept that when an individual goes to a restaurant and has a good meal they tell a friend, when they have a bad meal, they tell 10.

A number of teachers indicated that they want to resume the classes for the students that need to take exams.  Vice-chair of Simar Anna Tromp said that she can understand that.  Several other teachers also indicated that they want to go back and prepare their students for their First Holy Communion. 

Hear no Evil, See no Evil and Speak no Evil Scared Monkeys in Houston, TX  at the Houston Travel Show standing with the girl and “Justice for Natalee”

One thing is for certain with the on going protests, strikes and boycotts taking place in Aruba … No one can say that individuals who protest for “Justice for Natalee” do not have a right to do so and that they behave themselves better than those striking in Aruba. The right to peacefully demonstrate is one of the corner stones of American Democracy.

Unions talk with governor (Amigoe: 4/21/2008)

The entrance of the Government Building was seriously damaged by fireworks this weekend.

ORANJESTAD – The demonstrating union members that gathered at DOW at the L.G. Smith Boulevard this morning, have blocked the entrance of the container harbour again.  The blockade was lifted when the lawyer of Aruba Ports Authority gave the demonstrators a letter, pointing out the illegality of the blockade.  The unions now hope that governor Fredis Refunjol will mediate in the long-term labour dispute.  The governor has met with the unions this afternoon.

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Post Natalee Holloway … Parents Get the Message, Teens Unfortunately Do Not Understand Responsibility Still

There is a reason why they say youth is wasted on the young. Mainly because the youth, mainly teens just do not comprehend the complexities and in some cases the common sense of safety. In a post Aruba/Natalee Holloway world one would think that teens would learn from another’s misfortune.

What has happened to this generation of teens and their utter lack of responsibility? And for those that claim its the same from generation to generation, it is not. The You Tube Teens are out of control and seem to have no responsibility for their actions.

A message to teens and college age kids … learn from the story of Natalee Holloway who went missing in Aruba. For those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it.

There was a recent Spring Break poll done by Mom•Logic Investigation: Spring Break Confessions.

It’s understandable that 70% of parents were more anxious about what would happen to their children at spring break because of the Natalee Holloway disappearance. But only about 30% of teens admitted Natalee Holloway’s story impacted decisions they made–which is truly scary.