Posted on 11/09/2005 7:29:11 AM PST by smartin
AMSTERDAM — The government of Aruba wants US President George W. Bush to intervene to stop a tourist boycott of the autonomous Dutch island in the Caribbean.
Alabama governor Bob Riley called for a nationwide travel boycott of Aruba because he accuses the island authorities of not fully cooperating in the search for missing Alabama school graduate Natalee Holloway (18).
Natalee's mother, Beth Holloway-Twitty, joined Riley for the announcement of the boycott. Riley asked his fellow governors to join him in urging the boycott of Aruba, CNN reported on Tuesday. "There are no other alternatives to get Aruban authorities to take this as seriously as they should," he said. Holloway disappeared on 30 May while on holiday in Aruba with classmates. Extensive searches have failed to find her. The police think she was murdered.
A Dutch teenager and two Surinamese brothers are believed to have been the last people with Holloway prior to her disappearance. The three young men were held in custody for some time before being released without a breakthrough in the case.
The parliament on Aruba went into emergency session after the boycott call. Afterwards Prime Minister Nelson Oduber said Aruba wanted the US President to intervene.
"Aruba is not Cuba, North Korea or Iraq. We are friends with America. Most tourists come from the United States and we work together to combat drugs criminality and money laundering," Oduber said angrily.
He wants Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot to seek clarification on the issue from the American Embassy in The Hague. Aruba's representative in Washington will raise the matter directly with the US government. "We want to know if Bush supports this boycott or not," Oduber said.
Tourism figures for the months after Holloway's disappearance do not show a drop in the number of American's visiting the island. Mirna Jansen of Aruba's tourist board noted that US citizens did not appear to be following through on their claims to be less inclined to come to the island..
Forward Operating Locations (FOLs) play a crucial role in permitting U.S. and allied nation interdiction aircraft to be forward deployed closer to cocaine departure points in the Source Zone. They also underscore the multilateral approach to combating the drug problem. With the closure of Howard Air Force Base in Panama in 1997, the establishment of FOLs within the Source and Transit Zones is critical to our ability to implement the National Drug Control Strategy. The United States Government (USG) negotiated long-term agreements for FOLs at Aruba-Curacao, Netherland Antilles; Manta, Ecuador; and Comalapa, El Salvador to compensate for the loss of the runway at Howard Air Force Base. These FOLs support host nation and interagency drug interdiction efforts throughout the Source and Transit Zones.
Development of FOLs
The FOLs are not full scale bases—rather, they are built on existing airfields that, with some modifications, allow US detection and monitoring (D&M) aircraft consistent access into the region. Agreements with the host nations specify which missions may be flown from the FOLs and also authorize Host Nation Riders to fly aboard U.S. aircraft to facilitate in-flight coordination with host nation authorities during operational missions. Some FOLs, such as Manta, Ecuador, required extensive U.S.-funded modifications and upgrades, to ensure that airfield and support facilities, as well as force protection levels, met U.S. standards for safe operation by deployed aircraft and personnel. With the absence of Howard AFB, these FOLs allow the U.S. to effectively maintain its surveillance footprint in the Eastern Pacific, Caribbean, and Latin American regions.
Caribbean FOL (Aruba-Curacao, The Netherlands Antilles)
Aruba-Curacao provides effective, rapid response operations in the northern Source Zone, which includes the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia and the Venezuelan border region, as well as a large part of the Transit Zone. The location provides United States, Dutch, and United Kingdom Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) quick access to Caribbean drug smuggling corridors, where U.S., U.K., French, and Dutch surface vessels are positioned to help interdict air and maritime drug trafficking targets. The formal 10-year access agreement with the Kingdom of the Netherlands was signed in March 2000 and the Netherlands' parliament ratified the agreement in October 2001. Both airfields required pavement improvements and fresh water rinse facilities, as well as additional maintenance and operations buildings. Counterdrug flights were made from these locations, even as improvements were being made. Upon completion of the construction in December of 2002, the Aruba location expanded its capability to support two medium and three small aircraft, while the Curacao FOL provided space for two large, two medium, and six small aircraft.
I'd say that is not the silence you are looking for. What a surprise.
In my area of B.C. I can only recall hearing that two American skiiers were killed in an avalanche. Where was there an American murdered? It must have been in that cesspool of Toronto.
I don't think you are really up on the FACTS in this case. Joran VDS told Natalee and the others that HE was an exchange student who was also staying at the Holiday Inn. When Natalee left with HIM ONLY it was to grab a taxi back to the Holiday Inn. She was NOT aware that VDS had called Deepak and Satish Kalpuke to be their TAXI. Taxi's in Aruba range from a Mercedes to a Honda and everything in between. The only thing that marks them as a taxi is a sticker on the dashboard of the car. You have to be IN the car to even see the sticker. Natalee was NOT aware that she was being taken away by THREE guys who lived in Aruba and who had done this scam many times before.
Natalee had been drugged just before she left Carlos and Charlies. That's why when she was being GANG RAPED by these three PIGS that she was going in and out of consciousness. A great deal of violence must have taken place in the backseat of that car for there to be blood on the seat and the CEILING!! These facts btw were ADMITTED TO by the perps. AGAIN, I see we have "blame the victim for her own death"!!
Absolutely correct. Because there was literally NO investigation by the Aruban authorities and there was a great deal of energy expended by them with COLLUSION, CORRUPTION and COVER UP, the story has touched the hearts of a LOT of people. This is pathetic since they KNEW from the very first day WHO the perps were and yet REFUSED to actively investigate and prosecute the case. Everything they did was token and for public appeasement ONLY. If it were my daughter I would hope that my countrymen would be as outraged as many folks are. I personally will do everything I can to boycott Aruba from here. They do NOT deserve American dollars when they have shown their absolute disdain for justice for one of her daughters. Let the place ROT.
your post #122 - EXACTLY!! well said.
Um not quite 6 months.
Aruba rhymes with Cuba.
Well, genius, what law says that a governor has no right to encourage the citizenry of his state to avoid going to Aruba? It's not a LAW.
President Bush should tell the government of Aruba that he supports the right of our citizens to travel wherever US citizens are welcome. And he supports their right to not travel.
I've never seen a Girls Gone Wild video, but I have seen snippets on infomercials or something on cable tv a few years ago. Is there a video of Natalie and her friends?
I guess I might be tired of her as well if I ever watched tv news. But I don't. I've never even heard her speak. I read the headlines here and try to go right to the news of the day.
That's right Survivor. And can you believe some of the statements being made on this thread? I don't recall ANY of these people being on our regular Natalee Holloway threads can you?
Hi truthluva. You and Survivor - a couple of regulars FINALLY!!
They weren't, as proved by their sanctimonious and haughty statements.
No kidding Rusty. I'm sure that is precisely how they "calculate" their crime rate. They cannot even be honest in that area.
I don't have any comprehension problems, perhaps I read over your post too quickly. Glad we agree!
Thanks so very much for your great posts. Wish I had the time to help you fight this battle. I am with you in spirit.
Yes sir I know about this arrangement with the USA. However, Aruba STILL is one of the places that hosts more drug money laundering by folks such as George Soros etc. and Aruba also has a "free zone" where the ships, planes, etc. are NOT searched thereby permitting the import and export of huge amounts of drugs, mostly cocaine. I'm not sure of exact name of that zone, but I recall one of our regular posters posting an article on it. Regardless of the exact name, the result is the same. Frankly, the Dutch Antilles islands are all involved in the drug, money laundering, and sex trade. In my view, the Dutch have very few morals and I would therefore expect the islands to be rather scummy. However one should also expect that since these islands depend to a great degree on tourist dollars that at least they would make an effort to see that Justice is done when a tourist is murdered. This case has been OPENLY CORRUPT from the very beginning.
President Bush has bigger things to worry about than being part of the Aruba tourist board.
I'm not surprised that President Bush won't take a stand on the boycott. However, people are free to NOT consider Aruba a vacation destination without any governmental position.
In regards to their tourism "statistics", I find it odd that one airline was offering seats to Aruba for $9.00!!
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