Aruba is the very southern most part of the Caribbean only 50 miles north of the coast of Venezuela, it is part of three islands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, all former Dutch colonies,
I've been to Aruba and of all the Caribbean Islands I have ever been to I've never felt more safe, the people are friendly, clean organized island, etc, very small island
someone called into Scarborough Country and said he met the security guard they arrested, he said the guy was a great guy, warm and friendly, he would kid around with the man's seven year old, we thought all the staffers were friendly without being aggressive as they can be in other locales...
crikey I went clubbing with one of the bartenders and a wacko couple from Canada, the couple from Canada were the nutjobs - long story short the wife was freaking out because hubby and bartender left the bar for about an hour, I now realize hubby and bartender went out to score some drugs, I was of the mind, hey they are 2 men, nothing to worry about, we're in walking distance of our hotel, they'll be back, let's keep dancing, lots of cute guys here....
now my sister has been several times and she did get see a seamier side to Aruba on her last trip because she and her friend were hanging out with the water sports guy at her hotel, he was a Dutchman (we got Dutch blood) now this guy was also a drug dealer on the side and he took them to bars where perhaps the tourists don't hang out and some of the guys there were very aggressive but they weren't Arubian, they were South American....it was Carnavale that week so Aruba was packed with people from all over..now what my sister did say is she didn't fully appreciate until that last trip how the drugs were flowing on that otherwise safe island, I'm wondering if Natalee OD'd on something, died and someone panicked and dumped the body...that's my guess
now also on Scarborough Country, someone raised the question of why the FBI is there, tourists go missing all the time and the FBI is not called in and some were questioning how this case rates the FBI, given the FBI is already stretched, the speculation is we are not getting all of the story and one wonders whether this is a kidnapping situation, the family spokesperson, who wouldn't talk about the FBI, did say the family was still hopeful this girl was alive and would be found...
now why is that? after a week and some arrests - is it just denial or do they know something they aren't sharing? and yet the search parties continue?
is it me or does the mother seem awful calm considering the situation?
The Aruba government is very friendly to the United States...Their economy is dependent on the US...
The major hotels are owned and run by US corporations...The island's refinery is owned and run by the Valero Corporation. When you leave Aruba, you go through US Customs on the island, not when you arrive back in the states...So US governement employees are based there....Also I have seen Navy E-2s sitting on the tarmac at the Aruba airport...So military personnel are at least temporarily based there!
No wonder the Aruba government wants to find this girl...They do not need the bad publicity in the US....