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..
Americans enjoy free speech, and the President of the United States supports that freedom. The Governor of Alabama has the freedom to ask that our citizens boycott Aruba. Our citizens have the freedom to choose whether or not they comply with his request.
I sure had my fair well share of WILD DAYS, but I never got into a car with 3 guys I did not know no matter how drunk I was....
Surely you are joking. If anything the girls would think "It won't happen to me."
That's exactly right and that's what makes our country great.
I think you read it that way because you wanted to. I think most would read it as "give up the killers to the rule of law" instead of muddying the waters to prevent it. How on earth did you read extraditing them to the US when the crime happened there?
Everyone thought it was a taxi. They are not marked in Aruba.
enough with this story, enough. Bush does not need to get pulled into the friggin Natalie Holloway case now. This is crazy, just let this go away. any american who wants to boycott Aruba is free to do so, its their personal decision.
Maybe so, where were her friends? where was the Chapperone?
She is with these 3 goonballs in the bar, no reason to get in a car with them.. I am not blaming her but her immaturity and naivety is was got her into this horrible situation...
And Bush should be behind Americans who do.
Not to mention right here in the good ole USA. I'll bet Alabama has more missing teens today than Aruba has had in the last 50 years. By the governor's logic we should boycott Alabama.
Her friends checked on her and also thought she was leaving in a taxi to go back to the Holiday Inn.
LOL..You got that one right!!! if it wasn't for GRETA this story would have died long time ago!
I agree, the boycott is voluntary. The government isn't preventing anyone from going to Aruba if they wish.
I believe there is some evidence, or rumors anyway, that she is still alive, and she was sold to slave traders. There are now private investigators working on it. The governor, I'm sure, is up on all the facts as known with this case. And he is right to call for a boycott.
I don't believe so....She knew those 3 were in that vehicle, that is when she should of bowed out, it's 2:am everyone has been drinking and late nights and drunk people usually produce some things YOU just might not want to happen...
Homicides Happen. Ya know? But the difference here is this woman has not been found. No body. And someone is hiding information about where she is.
And how many others are MISSING???? Newsflash: There are many unsolved murders in the world, should we boycott every country?
yes, yes,- but its still an awful place to be for the Holloways, never knowing what happened to their daughter.
Did Aruba think there wouldn't be a backlash from some, regarding tourism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.