LET'S START HITTIN' THE MAILBOX!

*Both letters written by Richard, Aruban Boycott Contributor.


I want to thank Richard for his great letters and effort he has put in to this cause. He was the second person to contact me when I started my blog, and he's still fighting with me. Thanks for the letters, articles, ideas and everything else Richard. Keep up the great work. I hope the words in your letters inspire others to write as well.


February 11, 2007

The Hon. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C St., NW
Washington, DC 20520


Dear Madam Secretary Rice:


I am writing to ask about our national readiness to protect American citizens abroad.


Allow me to allude to some recent actions on the part of other governments. Mr. Peter MacKay, Canadian minister of foreign affairs, recently went to Mexico in the wake of assaults on several Canadian tourists. Mr. MacKay evidently demanded and received assurances that action will be taken, including a possible request for Canadian assistance.


More recently, in the face of a horrid and savage assault on three of its nationals in Cape Verde, the Italian foreign ministry sent a diplomat from its Senegal embassy to ensure that prompt and effective action would be taken on their behalf. This effort succeeded: within days, Cape Verde announced that three people had been arrested in this tragedy.


It appears that some governments are prepared to assert interest in the well-being of their citizens abroad. Why, then, is our own government inert on this matter in the Caribbean?


In March 1998, Amy Bradley, an American citizen, vanished from a cruise ship docked at Curacao. There continue to be reported sightings of her in conditions of duress, yet our government appears to be indifferent. Nearly two years after Natalee Holloway vanished, Aruba continues to deny her family even the semblance of an honest investigation, and the Dutch, who have assumed control of the case, are sluggish. The family of Joel Gove, who in December vanished on Saba, in the Netherlands Antilles, is struggling to fund a search that should be the joint responsibility of the local government and of the Dutch.


The World Factbook puts the population of Cape Verde at 418,000 last year; with only 72,000 people, Aruba could act at least as quickly. Clearly the inability of Aruba to make progress in the Natalee Holloway case reflects nothing more than a lack of will to do so – or, perhaps, a will not to do so. As Americans provide 80% of Aruban tourists, it has an incentive to be obliging. Perhaps Canada and Italy provide a useful model to follow.


Sincerely,

/s/Richard




February 11, 2007

Mr. Alec Sanguinetti
Director General and Chief Executive
Caribbean Hotel Association
2655 Lejeune Road, Suite 910
Coral Gables, FL 33134

Mr. Vincent Vanderpool Wallace
Secretary General
Caribbean Tourism Organization
80 Bond St., 32nd floor
New York, NY 10004


Gentlemen:

I am writing to you in the understanding that you will serve as the initial co-chairmen of the Caribbean Tourism Development Company, a newly founded private firm dedicated to promoting tourism, and possibly related activities, in the Caribbean region. If I am in error, please pardon my mistake and forward this letter on to the appropriate person.


Although your group has been generated by the Caribbean Hotel Association and the Caribbean Tourism Organization, my understanding is that the CTDC will be a for-profit entity. As such, it will be reliant on the good will of those customers it seeks to serve. Certainly, in the last analysis, the opinion of the individual “retail” client is what matters.


Where the island of Aruba is concerned, the individual client has expressed his opinion. Tourism there has plunged and shows no signs of improving. The Aruban media fret and whine about this state of affairs, but do not address the cause: The American public, who had provided eighty percent of Aruba tourism, will not visit an island whose government continues to support the cover-up of a crime against an American citizen. In this instance I am of course referring to Natalee Holloway, who vanished on Aruba on May 30, 2005.


Indeed, the whole Netherlands Antilles seems to be under somewhat of a cloud. You will recall the disappearance of Amy Bradley in March 1998 from a cruise ship docked at Curacao. Sightings of Amy Bradley in an apparent condition of duress continue to be reported in the Caribbean. Likewise, the family of Joel Gove, who vanished on Saba in December, faces the burden of organizing a search effort that authorities there should do. You may ask the reason for my raising these matters, given that you do not presume to be a law enforcement agency. My purpose is to suggest that you are in a unique position to act boldly and demonstrate your integrity in championing the interests of your clients.


To my knowledge, no organization in the Caribbean has raised its voice in support of the Holloway Twitty family, the Bradley family, or the Gove family. Americans are left to wonder who will represent their interests should misfortune befall them in the Caribbean and why American families must mount searches for loved ones in a foreign country in the face of hostility and contempt from the very governments that seek to attract tourists.


Were your organization to take the lead in this matter by announcing that you will not represent Aruba or the other Netherlands Antilles islands until they take action to provide answers in these tragedies, it would provide a reassuring sign that someone, somewhere in the Caribbean is committed to the interests of visitors. Promoting safety is a basic step in promoting tourism, and when, as in the case of Aruba, the welfare of visitors is shown to be supported by nothing but a cynical sneer, the public will react accordingly.


Mr. Allen Chastanet has said: “The Caribbean is one brand, and we all live and die by this brand.” Unfortunately, the saying that a chain is but as strong as its weakest link must be invoked here. The moral stench of Aruba may yet spread beyond its own shores to drag down its neighbors in its own decay. There also are signs that governments may be taking a greater role in supporting their citizens abroad: in Mexico and Cape Verde, the Canadian and Italian governments respectively have made diplomatic representations recently on behalf of their citizens who were assaulted as tourists. The silence of the U.S. government, so far, in the cases cited above shames all Americans, but it too may change.


Allow me to conclude by urging, again, that you speak out on behalf of these families who are facing hostile or indifferent governments. The specters of terrorism, narcotics trafficking, and crime already threaten: indeed, Australia has formally warned its citizens, with regard to next month’s ICC Cricket World Cup, about the dangers of the Caribbean. Surely your organization will understand the value of a voice that speaks for justice and fair play. No such voice can be heard in Aruba today. I call upon you to fill this void.


Sincerely,

/s/Richard