An Open Letter To Aruba

I have been nothing but objective, supportive and understanding as regards the tiny island of Aruba as it wrestles with a tremendous problem. As is likely the case with many reasonable Americans and citizens of the world, watching what has been happening on the island of Aruba has called for tremendous patience, understanding and maybe even a certain kindness.

As for the particulars of any investigation, I leave judgment to those far more experienced in such things. As a business person, I understand the need to balance the books with ones public image. But I have also been watching for a week or two now as a very, very troubling development has begun to appear on the island.

Questions have been coming from the island during that period of time, about Natalee Holloway. Fair enough, though I would point out to my Caribbean friends that as things stand, you honestly do have far more questions of a serious nature to answer than to ask just now.

Recently, at least one media outlet has been consistently inquiring as to Natalee's friends. Who are/were her boyfriends? How many were her boyfriends? And today it is my understanding that this media outlet not only asked these questions, but also believes it somehow has a right to demand answers from Natalee Holloway's family. And you broadcast this on the air?

America is kind, Aruba, but she is not naive. There can be only one extremely self serving rationale behind such questions being asked in the public media at this time, especially as all ethical and reliable media can easily validate the honorable truth. Natalee was a high school student and a vibrant, good hearted young woman of more than average or reasonable moral character. Period.

Now, you have your answers, just as many of us already have the pertinent facts, which frankly are far too worthy to be hurled into the middle of this confounding mix.

Might she be capable of a mistake? A misjudgment? I suppose. But then who isn't? And really, who cares? But these troubling questions I and now apparently many others have begun to hear, questions which can only hope to serve one rather pathetic and singular purpose, as they serve no valuable role in this tragedy - they will not give anyone meaningful answers, Aruba. They will only serve to focus the attention of America, and perhaps even a larger portion of the world upon your seeming inability to answer the very many valid questions sitting as yet unanswered and squarely upon your island's beaches today.

My friends in Aruba, America might forgive a certain incompetence, or, God forbid maybe even some corruption as regards this still on going investigation. And Aruba likely would endure the damage to its reputation should it come to be that America and some others in the world conclude that your system of policing needs some attention and possibly refinement, if not outright improvement.

Of course, all this is assuming you wish to continue to be a playground of sorts for the world, and most particularly for that piece of it that is American.

But, be careful, Aruba. In terms of legal issues and public perception, if there is anything America detests more than seeing the guilty go free, it is seeing the innocent dragged down into the mud, in this case the mud of a rock and sand island we really could manage to do fine without, should a significant portion of our population so choose.

I'd suggest you think very carefully as to whether or not you want to make a similar admittedly bold statement as regards America, or more factually her tourist dollars, before you begin asking too many unnecessary questions while America is looking upon you to provide some straightforward and increasingly overdue answers.

Update: For those posting the ridiculous reaction that "all questions are relevant in this case." It would be best if you thought some prior to posting. 1) A caveat of the Dutch system is that investigative information cannot be made public, therefore 2) Any public media attempt to smear the reputation of an apparent victim cannot in any manner be defended as "part" of an invetsigation, and 3) Even if it were so, then why, as stated by P v d Sloot last night, did authorities not even "interrogate" him during his brief detention, but only take a statement?

If you would advocate "interrogating" a young victims reputation publically in a manner that can only be defined as a smear campaign, yet, not complain at the failure of the Aruban police to interrogate a, in their own words, potentenial suspect privately while he is in detention - you either lack wisdom, judgment, or a reasonably clear view of the dynamics of this case.

Lastly, nowhere have I ever advocated that Aruban authorities do "less" in a situation where many are coming to the conclusion that they have been doing far too little far too late thus far. If you cannot distinguish between misguided public relations and an investigation, hopefully you never take up the law, or serious argument around it.

Comments

[Diane]

Very early on I posted there would be huge international implications due to this case. Many Dutch websites posted nasty suggestive photos and comments early on. American students in Australia are being sent home due to severe harassment.There is a pervasive dislike of Americans that I see when the dutch representitives appear on TV. A total lack of compassion. I don't feel this from the Aruban people, but from the government officials. How they can watch what this mother is going thru and be so uncooperative
is heartless.
There needs to be a co-ordinated effort to put pressure on the Dutch government via other European countries and our own government. A letter and email campaign, first to our representitives and then to European publications. The G8 Summit is in a week. Raise holy hell before they meet.

[Phil]

A few years ago I was in BVIs and staying on the main island of Tortola. One morning I decieded to take a water taxi to Virgin Gorda to spend a day at the caves. Once there I noticed a very strong current in the water, being a good swimmer I still decieded it was bit too risky to go swimming since there were many rocks that I could be slammed up against.

The current did not stop the Italians that came on a cruise ship in the morning from snorkling in the waters around the caves. All of the sudden I heard a call for help (in Italian)and they rushed a unconsiouness person on the beach and began giving him CPR. Did you know that it took the emergency Zodiac with the paramedics 1-1/2 hour to get there from Tortola (15 minutes away)they were on another call! They were still giving him CPR as they arrived but he was dead a long time before that.

I guess what I'm saying is, that these Islands and other small countries do not work the same as United States. What we take for granted here- prompt emergency service, health care, police security...has a different priority on the islands.

My best friend who is a MD has always told me "when traveling outside the country, go in good health, keep a low profile and by all means don't do anything dangerous, you're not in the States".

[Johan]

In any good investigation all possibilities are explored, and the insinuations and threatening tone of this open letter is uncalled for. I'm sure you can do better than this.

[Mary]

SL.....
I have not heard any of those rumors if that is what they are. Only something about them washing the car but not sure when that was either. Wish i coudl help maybe someone else remembers. This has been going on for so long and so much has been said. It would take hours maybe even days...to read through all the info (archieves) on this site.

[Mary]

Johan..Dan can say whatever he wants. This is his blog you know.

[izzy]

Dan, thanks for your comments, I wholeheartedly agree. I am weary of seeing people trash Natalee's reputation with speculation that she was drunk, took drugs, enticed Joran into a sexual liaison, and/or ran away in order to take the heat off of Aruba and of course the Van der Sloots. This is classic "trash the victim" tactics, ruthlessly and cruelly pursued while Natalee's parents are going through the worst kind of hell while desperately trying to find her. I have vacationed in the Caribbean the past three summers but am unlikely to ever choose Aruba as a vacation destination if this keeps up.

[The Dutch Built Harlem]

To Diane:

Diane wrote: "There is a pervasive dislike of Americans that I see when the dutch representitives appear on TV. A total lack of compassion."

What a nonsense Diane.
That's so not true.

[Johan]

Mary, yes, of course he can say whatever he wants. But he also allows people to give their comments about what he says (and I thank him for it), and I happen to strongly disagree with him about this open letter.

[The Dutch Built Harlem]

@ MARY:

tip: Use the CTRL+F keys in order to find shit quickly.

[Mary]

It is quite "obvious" the goverment there is totally corupted. Drugs, gambaling always lead to coruption. Wonder how the elections will turn out. Keep in mind if the boys are held 60 days this next go round of hearings (which i think they will unless someone decided to tell the truth, and then you would not know whetehr to beleive it or not. lol ) they want be going back to court again til September. That is when the elections are. All the campaining will be surrounding this case. Can you imagine that ?
Hmmm

[The Dutch Built Harlem]

Johan I agree with you.

Dan needs to back up a little.
It is all pure speculation. NOBODY DOES NO SHIT.

Take Steve Croes, the innocent party boat DJ who has now lost his job due to all this bullshit. What about that? What about his 2 year old little daughter?

[izzy]

Phil, so true. Last year I had the misfortune to be injured in a car accident in St. Maarten. (The accident was no fault of my own; a tractor-trailer with an unsecured load of cinder blocks, bald tires, and bad brakes lost control coming down the hill toward my rental car, with the result that my car was slammed into a retaining wall by a mountain of cinder blocks.) My friends and I were taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and I can tell you that the medical care was apalling -- I would call it barely adequate. Thank goodness none of us (five in our group) had a serious injury. This was the headline story in St. Maarten's newspaper the next day, and the underlying theme seemed to be thank God a tourist wasn't killed in this accident, because we don't want that kind of bad publicity. Something else for certain Arubans to ponder....

[Mary]

Well, well, Steve deserved to loose his damn job
"if he made it all up" .Who wants a liar working for them. Ha ha ha. Maybe he should get a job doing investigative reporting. lol.

[NJTourist]

Forever stay away from Aruba. Well said Dan!! The Coverup is LOUD and CLEAR!!!!!

I have heard Bermuda is nice this time of the year.

[The Dutch Built Harlem]

@ Mary

haha lol

i like your sense of humour.
i like you as a person.
i just like you...come here...come here baby

[P in S.E. Asia]

I think as a result of want of quick or tardied as the case may be, resolution to this mess, people are stuck on one possible victim and wont be interested in anythign else.

Oh how i woud love at the end of this all for this Joran kid to be innocent. Then again some have already made up their minds that if he walks then this has been a big cover up.

Will this kid ever have a 'irie' life after this?

[izzy]

"The Dutch Built Harlem" -- you'd better come up with a better example than Steve Croes, who for some inexplicable reason went to the police with a false cover story and lied to protect complete strangers. That's if you believe his story, which really defies logic. Whether you believe him or not, he brought this on himself. Perhaps you can comfort yourself with the thought that he is no doubt being richly compensated by certain tabloid journalists willing to pay for his story.

[GC]

Aruba is not Singapore, and for that matter it is not the United States of America! And that is tragic in this case!

[Mary]

LOL

[The Dutch Built Harlem]

@ Izzy

hmm, didnt look at it that way mate.
I agree with you know. he should be kicked to death :)
hey are u Izzypillz from the other forum mate?

[Johan]

I'm getting so tired of these people screaming "this is a cover-up, this is a cover-up!" Maybe cover-ups are happening all the time where these people live, but Aruba is part of a country where the government is so civilized, the would not even know of to cover it up if they wanted to! Also, stop thinking that all foreigners hate Americans - it's sooo easy and sooo ignorant.

[Mary]

P in S.E. Asia , Joran's life ended when he did whatever he did to Natalle and tried to cover up his wrong doings. No, no matter how it turns out in the end. His life will never be the same. If he walks , well, he better watch his back, too.
Whatever he did, all he needs to do is come clean. I doubt he even told his father the "real" truth. It was a damn lie too!
He is a coward.

[izzy]

P. in S.E. Asia -- Natalee Holloway has been missing for over a month, Joran Van der Sloot amazingly had a false cover story prepared to explain what happened after they left the night club BEFORE anybody ever asked him about Natalee....and you're worried about whether Joran will have a life after this? Any concern about Natalee's life, or that of her family?

[Mary]

The coverup will COME FULL CIRCLE when elections come around. The voters on the island know what is going on. Just watch what happens in September. Stay turned ! It will be fun to watch.

[izzy]

The Dutch Built Harlem -- no, that is not me. Hey, no need to kick Steve Croes to death, but he probably should be prosecuted for going to police with a complete lie. If Aruba doesn't have a law against that, perhaps they need to make one!

[Fairnbalanced]

If the goal is to find Natalee, I don't see why there are any questions that should not be asked, or any people who should not be questioned if they could have any insight into situations or people that might have troubled, frightened or hurt her.

[Loydd]

In the Netherlands, whenever a child is reoprted missing, the first thing they do is thouroughly question the parents and do a full search in the parents house to exclude any envolvement of the parents.

Maybe in the States it is normal to never question the parent, I think though that Aruba authorities should have done the parents and backgrounds all the way from the beginning and not after other other trails seems to go dead.

For those that think that this whole case is a big cover-up whith connections all the way to ever person living on Aruba...wake up and smell the coffee..turn off your VHS tapes and start to realise that you have a real world outside those hollywood conspiracies theories.

[Johan]

Fairnbalanced - exactly!

[Mary]

The whole island should be locked up and questioned. That would be a gasp. They should knock on every door check out every house on the island. No telling what else they may find. Hmmmmmm.

[art]

Diane- "There is a pervasive dislike of Americans that I see when the dutch representitives appear on TV. A total lack of compassion.
There needs to be a co-ordinated effort to put pressure on the Dutch government via other European countries and our own government."

Pressure to do what? Being more compassionate? You must be nuts.

[Tanya]

Excellent post Dan. My hat goes off to you. Thank you for this site

[art]

Mary the next Hitler...

[Mary]

Where is Natalee.? Give her up. Let her go. Someone knows what happened. Speak now. Tell the damn truth for once in your life. !!

[izzy]

Loydd -- In the US it is much the same, police would start with the parents and friends when investigating a missing child. Perhaps you are not fully comprehending what Dan wrote -- he is disturbed that certain elements of the media (presumably Aruban) are starting to focus on the Holloways and Natalee and her classmates as a diversionary tactic to take the heat off of Aruba. And this is happening over a month after Natalee disappeared; presumably the Aruban LE has already done their own investigation into Natalees family and classmates and does not need the help of the Aruban media.

[Mary]

Art is Hitler's Love child.
You starve now.

[sleekdad]

VERY well said...my friend Dan.

Aruba is under the microscope and its future will be as it chooses.

[Jacque]

Applause Dan, Applause!

[true justice]

Johan - I have looked upon you as the one true, sane person in Holland until now, but even you are letting your bias show now and starting to slip. We ask that YOU be fairbalanced! The boys were the last seen with her. They have lied (documented over and over again). And they have gotten others to lie for them. (The innocent can tell the truth. They don't have to lie. Only the guilty have to lie and then lie again and then lie again.) The Aruban government is NOT fair. It is a corrupt, puppet government run by the Mafia. That is a known fact. Wherever you have gambling you have the Mafia. They have a world-wide monopoly on the trade. Do not let your emotions guide you. Aruba and the Dutch so do not want to look at themselves in the mirror that they are resorting to backhanded tactics in this whole affair. All we want is the girl back. That should be easy enough. Why does Aruba want the girl so badly? The obvious answer is her return would expose all the corruption and crime in that "peaceful" island. Please, Johan, at least keep your eyes open. It would be nice to know that there is one decent person left in Holland, because the ones posting here sure have not been. Don't let your country down. Do not slink into the nastiness of your other compatriots on this and other blogs.

[AkekoaHoAlethia]

Thanks Dan,

It makes me wonder if there is any investigative reporter (Greta?) who would be so bold and honest enough to do a story on the deepth of influences that have, from the beginning, taken this case away from the simple fact that a young girl is missing and presumed to be (indeed, most likely is) "a body that cannot be found."

It is the one glaring FACT in this case that looms over the second significant FACT that Natalee could reveal crucial answers if she were discovered.

It seems the perpetrators have hung themselves to an even greater degree by refusing (or making it impossible altogether) to reveal that evidence now. "No body - no evidence." By covering ONE crime by one person, MANY crimes have been commited by a conspiracy of unknown numbers.

Instead of ONE person in prison, MANY are now, and more will be put behind the bars of disrepute at the least, and even scorn, contempt and utter disgust at the broadest levels. Even a whole contry is suffering. It's not only that ONE life was lost in a moment, but that MANY will suffer extensively.

All this for the sake of a pathetic, arrogant attempt to "stand up."

Or is it "COVER OVER," with false fingers pointing to a smoldering pot of evasion?

[tideroller]

Congrats Dan - You said it and you said like a gentleman!

[Ace_TX]

Why'd Steve Croes feel the need to go on Nancy Grace yesterday, dude looked really stupid when Greta stuck that mic into his car and asked some basic questions which he couldn't even answer properly... He apparently doesn't know any of the suspects and just randomly decided to go to the police to assist them, yet he said yesterday that the 'polis' picked em up at night with nothing but his boxers on... why does everyone feel the need to lie about everything..hmmm?

[Dutch]

Every body in this blog: please get a life. I am sure there is no crime in the US, no coverups, and no missing persons..... Fools

[Dutch]

Joran is probably saying: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".... Sounds familiar?

[sto]

True Justice - The americans on this blog are not the smartest either, you must be naive to pass judgements on a whole country based on people visiting this blog.

[Harp]

To true justice: Wherever you have gambling you have the Mafia.
**Well LA is the biggest one

[joyce]

Bring in the mother - Mrs. VDS for questioning - put her in jail for the "hold" session and I think they would cave. I hate to do that to that mom because I do believe that she loves and (blindly) believes in her son and husband. However, I don't think she has the strong, evil disposition her husband and her son have. She must know something by this point.

joyce :(

[Harp]

izzy wrote:he is disturbed that certain elements of the media (presumably Aruban) are starting to focus on the Holloways and Natalee and her classmates as a diversionary tactic to take the heat off of Aruba.
**What it does not feel good to if the issue is turned around....I mean they have focus all the time on the v/d Sloot family and the 2 brother and did not find any thing. We all know that is what the police had been doing up to now. But if you don't find any thing in that direction, any good police force would know they will have to look else where and that is what they are doing. thought the direction the case is turn is not what some would like to see. WHY????

[Johan]

true justice - thanks for the kind words. I do agree with you that the suspects have a lot to explain, but before the truth it out, I won't slaughter them yet. This is just the way both our systems work (and gladly so!) I for one do not think the Aruban government is very corrupt (may be just a little - seems to come with the geography) or even capable of covering up a case like this, and I hope I will never have to admit that I was wrong. I too hope that the case will be resolved soon, and so do most other Dutch people that know about this case, you can be sure about that.

[AkekoaHoAlethia]

Dear Mr. Dutch,
Ther Is crime. People get away with it. There is no justice.
THAT'S the problem.

[Flying Dutchman]

@true justice

Can't you accept, that othere people might have other views.

Over the past weeks I've seen one theory after another on this site.

It is clear, we can not exclude anything because then we might be overlooking the real issues needed to solve this case.

As hard as it may sound to you, there is always the possibility that some wrongdoing was done by an US citizen.

You stated: They have lied (documented over and over again). Documented by the media and blogs you mean. If the Aruban judicial system works as it should work, none of the things, the suspects have said in hearings will have been made public.
So we can't be 100 % sure, if the things the supposed to have told, is realy what they told.

I'm not saying, that any of the suspects is guilty or not, but until the case is made public, we don't know anything for sure.

I think there might be corruption within the Aruban government and justice department (as is within every governmental institute where certain people are given certain powers, even in th US), but they allow American search parties to search the island, etc.
American media has gotten free access to the island to conduct inquiries and to investigate the case.
So I do not have the idea they are blocking the investigation in some way, they're just extending it (which is good imo).