Topic : 01/19 Follow-ups

Boycotting Aruba will not solve anything but make the peoplel living on the island suffer since jobs would be lost and not enough money for the the people support their own families. Plus you Americans accuse the Aruban government for not doing it's job in finding Natalie Holloway and are covering it up when in fact your own government is also doing the same thing by protecting OJ and allowing him to be a free man. American Government is just as corrupt as the Aruban Government. Your Government has done a sloppy job in handeling the OJ case and covering it up.So Before you accuse another country's or Island's government of being corrupt and not doing their job think about how your government is doing it's job to protect your country. Plus it is also ignorant to think that a country will protect it's own tourists and it's own people if something goes wrong. It is the tourists and the citizen's job to protect themselves if something goes wrong. The police can only do so much to protect their own country. It is the responsibilty of tourist visiting an island or country to be aware of the dangers and do everything they can to avoid getting into a bad situation. Anyway, with all that aside I hope that they will find Natalie Holloway's body and and get those suspects to confess about what they did to her and hopefully the family will have some closure.

When I saw Dr. Phil's show about Natalie Holloway, I was moved to join the boycott. Perhaps it was just a desparate, knee-jerk attempt to fix a complicated problem, and I do understand why so many others feel we should sweep our own doorstep before we complain about Aruba's. Still, I was hoping someone would have been charged, at least on the circumstancial evidence because of the pressure of the boycott. A trial might have been the cataIyst to solve the case. Even so, a new search for Miss Holloway's remains begins today. I pray those involved find what they're looking for.

 

I suppose the real benefit of boycotting Aruba is in the publicity it drew. We Americans can be such arrogant tourists, and what I hope has resulted from all of this is that we're a little more educated about how to conduct ourselves abroad.  Our naive young people, especially, might make better choices after hearing about the evil that befell that lovely girl when she had her guard down. May God bless all those missing their children tonight.

Crimereporter Peter R. de Vries from The Netherlands claims to have solved the case! Joran van der Sloot seems to have confessed on hidden camera. Mother Holloway is already in The Netherlands. Sunday-evening (European time) we know more, when the special is being broadcasted.

 

Check out Google News or www.peterrdevries.nl (Dutch)

Before we begin, let me express my deepest condolences to the Holloway family on ths tragic event.

 

Now, as an Australian who lives in the Netherlands and has a Dutch girlfriend, I have to address a few points that have been posted here.

 

First: the legal system in Aruba is the same as the legal system in the Netherlands. There is no deliberate cover-up, and as the now-infamous TV interview with J. van der Sloot was taped in secrecy and without a lawyer present, it is inadmissible in court. This would also be the case if this investigation were conducted in the US.

 

Second: Aruba has one of the lowest crime rates and one of the highest living standards in the Caribbean.

 

Third: for all those who speak of Arubans being too 'fearful' to a) stand up to their government (the Neterlands) and b) 'free themselves' [from Dutch rule, I'm assuming], what are you talking about? Aruba is a protectorate of the Netherlands, and has retained that status voluntarily. It is a mutual relationship, and provides more benefit to Arubans than independence would.

 

Which brings me to my fourth and final point: encouraging US tourists to boycott Aruba will get you nowhere. The truth is that Americans don't make up a large enough percentage of the tourism trade to wreak havoc (the larger percentage of tourists are Dutch), and as an autonomous province within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba's economy is linked to that of the continental Netherlands. Aruba would NOT be ruined by an American tourism boycott. Forget about it.

 

Instead, focus on the more important issue: a devastated family who has lost their daughter.