Topic : 01/19 Follow-ups

This is one missing person on one tiny island, the boycott is ridiculous. Alabama and Arkansas only need to look in their own backyards, they have scores more of missing persons cases their own law enforcement agencies can't solve.  

The Aruban agencies are doing all they can, they have spent great sums of money and resources, but whatever they do, is not good enough for the family. Every family will feel that way on an unsolved case, but it's not fair to punish an entire island's livlihood. I also think the family has interfered, as well as the media. They have hurt the case by revealing information and meddling. .  

People who are boycotting Aruba are not doing so because of 1 missing person, they are doing it because of the obvious cover up by the Aruban authorities.  Yes, people go missing in every state in the US, but the authorities do not protect the suspects as seems to be the case in Aruba.  I, as a parent and a Canadian, have boycotted Aruba till they provide the Holloway family with the truth and stop covering up for the judge's kid.  

I'm trying to understand what holding a criminal who broke our laws from Holland has anything to do with a young woman being kidnapped and likely murdered on a school trip to the Caribbean.  Forgive me if I don't see the similarity.  As for why we're so livid with the Aruban government, I'll explain. 

1.  It should not be so hard for this small island to figure out what happened to this young pretty white woman who would stick out like a sore thumb. 

2.  The Caribbean as a whole is largely impoverished.  Their economy is based on tourism of which the majority is American. 

3.  "Strange" as you say, Americans are not interested in visiting a country that is not willing to get to the bottom of this case or to communicate all of its details to America. 

Now, regarding our country:  Europeans seem to find a great deal of pleasure in bashing Americans and declaring us imbeciles.  Perhaps its because we have a history of which we can be proud.  Perhaps its because our not-so-distant relatives sacrificed their very lives so that we may live freely and enjoy the democracy that we have.  I'm not sure how many Americans have tried illegal means to live in Holland this year or any European country.  I can bet every dollar in my 401K that such a number would not hold a candle to the number of your citizens trying to become a "strange American."  Our constitution is respected by our government and civilians alike.  It has been emulated by countless nations and regarded as an ideal government.   

Lastly, if your daughter came to NYC and a thuggish American or group thereof kidnapped  her, forced her into prostitution, killed her, or any other great number of awful things, my elected president (past, present or future) would not shrug it off or say, "What else can I do?"   When you patronize our country legally, and out of leisure, surely, we owe you the assurance that your child will not be "lost" without explanation.  I'm horrified that you would find this "strange."  Would you not scream from every mountain peak not to visit the USA?  When we go to Aruba, a nation that would suffer greatly without us, and we don't return, our nation will scream until it has answers.  If yours would not, perhaps your country is the "strange" one and I wouldn't let your children travel if I were you.