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Messages By: kmsusa
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November 16, 2005, 10:44 am PST
 Quote From: aruba78 I have read so many negativity about Aruba and her people. It makes me sick to see the story of the dissapearance of Natalee Holloway being twisted in such a way without even knowing all the facts surrounding this case (the investigation which is still an ongoing as a matter of fact!). Yes, I am a resident of Aruba, yes I have followed the developments in this case and yes this IS an ISOLATED case, something like this has NEVER happened before on this island! Just for all the people who hear just ONE side off the story and base their conclusions on that information only, here are some facts and questions that I would like to share, just for you to think about it....
As soon as Natalee Holloway dissapeared every possible available resource was used to try and find her. Me and many of my collegues went actively looking for her here on the island!!! The Dutch military, the Aruban law enforcement, the voluntary search and rescue, everyone who could help did get involved in the search for Natalee! And yes, the FBI helped in the investigation TOO, we even had F-16's from the Netherlands flying over Aruba to help in the search!!! Despite all this effort until this day there is NO trace of Natalee Holloway. So now my question, with all this help why are the Aruban people being blamed for not finding here? Another strange thing in this case, Natalee Holloway came to Aruba with a large group of students and chaperones. They all left Aruba without her, knowing she was missing! The local authorities didn't even get a chance to interview them and get their statements! Actually I find it quite strange that just moments after Natalee was reported missing her family came to Aruba in a private jet, claiming Natalee was kidnapped, so I ask myself: what information did the family have that the local autorities didn't have?
Let's put all of that aside for a moment; the 3 boys who were last seen with Natalee were indeed arrested, and yes, later released, but in the Aruban judicial system you CANNOT keep someone imprisoned if there is NO EVIDENCE of a crime even being commited!!! To make sure that the judge in this case was impartial, a judge from another island was flown in to handle the case!
I just cannot understand people talking about boycotting a whole island for 1 case in which the locals have done their UPMOST to be helpfull. There are so many strange things surrounding this case. So many unanswered questions.... One of the reasons the family of Natalee Holloway gave for even asking for a boycott of Aruba was because the 3 suspects who in their opinion KILLED Natalee, were released from prison. So now I really cannot understand this supposed new twist, if Natalee is alive, as they now believe (and I really hope she is) what are they now basing this supposed boycott upon????
I have to say people can talk about boycotting an island which happens to be one of the SAFEST PLACES on earth! I am 100% SURE that those people who are even mentioning this are those people who have never even been to Aruba... But hey, I am just waiting to see the supposed new developments in this case, and really hope that this time both sides of the story will be told. And as this is a blessed island, I really think the truth will come out some day, and life will be as peaceful as it always was and will be on our 'one happy island'.... I'm sure it's hard for you to give a subjective look at the Natalee Holloway investigation, Aruba78, because it is your home and probably has a special place in your heart. Just so you're aware, I vacationed on Aruba for ten days about 2 years ago, and I LOVED it. The people were friendly and it was a perfect vacation, and you're right, the island is safe. What concerns me, is the competancy of the investigators of the case. When Dave Holloway first went to the island to look for his missing daughter, one of the police officers asked him how much money he has. That is totally unprofessional! Also, the prosecutor (in the earlier days of the case) is good friends with Paulus van der Sloot. I'm convinced that this had much to do with the incompetancy of the Aruban police force/investigation team throughout the whole investigation. Also, the FBI WAS NOT ALLOWED TO HELP WITH THE INVESTIGATION, they were only allowed to view documents and observe interrogations. It also is a proven fact that the interrogations were totally messed up. There were no follow-up questions during questioning; in a signed statement by Joran van der Sloot, he said that he thinks "Deepak raped and killed her." The Aruban investigators left it at that, they didn't bother to ask why he killed her, or where her body is. I know you might think that because crimes like this don't happen on Aruba, that they didn't know how to handle it as good as investigators in the USA could. But it has nothing to do with that, it's common sense to ask follow up questions, even I would know how to do that and I have no experience in law enforcement and I'm from a town in Iowa that has not had any crimes in the last twenty years. There seems to be an extreme lack of common sense on the part of the Aruban officials. They've yanked the family around so much hoping they'd give up. I don't think that's going to happen. The only way to get the officials to wake up and realize they need to get their incompetant butts in gear is to hit them where it hurts--their tourism industry. I shall be vacationing in the U.S. Virgin Islands this year. |
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November 16, 2005, 11:50 am PST
Quote From: natia77 this REALLY MAKES FOR A NICE STORY, EVEN A MAKE FOR TV MOVIE.
IN REGARDS TO YOUNG WOMEN BEING FORCED INTO THE SEX TRADE AND SOLD AS SLAVES HERE IN ARUBA IS COMPLETELY LUDICROUS. There are so many beautiful Latin American ladies and young girls that would do anything to get off the streets from mostly Colombia and get the Visa necessary to work as a legal prostitute here on the island for 3 months. In the ABC islands and the rest of the Dutch Kingdom and Holland, and quite a few states in the US this is legal. Here on the island the rules are a little more strict than mainland Holland, but you need to pass all the necessary exams and if selected for a Visa and this 3 months permit you are only permitted to work in a specific Red District Bar which all of them are at one end of the island by the ex Exxon Refinery, now a Valera one, . These ladies are checked every week by the doctors and need to leave the island in 3 mo. when their permits expire.
Now to say that Nathalee was abducted in Aruba and be sold into sex trade is not true. It is my personal believe that the Dutch boy and the tree Surinamese brothers are responsible for her being missing. But in any case the sex trade is very much regulated and very sought after by LA girls mostly Colombians and Venezuelans, . Now if you open any yellow pages in the US you will see many massage parlors with drug addicts prostituting and spreading VD's UN regulated.
That is why I say the comment by Mr. Sherlock 007 here will make for a good story, which he will find right in his back yard.
Dr. Phil please be objective in your pursuit of Nathalee and or ratings. I hope, and everyone in Aruba wants this case to be solved. You do not need to destroy a whole island nation doing that. It is not fair for anyone involved or not. Although prostitution happens in the US, it is NOT legal in quite a few states, like you falsely stated. It's only legal in Nevada, outside of city limits. And they are not stating that she was sold into slavery in Aruba, they are saying she was sold to Venezuela or Columbia. Blonde Americans are probably a hot commodity down there. |
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November 16, 2005, 11:25 pm PST
Quote From: aruba78 I just want to ask you to reread you comment. Do you realise that the comments you gave, are based on just one side of this whole story? I don't blame you though, I understand it's the media coverage, news should be sensation right? Otherwise people wouldn't watch or listen to it. But did you ever get the side of the local authorities in this case? Did you ever hear the local police say that they 'wouldn't allow the FBI to help with the investigation'? I'm sure the only documents that were released to the public were the ones that were worthy enough to 'make the news'.
You stated that the police here asked Dave Holloway how much money he had. Well I have seen statements of Beth Twitty talking on the news too, saying that the Aruban officials said many bad things about her daughter. She stated that she could 'understand everything' that they were saying, I find that really hard to believe, and you who have been here, should know what a difficult language Papiamento is for a foreigner to understand. So I really do believe that many things that may have been said have been taken out of context.
Now let's assume for a moment that an Aruban girl was missing in the U.S. Do you really believe that Aruban authorities could just jump in and take over the entire investigation? It should be a JOINED effort to find the truth, so I don't understand the arrogance of some people to just assume that it is 'just a case of US officials coming in and taking over'. Here in Aruba we have laws too you know. Aruba did get help from the Netherlands, they send specialists who were also present at these interrogations, so weren't they competent enough in your view? I am sure that there are many documents surrounding these interrogations that have not been released to the public. So why judge when you really don't have all the information? I can also understand that the investigation didn't go 'perfect'. But I also believe that many people tried the best they could to find the truth about this case. People who joined in the search when they didn't have to, that's just the nature of the Aruban people, always being helpfull. So with this supposed 'boycott' it is really those people that you will be hurting, those people who are hard workers trying to support their families. But I really do hope you enjoy your vacation in the US Virgin Islands. And I'm sure the people who really love Aruba will always come back. You make some good points. If an Aruban girl was missing in the USA, it probably wouldn't even be necessary for Aruban authorities to step in because it is such a big country with an extremely well trained law enforcement system. I don't really fault Aruba for their lack of expertise in that area, because they're a small island and this doesn't happen much there.
You're right, Papiamento is an extremely obscure language, and for someone fluent in Spanish, I could not understand a world of this blend of languages. Don't all the government officials speak English anyways? Don't they speak it to Americans, like the Holloways and Twittys? I don't understand this communication glitch otherwise.
I just wish the FBI were allowed to question, because they are extremely well trained in interrogations, these are the people that make hardened criminals and international terrorists crack, I'm sure they could have gotten the truth out of some teenage boys.
As for the boycott, I'm sorry that it has to affect the good people of Aruba, because the people of Aruba are really top notch. But as a mother myself, I can almost imagine what Natalee's family must be going through. All of their efforts to date have been fruitless, so they really see this as the last resort. I think the actual purpose of the boycott is to put pressure on the government to hire a new investigative team. The assistant prosecutor that resigned the case did a fine job I think, and even she was frustrated with Karin Jansen (spelling?) and the current team of investigators. Instead of being mad at the family for the boycott, the Aruban citizens should put pressure on their government, because they are the ones that made this boycott happen. Even Dave Holloway, who has been extremely patient and well tempered is in support of the boycott.
Let's not forget about the "new witness" that was found by THE FAMILY, and the authorities have yet to question him. It's just so much like the beginning of the investigation when they didn't arrest the real culprits for ten days, maybe they wanted to give the judge's son enough time to destroy all the evidence so it would look like Natalee just ran away. They wanted to cover this crime up from the beginning so it wouldn't hurt their tourism industry, but that plan totally back fired because this isn't going to go away. |
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