Bondia Aruba talked this week about the dispute between parliamentarian Mike de Meza and Minister Gerlien Croes, as he has been one of the factors behind her leaving the AVP party in 2023.

Croes formally resigned from the AVP addressing a letter to party leader Mike Eman. She said the problems intensified after Mike de Meza questioned the integrity of both her and fellow AVP parliamentarian Ryçond Santos do Nascimento. She specifically referred to an incident in Parliament with De Meza in which she felt her personal principles had been questioned and attacked.

It was during a public parliamentary meeting concerning the former Minister Eddie Briesen and contracts with Lee Tofanelli & Associates. Remember? The producer was contracted to organize The Aruba Music Festival here, but the contract had been signed when Briesen was no longer the authorized minister. De Meza took a position defending Briesen, while Croes and Santos do Nascimento were taking the opposite position. Santos do Nascimento subsequently criticized De Meza and said that De Meza owed Croes and him. a public apology.

Why is what happened in 2002, and quasi resolved in 2023, still relevant? Because of the HOFA issue, which adds another layer to the political tension. Parliamentarian Mike de Meza is strongly opposed to the direction being taken on the HOFA agreement, while Croes and her fellow party-member Minister Geoffrey Wever are pushing to move forward. Prime Minister Mike Eman appears to have little choice politically but to go along with it, even though he may not be entirely comfortable with the position himself. It shows how complicated the internal relationships within this government have become.

Mike de Meza, who most probably now has expectations to finally become a minister, is simply waiting to see what the prime minister will do. The case against him has been dropped, he can undergo another screening, and slip into the infrastructure seat, currently held by a Rene Herde, who is not an elected official.

Will he trade a ministerial chair against a YES, his full support of HOFA when it comes time to vote.

Another twist in the saga? The events surrounding Mike De Meza have come to the attention of the Dutch government, which further thickens the plot. The governor, who represents the King and safeguards the Kingdom’s interests, would also have to be comfortable and confident that the Netherlands will approve any appointment.

The integrity issue is something the Dutch and Kingdom authorities are unlikely to take lightly.

For now, no one talks, except that we know the HOFA introduction is woven into the AVP/FUTURO coalition agreement, no HOFA, no coalition.

Mike de Meza may also jump ship and join another party.

As the representative of San Nicolas, he is a valuable asset.

The political picture becomes incredibly challenging. There is a lot going on behind the scenes.

We could also mention at this point that the political disagreement over the Briesen/Tofanelli matter in 2023, terminated the political career of Ryçond do Santos.

And the conflict has not been resolved because when Croes became President of Parliament in 2025, De Meza reportedly was the only parliamentarian who did not vote in her favor.

The latest Consumer Confidence Survey from the Centrale Bank van Aruba, CBA, was published this week, and talks about the first 6 months of 2026.

The good people at CBA, regularly conduct a Consumer Confidence Survey, and according to them the Aruban consumer is not very confident, more confident than in Q1, but still quite pessimistic.

This is what they said: 93% of individuals polled expect prices to increase during the next six months. This is probably the most striking finding. Inflation and the cost of living remain the dominant concern.

90% say their purchasing power has declined — they cannot buy as much with their income as six months ago. This improved slightly from 93% but remains extremely high.

46% say they are saving less than six months ago. Another 29% say they don’t save at all.

69% say business and economic conditions have worsened compared with six months ago.

47% say their household financial situation has worsened, down modestly from 50%.

45% say it is harder to find a job now than six months ago.

But there is an improvement: People are less pessimistic about the future than they were in Q1.

For the next six months:

Those expecting worse business/economic conditions fell dramatically from 68% to 50%.

Those expecting it to be more difficult to find a job fell from 53% to 42%.

Those expecting the government’s financial position to deteriorate fell from 41% to 36%.

Those expecting their household to be financially worse off fell from 35% to 29%.

So there is a subtle message: Arubans feel bad about where they are, but they are somewhat less pessimistic about where they are going.

The report states that consumption is still being restrained

Consumers remain reluctant to make large financial commitments:

That tells you something important about the domestic economy: People are still protecting their household finances rather than feeling comfortable taking on debt or making major purchases.

The four indexes, which are CBA’s individual measures, all moved upward, but remained in the 90-100 pessimistic range:

Present Situation: 93.2, +0.7

Future Expectations: 93.6, +0.9

Consumption & Borrowing: 94.5, +1.2

Price Expectations: 90.4

It is safe to say that the survey paints a picture of an Aruba where tourism and the wider economy may be performing reasonably well at the macro level, but consumers aren’t necessarily feeling that prosperity in their household budgets.

The most important disconnect is income versus purchasing power. Ninety percent of respondents say their income buys less than it did six months ago, while 93% expect prices to continue rising. That combination naturally explains why people are saving less, postponing cars and appliances purchases, avoiding mortgages and loans, and remaining cautious about discretionary spending.

At the same time, the sharp fall in pessimism about the next six months is encouraging. It suggests that the mood may be turning slightly less negative, even though people’s present financial experience remains difficult.

In one sentence: Arubans are still pessimistic and feeling squeezed by prices and declining purchasing power, but they are noticeably less pessimistic about the future than they were three months earlier.

As seen on #DJISPAINFORMA: Seguridad di alimentacion ta cuminsa cu sanacion di nos pueblo. A visit with Petite Greens Aruba and Lorraine Cooijman V/D Bogaert.

You know that the popular Djis pa Hari platform often deals with serious issues. This time it took on food. The segment on their platform told the story of a cunukero with a different point of view.

Lorrain is proposing that Aruba’s food and agricultural policy should start with understanding people’s relationship with food—not simply deciding which crops to grow.

She would like to take many aspects into consideration:

If people heal emotionally, their eating habits could change, she says. This is a collective process of healing that would lead people to eat differently—perhaps less processed, imported, and unhealthy food, and more food that genuinely nourishes the body.

The vision entails a stronger farm-to-table movement, while the ultimate goal is an Aruba where local agriculture supplies both residents and the hospitality industry, while chefs get unique, locally grown ingredients that raise Aruba’s culinary reputation.

For it to happen we must examine the issue on a philosophical/psychological level: Why we eat what we eat? We must also debate: What should Aruba grow, for whom, and how can farmers make a living from it? Which is both an economic and an agricultural question.

Of course the first part is speculative, there is not necessarily evidence that Aruba’s food-import problem is primarily caused by collective trauma or that healing would dramatically reduce food consumption.

But it is safe to say that with all the social and mental issues on the island people do use food to calm their nerves, lower their anxiety and sooth their worries.

The debatable question contains a more practical agricultural idea: rather than trying to produce everything locally, Aruba could identify high-value foods that local farmers can grow profitably and that restaurants and hotels are willing to buy.

Overall, grow what Aruba’s people genuinely need to eat, but also grow high-value specialty ingredients that Aruba’s chefs and hotels will pay a premium for. Use those niche crops to make farming economically viable, give farmers access to more land, and water, and gradually build a local farm-to-table economy.

This moves the conversation from FOOD SECURITY to FOOD CULTURE + HEALTH + AGRICULTURE + ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.

(Last week dragon fruit, one, was Awg 19 in the supermarket. I got three pitaya saplings from a girlfriend, I am planning to plant them, I am a cactophile — love cactus)

The Public Prosecution Service announced that it concluded the case against M.E de Meza and his wife, after an accepted settlement, and the criminal case against the couple, has been dropped. Both defendants have accepted and paid a settlement, Awg 2,500 each, thereby preventing criminal prosecution.

During the post-election screening to become a minister, the De Mezas became suspect of violating certain articles of the General National Tax Ordinance. According to the Public Prosecution Service, they intentionally provided incorrect and incomplete information multiple times in their income tax returns between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2021.

They claimed it was an error.

A first hearing with the Public Prosecution Service in this case took place on June 10, 2026. The De Mezas were offered the possibility of avoiding prosecution by paying a sum of money, Awg 5,000 each. The defendants did not accept this proposal at the time, but after a second hearing on August 7, 2026, the Public Prosecutor’s Office set a lower amount of money as a condition for avoiding criminal prosecution. Both suspects accepted this offer and paid the amounts on August 11, 2026.  With the payment of the transaction, the case is now definitively closed.

I collected some opinions from people in the know:

EXPERT I: The Tax Department played a central role at the beginning of this story. Its findings during the screening to become a minister, became part of an integrity process with significant political consequences.

So what does the Tax Department think now?

Does it stand completely behind how the matter was handled?

Does it believe the integrity screening worked exactly as intended?

Were there any lessons learned from the De Meza affair

Were there lessons learned?

Would it handle the same situation exactly the same way tomorrow?

Those questions are not accusations.

They are the questions we should routinely ask public institutions after an exceptional case tests the system.

It is difficult to determine if the Tax Inspector overstepped its role, this time. The Tax Department is silent or telling us they just did their job.

But in this case, that defense is not enough.

Note that, the prosecution withdrew the summonses and announced that the criminal case was definitively concluded. It also reduced the amount payable by half. Thus, understandably, both sides describe the outcome differently.

De Meza and his defense team emphasize that the transaction contains no admission of guilt and that there has been no conviction.

The prosecution, meanwhile, stated publicly that it proceeded on the basis that it considered the criminal case provable and that the lower transaction resulted from specific case-and person-related circumstances.

There will now be no trial and therefore no judicial determination of guilt.

EXPERT II: De Meza performed his victory round at radio stations granting extensive interviews insinuating the criminal prosecution was politically motivated. He did not name names, but social media positioned the former minister of finance, as a possible troublemaker and talked about her long-standing relationship with the Tax Department, in her role as a former minister pulling the purse strings. De Meza explained to anyone who wanted to listen that the island must introduce watchdogs, to watch over the gate keepers, to prevent future similar accusations from being sprung on innocent individuals.  It was just an error. He checked a box on his tax return that was incorrect.

EXPERT III: The current minister of Finance and Economic Development did a good job defending the island’s institutions, which was correct and ethical, to prevent the erosion of public trust in our system, which de Meza did his best to shake. The island’s Tax Department, and the Tax Inspector did their job based on the screening law.  One cannot blame the Tax Inspector. In our system one cannot and shouldn’t blame the one who presses charges. It’s a process and trying to blame the former minister is trash-talking, just conspiracy-theorists running their mouth. Based on the island’s screening law, the Tax Inspector had to submit. Screening was her job. Not the criminal accusation, necessarily. The accusation came later, on top of the negative screening. It is worth noting that the “formador,” has the option to ignore the screening outcome, except, in a criminal case.

EXPERT IV: I disagree. A bit. The Tax Inspector submitted the “klacht”.  That was her choice. She decided. The only issue we all agree on is the length of time it takes the Public Prosecution Service to resolve anything. Why isn’t there more outrage when the Public Prosecutor takes this long? That’s a real issue. Even after the court case where they tried to speed up the process – and the verdict comments about that too. It took over one and a half year, much fanfare, anticlimactic results,

To become a minister De Meza must undergo a complete new screening process, and one  minister must step down.