From a reader: The death of the kid who killed himself Friday night/Saturday morning has been haunting me. I feel so sad. I saw the social media post on what he wrote with his own blood on his car. This kid was in such pain, he was so sick. The family reached out to us for footage. His last seconds were caught racing to his death on our camera. Please publish my thoughts, as a tribute to his life.

A Silent Crisis in Paradise: When Will Aruba Truly Care About Mental Health?

We love to call Aruba “One Happy Island.” But lately, that phrase feels painfully ironic. Beneath the turquoise waters and sunlit smiles, our island is crying — quietly, desperately, unseen.

On Halloween night, a 21-year-old man drove into the ocean and ended his life. And what did we do?

We mourned briefly, posted condolences, whispered prayers — and moved on.

Mental illness and addiction are stealing lives in Aruba, yet our silence is deafening. Suffering has become normal, and that silence is killing us. These are not isolated tragedies but signs of a deeper national crisis.

We see it every day — people wandering the streets, families breaking under the weight of fear and exhaustion, children hiding anxiety behind practiced smiles. And yet, we rarely talk about it.

When we do, we judge, shame, and question the morals of those struggling with a disease.

Our leaders talk proudly about flights and tourism — while our youth crash silently. We don’t need more beautification projects; we need compassion. Real leadership listens. Real progress heals people, not just streets.

Where are the conversations about prevention, school counseling, and early intervention? Where are the programs that reach teens before drugs do? The support for parents barely holding on?

The national campaign to break stigma?

Silence kills. Healing begins with honest conversation — in schools, churches, workplaces, and Parliament. Talking about suicide or addiction doesn’t cause them; it prevents them.

We must invest in prevention, education, and organizations like Stichting Hunto that offer hope with limited means. Every school should have trained counselors. Every teacher should recognize the warning signs. Every child should know that asking for help is an act of courage.

Addiction is not a crime — it’s a health condition. Justice must work with healthcare, not against it. Clean streets mean nothing if our people are broken.

How many more young lives must we lose before we say “enough”? How can we call ourselves “One Happy Island” when so many suffer in silence?

This isn’t about blame — it’s about love. Love for our island, our youth, and those too tired to fight alone.

Aruba’s true beauty isn’t in its beaches but in how we care for our most vulnerable. Let’s start listening. Start talking. Start healing.

Because mental illness is not weakness.

Because addiction is not a crime.

Because every life — even the one lost quietly in the sea — matters.

In the wake of a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane Melissa, which struck Jamaica last Tuesday, October 28, 2025, causing extensive devastation in the Western part of the island, the Aruba and Jamaican communities stand united in support and relief efforts.

Key Developments

The Government of Aruba and the Honorary Consul of Jamaica in Aruba, are actively coordinating relief and support under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that facilitates collaborative humanitarian response.

The Red Cross has mobilized to assist with the relief effort. Donation channels are being established to ensure aid reaches Jamaica swiftly and efficiently.

Red Cross donation boxes will be placed at designated locations island-wide to collect contributions for Jamaica.

Donors may also contribute via the Red Cross Aruba-Jamaica Relief Fund:

Bank: Aruba Bank

Account Name: Red Cross Aruba Jamaica Relief Fund

Account Number: 0384010990

The Jamaica Consul to Aruba is in contact with YMCA to explore using their facilities as official drop-off locations to streamline distribution and minimize transit challenges.

Welcome and needed items include:

Basic food items

Perishable goods (where safe and appropriate)

Sanitary items for women and babies

Bottled water

Community Briefing

A community briefing for the Jamaican community in Aruba will take place this Thursday at Kulture Cafe San Nicholas, at 7:00 PM.

The briefing will outline donation processes, drop-off points, and coordination efforts with Jamaican representatives and local authorities.

Call to Action

Jamaica and the Jamaican community in Aruba deeply appreciate any contribution, whether in-kind items or financial donations, to support relief and recovery efforts in Jamaica.

Stay Informed

Further updates will be provided as the relief effort progresses and new drop-off locations and coordination details are confirmed.

One of my readers sent me some correspondence from a lawyer’s office on behalf of Utilities Aruba N.V. (UA) and Aruba Wastewater Sustainable Solutions N.V. (AWSS). The letter was addressed to former minister Glenbert F. Croes, and the subject revolved around a repayment demand for unjustified payments he received from UA and AWSS.

UA and AWSS, through their lawyer, accuse Croes of receiving unjustified double payments totaling Awg 41,500 after his ministerial term, in possible violation of legal and ethical rules. They demand repayment AND detailed proof of any legitimate work performed if he did any.

The minister’s government career was snuffed on October 11, 2024. Thereafter, he received 80% of his ministerial salary, as a transition allowance, monthly, of Awg 12,009. He rested one month, then registered a sole proprietorship, his own new company called ILOG Advisors.

In January 2025, ILOG Advisors signed a consulting agreement with AWSS, under which he was paid Awg 4,150 per month. That went on 5 months. During that time UA also paid him the same amount, but no agreement was signed. In total Awg 41,500 total, exchanged hands.

The letter states that earning additional income during this period without reporting it to the government, is a violation the law, specifically, the LYGPA, which governs former ministers’ benefits.

Under the law, any additional income must be deducted from the allowance, so top income for the former minister would remain Awg 12,009. And because no agreement was found with UA the five payments, he received, are considered duplicates. The agreement is viewed as illegal because it was possibly signed by the outgoing MEP management before government change. The payments were declared unjust enrichment that must be returned.

He must repay Awg 41.500 within five days plus interest to avoid legal action.

One of my friends remarked you cannot get blood from a rock.

The former minister was also requested to present a document in which he explains what work he did specifically, between January and May 2025, fully backed up by emails, and correspondence. He must also explain who made the agreements, and how did they come about. He must prove genuine, high-level consultancy work, otherwise the money must be paid back.

The charismatic, super-charming politician is either naïve or overly confident, or absent-minded, since he had several brushes with the law during his turbulent career. If you remember in June 2024 he was involved with Portulaca, a legal case for alleged fraud in the issuance of work and residence papers. He was arrested, his house searched, then release following further investigation.

In 1998-1999 according to ChatGPT the governor refused to appoint him minister of Transport & Communication because of an ongoing investigation, and there were a few others along the way, no need to rehash them, but they all point to the fact that a politician without a moral compass is more likely to get into trouble than one that is guided by an inner sense of right and wrong.

A Personal Ethics course targeting all public servants including business ethics and public administration ethics would be helpful. I would run the entire government through it.

Last year I received a book from a friend living in England, Offshore Attachments, Oil and Intimacy in the Caribbean, by Chelsea Shields.  And just recently another book, Lago Oil & Transport Company LTD. Industrial Power, Social Change and National Rebirth, by Jorge R. Ridderstaat, Ph.D.

Shields teaches in a university in California. Ridderstaat, an Aruban, teaches at a university in Florida. Both are examining the island’s relationship with the now defunct oil refinery, and how it should be remembered forty years after its closure.

For many years we praised the refinery as the most important industrial institution in Aruba’s modern history. It was definitely life-changing. But with the passage of time, researchers are looking into the dark side of this mega money-making machine and how it shaped life on the island.

Both writers explore deep issue embedded in the fact that a multinational arrived on the island operating freely, fully endorsed and supported by the government and the people.  Ridderstaat delivers and excellent documentary AND the commentary, interpreting the events. He looks at labor migration, gender roles, geopolitical entanglements, and the environmental aftermath, among many other issues, while Shields examines the recruitment of migrant male labor, limiting family unification, and manipulating sex workers, all in the name of profit for the state and profits for the industry.

The Ridderstaat publication is a revision and expansion of his original manuscript. He wrote the first version of his book in 2007 under the title The Lago Story in which he compiled testimonials and archival materials about Lago trying to capture the memory while people were still around to tell the stories.

A few years later, Ridderstaat decided to rewrite and expand the manuscript and explore how the refinery should be remembered after forty years.  From a historical perspective things looked different. While the oil industry ushered in a new era for Aruba, Ridderstaat argues that it is a ‘contested symbol in Aruba’s postcolonial narrative,’ meaning we can argue if everything the business did in Aruba was ethical, and fair.

Lincoln D, Gomez has written the forward to the book. His grandfather worked in Lago and was the unfortunate victim of an almost lethal accident, which allowed his children to go to school and get higher educations, thus making it possible for his grandson to become our favorite attorney.

Lago delivered many gifts, but it demanded immense sacrifices in return. Both books look at the hardship and sacrifices, something we never did before.

Many locals may trace their grandparents/parents employment at Lago, as the result of their family upward mobility. They are grateful for the opportunities. But these came at a cost.

The oil industry shaped the life on many Caribbean nations, but we shouldn’t forget how exploitational it was.

I finished Shields’ book, so eye opening, you don’t have to agree 100% but she makes sense, describing how the refinery managed race and sex, to support the global oil economy. Lago executive were encouraged to live a perfect suburban life with their pretty wives and children in pretty bungalows by the sea, in the Colony, while their workers lived in the Village, consoling themselves for the lack of family and social support in the arms of a maiden in the red light district, a sex worker imported to keep the temperature at the refinery down, and under control.

I am on page 51 of Ridderstaat’s. He gives a brilliant overview of Aruba’s early industries, gold, aloe, fertilizers, I have more than 400 more pages to go, until I get to the post-Lago upheaval and austerity. I am looking forward.

Historical understand evolves, say Ridderstaat, and I am wondering if Anderson hits oil, would our leaders also bend over backwards to accommodate the oil industry or will they say, no, I do not want the hardship and sacrifice for my people, tourism is fine, we do not want to make a multinational rich in exchange for table scraps, and the sponsorship of Carnival.

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I feel bad about writing this column and I procrastinated for a few hours, but one of the Malmok neighbors wrote to me and his viewpoint made sense, so I will share it with you.

(Bad because they are planting which is a good thing, but will the plants survive?)

DOW a hardworking organization with limited resources, has been enhancing Malmok by planting. They engaged Van Kessel Construction to plant bushes and trees, along the coastline and I started questioning water. Did they have a budget to water these saplings — otherwise it is a waste of time and resources.

I got a very timely response from DOW.

Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in projects related to TPEF, the Tourist Product Enhancement Fund: Regarding the enhancement project in the Malmok area, this project was processed and funded under the previous government. From the documents received during the transition, there was a budget allocated for planting; however, it remained under DOW’s maintenance budget for plant care, which includes watering. TPEF remains available to provide additional funds if needed for the maintenance of these saplings.

The answer was timely, and polite, but I am still not sure if they are, or are not, going to water.

My neighbor writes:

Honestly, I think planting at the edge of the coastline in Malmok is not a promising idea. There is almost no maintenance for the existing trees, bushes, grass, etc. The teams that come around occasionally, have very few garden tools, and the area always looks in various stages of neglect — trees with bad haircuts.

But, MUCH more important, NO visitor comes to Malmok to look at these plants. They come to this area of the island to see the ocean. Frankly, the plants are in the way of the view.

Look at the area just north of Fishermen’s Huts where all the bushes were planted. ZERO visitors go there now. Yes, some locals sit on the benches now and then, and generally only in the evenings. IF DOW really desires to do something to upgrade the visitor experience in this area, it should dedicate funds to putting in the long overdue sidewalk between the Marriott Aruba Resort and Radisson Blu, to the Cove, where visitors are taking their lives in the hands to try to walk, without being hit by a car….And maybe install a few more trash cans where we have palapas – fixed at the expense of the neighborhood — along the water between Fishermen’s Huts and Arashi.

If the intent is to plant more bushes for the locals to enjoy, that is not necessary, but if it is for visitors, then it is the wrong thing to do. The plants are only in the way of the view of the ocean, a vista people pay thousands of dollars to see.

End of rant by neighbor.

I also question DOW if the cocos planted along Eagle beach died of thirst. Next time you drive by the Eagle Beach resorts you will see that only sea grapes and fofotis survive.

This is what DOW explained.

As for the coconut trees at Eagle Beach, their loss was not due to a lack of watering but rather a disease that affected the plants along the strip. (They attached pictures.) A plan is in the works, in collaboration with DOW to develop a new proposal for their replacement, utilizing this year’s contingency budget. It is unfortunate that this had to come from this year’s budget, as NO contingency budget was allocated or addressed last year.

As I said: DOW a diligent organization with limited resources.

GOOD NEWS: Once these plants are replaced, a management agreement is being developed to allow the hotels along the strip to take over full maintenance of the enhanced area. This will include not only watering but also waste management of the zone.

OK, this will work.