Fundashon Stimami Sterilisami is deeply grateful for Setar N.V.’s continued support over the years, and their generous donation of Afl. 7,500 to kick off 2026.

Led by Mr. R. Croes, Ms. Ho, and Ms. Donata, and supported by the Setar team, this contribution is more than financial support; it is a meaningful recognition of the foundation’s ongoing efforts to humanely control Aruba’s stray animal population through its island-wide spay and neuter program.

Thanks to the donation from Setar N.V., together with the continued support of our loyal contributors, 6,405 puppies and kittens were sterilized in 2025, increasing the total number of sterilizations between 2016 and 2025 to over 46,000 animals.

Setar N.V.’s donation will be matched florin-for-florin by Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, and together these contributions will help cover free sterilizations and animal welfare support for dogs and cats across Aruba.

With this support going into 2026, Stimami Sterilisami can continue its mission to spay and neuter as many cats and dogs as possible, improving animal welfare and humanly reducing the stray overpopulation—an issue that impacts animals, our community, and visitors alike. We are grateful for Setar N.V.’s partnership and look forward to continued collaboration.

Fundashon Stimami Sterilisami is a non-profit organization dedicated to humanely reducing the number of abandoned dogs and cats in Aruba through its island-wide spay and neuter program. The foundation uses 100% of donations to help cover the cost of sterilizations for individual pet owners and volunteer organizations caring for stray animals. The organization’s books are open and audited regularly to ensure full transparency.

To contribute to this cause, donations can be made via bank transfer:

Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Aruba, has once again earned Green Globe recertification, reinforcing its more than two decades of verified environmental leadership and proving that exceptional hospitality and uncompromising sustainability go hand in hand. The carbon-neutral resort remains the only hotel in the world to have achieved two perfect 100% Green Globe scores and continues to hold Green Globe Platinum status, recognized for excellence across environmental, social, and economic performance. The resort is also the only property designated by Green Globe as “The World’s Most Sustainable Hotel/Resort.” This latest recertification followed a comprehensive remote audit confirming continued compliance with Green Globe’s rigorous international standards.

A Legacy Built on Action

From the beginning, Bucuti & Tara has focused on tangible, measurable action rather than aspirational statements. Sustainability is integrated into every aspect of operations, from energy efficiency and water stewardship to waste reduction, ethical sourcing, staff education, community engagement, and biodiversity protection.

Over nearly four decades, Bucuti & Tara has developed more than 400 action initiatives, supported by certifications including Green Globe Platinum, CarbonNeutral, LEED Gold and Travelife Gold, and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The resort’s leadership has also earned international recognition, including the Global UN Climate Action Award, with the United Nations calling its sustainability program “highly replicable and scalable.”

Key Sustainability Accomplishments and Goals for the Year Ahead

Bucuti & Tara continues advancing ambitious goals grounded in transparency, verification, and measurable impact, including:

Proving Sustainability and Excellence Go Hand in Hand

Bucuti & Tara is the Caribbean’s most eco-certified hotel and continues to dominate globally recognized travel rankings, proving that memorable vacations and sustainability can go hand in hand.

The resort is ranked No. 5 Hotel in the World and No. 1 Hotel in the Caribbean by Tripadvisor, while its signature Elements Restaurant earned the No. 1 Best Fine Dining Restaurant in the Caribbean distinction. Bucuti & Tara continues earning annual accolades from leading travel authorities, including Travel + Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, and Forbes, consistently receiving recognition for service, romance, wellness, and overall excellence. These honors reflect a guest experience defined by tranquility, personalization, and laidback luxury, all delivered within one of the most advanced sustainability frameworks in global hospitality.

A Guiltfree Vacation That is Better for the Planet Than Staying Home

As the Caribbean’s first and only certified carbon-neutral hotel, Bucuti & Tara offers guests a truly guilt-free escape where romance, comfort and sustainability stewardship coexist seamlessly—supporting a healthier planet with every stay.

Learn more by visiting Bucuti.com.

We continue to talk about the traffic, and consequent accidents. I drove to exercise recently past a collision, at the entrance to the Marriott Surf Club between a visitor and a local car, the V car airbags deployed. It must have been a powerful bang.

Last week, the prosecutor published the results of a fruitful day in court in which 30 traffic offenders were tried. Those who did not present in court were sentenced in absentia, along those who did, and those who refused the breathalyzer test were deemed intoxicated, subject to a higher fine on the pay scale.

One of my readers sent me a reel by Dimitri Halley, a psychologist, which presented an interesting perspective of our traffic situation.

Halley suggests we are paying for price for viewing ourselves as One Happy Island. People, he says, must experience both ends of the spectrum, the ying and the yang, happiness, and sadness, both are equally important in term of the human experience. We must know one to recognize the other.

Yet we deem happy good, and anything south of that in need of medication, in need of a fix. In our happy universe, sad is bad.

Halley explains that when negative feeling and melancholy, are banned, looked down on, it creates frustration. When sadness is verboten, and everyone tells us to take a pill and chill, we ignore part of our totality. And individuals tired of stuffing their feeling, denying what they experience and suffering shame over their so-called weakness, become destructive, and act out their frustration.

One Happy Island should be replaced by one tranquil island, Halley suggests, seeking equilibrium for us all, the sweet spot between happy and sad. Not denying one at the expense of the other.

Tranquil is sustainable, he says, always happy is not, the high is always followed by a low!

I though it was interesting and worth trying, Aruba, One Tranquil Island!

That would keep the excitement junkies out.

Arthur Dowers, AVP, Minister of Justice, Integration and Public Transport reported yesterday, in an interview on TeleAruba that in 2024 the island counted more than 1,000 hit and run accidents and that as a result it is now a crime to leave the site of the accident. What seems logical and normative to people with good judgement is now anchored in law. In case of an accident, stay put, wait for law enforcement to arrive. The minister also announced that punishment in hit and run and reckless driving cases, has become more severe.

At my garage, Garage Central, the experts rate the causes of accidents the following: Alcohol, Alcohol, Alcohol, in the first three places, then phone use, dark tinted windows that do not give drivers full visibility, the poor mechanical state of cars, and the fact that not enough cars visit DTI for inspection – while the process at DTI is not complicated, they add.

Regarding stuffing our feelings, one of my friends, a headmaster, disagrees, he says schools now teach their students to talk about their feelings, and to feel them, not stuff them, but then there is nowhere to go with their issues. The system is not set up to provide solutions, it is bureaucratic and deficient.

The Minister of Labor in his role as Most Powerful Rookie granted us a Monday off, endorsed by a decree, because Dia di Betico falls on Sunday, he figured we deserve a day off on Monday, with holiday pay.

He is a lawyer, yet he did not read the language of the law carefully, creating confusion. His generosity had no legal basis. So he pedaled backwards. But still government employees get a day off while the private sector must work.

He did ask employers to let workers go pretty-please, which is an unreasonable, and unprecedented request.

Public holidays in Aruba are established by nation legislation, there are no exception, except exceptional circumstances. During the pandemic, which was a justifiable special circumstance, we got an extra day off.

This blunder is not first, it happened before, as an all-mighty minister decides to grant an extra day off. My friends reminded me of Otmar Oduber, after children carnival parade, and during the MEP government in 2021.

Yesterday, it turned out, the government did not have a legal basis to move the Betico Day official holiday from Sunday to Monday. But as I said, government employees get a break.

This blunder is a reminder that government is not almighty, and we hope this humbles the future leader of AVP — according to a poll and the current party leader. Our government cannot make decision and change laws in the afterthought, to match its wishes.

Same rules apply to the Kackling Pega Pega. Some song rules were not followed and despite huge acceptance the song did not qualify. Not to worry we will all be kackling on parade. Lord Lally has participated in Carnival music festivals since the 60s, he was the youngest participants and because the island did not host child and youth competitions he went in as an adult singer, with some of our best past calypsonians. Lord Lally has contributed for decades but never got the attention he deserves, and now he is the talk of the town.

The Kackling can still be picked as Road Jam, if the song holds its popularity in the next 3 weeks. I liked the fact that the lyrics include the protected status of the Pega Pega, it cannot be killed. Pa Bien to the Hot Ones, the band, and to Divi Links, where Lord Lally works.

In another instance, we were told in the media that the Aruba House director in the Netherlands, is under investigation, suspended with pay. I asked around trying to find some more information out, but everyone’s lips are sealed. This is another one, in a string of public employees getting in trouble, then chewed up and spit out by the system.

In the case of the suspended director, it smacks of a politically motivated falling out of love. She was appointed by the previous government and did not find favor with the current set. She is a lawyer so we can assume perhaps an administrative investigation not a criminal one.

However, if indeed, you are investigating an administrative issue, why give it headlines? You should be discreet and hasty, careful not to commit character assassination and you should not clump it in with a convicted previous director, because then you imply guilt by association.

Investigate all you want, rules are rules, but respect privacy because one day, when it happens to you, you would wish you were more careful.

I asked some of my friends with economic credentials to comment on the “Financial Relief for the Elderly,” exempting retirees with income up to Awg 30.000 a year, from paying the AZV premium.

As of end of 2024, there were about 20,626 people aged 65 or older living in Aruba. That age group made up about 19.0 % of the total population. The exemption from paying the AZV premium is relevant to those only relying on AOV, the government pension, for income. Many of our retirees still work, full time and part time, many hide their additional income, but lets says that more than 10,000 people will now have about Awg 500 extra in their pockets.

Not bad. They deserve help, they are the most vulnerable.

It was a politically motivated decision. Of course the elderly are a priority, but was it the right thing to do??

The decision was made by our prime minister and the minister of health. They were beaming when they announced the new measure.

Reactions from my friends with economic credentials:

AZV Has a surplus. And Mike likes to be Santa Claus. But yes, it helps that group to lower costs, of course. It would have been nice to see increased services like psychologist and more specialists, instead.

Someone, somewhere will have to cover that bill. AZV is a socialistic idea, with a built-in inequality since government employees are eligible to AZV +, a medical package with special inclusions above and beyond everyone else. That is the most unfair part of it. The fact that AZV collects 3 million florins each day from our economy, and that is about 70% of what our economy gives the public sector, in total 4.5 million/day, it makes me think that we spend way too much on corrective medical activities, and extraordinarily little on preventive. So yes, sure, give our poor elderly a break from taxation…but if you REALLY want to give lower income demographics higher value, start giving more services to the public. The government spend 4.5 million a day, which means throwing away our hard-earned florin, which causes prices to go up. That means actual income decreases for everybody. And that is bad for our health.

I wish the government would think about the 20- to 60-year-olds more, and would make their life easier, since they earn the big bucks that allow us to run this country. Improve public transportation, lower the tax on gas?!

Politically, it is an attractive and easy-to-communicate decision, especially given rising living and healthcare costs. The real question, however, is whether this is the right instrument. Reducing premiums improves affordability for pensioners, but it also reduces revenue for AZV. Without transparency into how that shortfall is covered or what cost-control measures accompany it, the policy risks shifting financial pressure elsewhere rather than addressing the underlying sustainability issues. In short, it may be socially understandable, but it should be judged by whether it is part of a broader, responsible healthcare financing strategy rather than a standalone gesture.

You are absolutely right! It was politically motivated, but obviously the cost of living is where the pressure is most visible and most immediate. Income discussions mean little if basic expenses keep rising faster than wages and pensions. Housing, utilities, food, healthcare, and transportation are now absorbing a disproportionate share of household income, especially for lower- and middle-income residents and retirees. If policy does not directly address these structural cost drivers, any fiscal adjustment risks shifting the burden onto those least able to absorb it. The real question should therefore be how to lower everyday living costs sustainably, not just how to rebalance budgets on paper.

What caught my attention in the article is the wording used by the AZV director, Edwin Jacobs. He confirms that this measure will not create an immediate problem for AZV and that there is room within BAZV to absorb it. That qualifier is important. The IMMEDIATE is raising alarms here. What seems to be missing from the reassurance is the longer-term demographic reality. We already know that Aruba is aging rapidly, with more people entering the system than there are young contributors coming in behind them. That trend is structural, not temporary. If this is not fully built into the projections, then we are again buying time instead of solving the problem.

This feels like another policy band-aid. It is administratively easy to adjust contributions or benefits and declare short-term stability, but much harder to address the root cause: the cost of living. When living costs keep rising, more people inevitably become dependent on AZV and other social supports. You cannot stabilize healthcare financing while ignoring housing, utilities, food prices, and overall affordability. My concern is not whether AZV survives this year or next. It is whether, ten years from now, there will be a real buffer in place for the next wave of elderly people. If the cost of living is not tackled seriously, we will look back and realize that this was another moment where short-term calm was prioritized over long-term sustainability.