From social media: And I guess the party under the tent located “pabow” of the airport roundabout “rotonda de las Americas” that disrupted the traffic at the worst possible hour yesterday afternoon was to “baptize” the street? It was a huge-huge mess trying to go around the roundabout…

The renaming of the street running from the roundabout at Mahuma to the roundabout at Sun Plaza, after Aruba’s first prime minister Henny Eman, produced a monumental traffic jam. It also delivered speeches. I thought the address of the former AHATA CEO, and the current university lecturer Jim Hepple, was worth reading.

Here it goes: I am deeply honored to have been asked to offer some brief remarks this evening on the contribution Prime Minister Henny Eman made to the evolution of Aruba’s tourism industry consequent upon his taking office in 1986.

In the January of 1986 Henny Eman faced what, to many, would have seemed an insurmountable crisis.

He had assumed office at the same time as Aruba had achieved its long-desired Status Aparte and expectations in the community were naturally running high. However, in March of the previous year, the Lago refinery had closed, throwing Aruba’s economy into a deep recession.

Tourism, at that time the second pillar of the economy, was not flourishing, with overall visitor arrival numbers stagnant at just over 200,000 visitors a year and with Venezuelan arrivals having fallen sharply between 1982 from one third of all arrivals to less than 10% by 1985.

While international trips worldwide had grown substantially between 1960 and 1970, and by a further 67% between 1970 and 1980, as with Aruba, that growth had stalled in the early 1980s.

Given that context, it is remarkable that Henny had the vision to decide that a dramatically expanded tourist sector was best for Aruba.

Henny was by no means the first Aruban to recognize the tourism sector’s potential, but he was the first to truly make it happen.

The decision was made not to just focus on overall visitor arrivals but to invest in developing an infrastructure and product and to implement marketing campaigns that would appeal to an affluent consumer from a stable market, specifically the north-east United States.

This was in acknowledgement of the fact that Aruba was seen to be an expensive destination and if the Aruban economy was to grow as desired, visitors with high disposable incomes needed to be attracted to ensure the maximum benefit to our country.

Eman didn’t just choose tourism – he created the legislative and regulatory framework that made Aruba attractive to international hotel brands while preserving our cultural identity

This highly focused strategy was enormously successful as was seen by the visitor numbers, which grew from 207,000 in 1985 to 619,000 ten years later, with the number of visitors from the USA more than doubling from 152,000 to 345,000 during the same ten years.

History shows us that truly transformative leaders share certain qualities. They see reality clearly, but they refuse to be constrained by it. As with two prime examples such as Lee Kuan Yew, who looked at a resource-poor Singapore and saw a future global hub for finance, trade and technology, and Sheikh Rashid al Maktoum, who envisioned Dubai as a global crossroads when it had a fraction of its neighbors’ oil wealth, Henny echoed George Bernard Shaw’s famous words made popular by Robert Kennedy “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Leaders such as Henny didn’t just manage economies—they reimagined their nations’ identities and then implemented all things necessary to achieve their dreams.

But, as with everything, the world moves on and pivot decisions age. The tourism sector has its lifecycle, and competitiveness must be renewed, and new strategies must be implemented to reflect the new realities.

Let us honor Henny by ensuring that his decision was not in vain and take all actions necessary to ensure that Aruba’s tourism sector will continue to thrive and flourish in the years to come.

Thank you.

With the Prime Minister scheduled to retire from his party’s leadership in September 2026, it is worth reflecting on what this decision reveals about the broader trajectory of his leadership and the political realities confronting Aruba. From the beginning of this current term, it was evident that the country’s most pressing challenges were structural in nature, including tourism saturation, infrastructure strain, housing pressure, labor constraints, and environmental limits.

The governing approach has consistently emphasized stability, continuity, and visible progress. Policy initiatives tended to focus on measures that delivered quick, tangible outcomes and public reassurance. In practice, this resulted in a focus on easily attainable measures that created the appearance of action, while avoiding direct confrontation with the deeper issues that demanded political resolve. While this approach reinforced confidence and maintained political support, it also meant that deeper bottlenecks, those requiring sustained enforcement, institutional reform, and difficult trade-offs, remained largely unaddressed.

Over time, it became increasingly clear that confronting these structural constraints would demand an extraordinary level of political will, a highly experienced and unified governing team, and a readiness to absorb significant public resistance. Structural reform would inevitably disrupt established interests, challenge growth expectations, and place strain on political alliances. The cost of such action would not be temporary, nor politically neutral.

At the same time, the Prime Minister appeared to recognize that his leadership had reached a peak in credibility and public standing. Undertaking the most difficult reforms at this stage would likely have reshaped his legacy, shifting it from one of stability and continuity to one defined by confrontation and short-term disruption. In that context, restraint can be interpreted not as indecision, but as an acknowledgment of the limits imposed by political capital, institutional capacity, and timing.

Rather than pursuing reforms that would almost certainly erode support and fracture consensus, leadership increasingly emphasized manageability over transformation. The decision to retire can therefore be understood as a deliberate transition, creating space for a new generation of leaders who may possess both the ambition and the willingness to pay the political price required to address Aruba’s unresolved bottlenecks.

By stepping aside at a moment of relative strength, the Prime Minister preserves stability while implicitly acknowledging that the next phase of Aruba’s development will require a different form of leadership. The challenge ahead is whether this generational handover will be matched by the resolve, expertise, and institutional alignment necessary to confront issues that can no longer be deferred.

Our first Prime Minister deserve a street named after him, but what does it mean for neighbors who have been living at a certain address and now find themselves living at another? It means doing the rounds, banks, KVK, DIMP, Elmar, Web, an endless number of people and organizations that must be notified of the change.

My sympathies to all those walking the walk. I recently did the address change rounds, and every day I discover other people and organizations that must be informed. Be patient, my friends.

On the occasion of naming a major traffic artery, cluttered by businesses and homes,  after his late brother, from the rotonda of Mahuma, past the airport to the Sun Plaza rotonda, our prime minister announced he was stepping down from the AVP party leadership, indicating that he is perhaps also ready to let go of the MinPres title, down the road.

He went through a lot in past years, standing by his wife, during her illness, and might be aiming at a less hectic life.

He must be tired. The elders making up the AVP party board members are conservative and old fashioned, and the cabinet ministers do as they please. It must be like herding cats. Trying to take control organize or coordinate these two groups of individuals.

So, I suspect MinPres gave up the task of nailing Jello to the wall. During his first year in power, MinPres devoted his energy to planting trees, cleaning up neighborhoods and improving the life of the elderly. These are areas dear to his heart and he should be allowed to continue to dedicate his energy to his pet projects.

But managing a country in 2026, cannot rely on trees, dumpsters, and medications. The island needs a visionary leader. Young, dynamic, educated with some work and life experience under his belt.

Some of my friends, root for Trevor Eman, he has the pedigree – he is Mike’s nephew, has very warm and friendly parents. He has been racing cars internationally under the Aruba logo, and managed to complete an education, gain some helpful work experience at his family business, in between races. He squeezed in two kids too. Trevor has turned down the offer to join the family’s club, the political arena, for many years, but perhaps now that he is older and wiser – he has always been charming, he might change his mind.

My other friends hope that crown prince Wendrick Cecilia and party princess Stephanie Sevinger rise to the occasion, now that MinPres is ready to pass the baton.

But rumors indicate that the prince must still learn to get along, and provide the goods, besides a good talk. The princess has truly little work experience. To run this place, business experience is better than political heritage.

Another friend suspects Minister Geoffrey Wever, FUTURO, might join the AVP party to run for party leadership in September. He is ambitious, and on a fast track to top. Who knows, lets see what happens, much of this island’s government rests on his shoulders, as the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs, and Primary Sector.

The headline says it all, an old/new phenomenon.

I am sure, by now you are all geopolitical analysts having experienced shock and outrage mixed with joy at the news from Venezuela.

The abduction, snatching, grabbing of the Venezuelan dictator was highly illegal per international law. Heads of sovereign states have immunity according to a UN treaty signed by the U.S. But from what I read, the U.S. framed it as a drug arrest following a 2018 indictment in a NY court, and as such it is perfectly legal, and may be executed by the DEA, aided by any law enforcement and army. Besides many will argue Venezuela was cursed by an illegitimate regime, and the only way to restore its rightful government was to remove the dictator.

I agree that there were many reasons to remove him from his cushy job, but I was still shocked at the audacity. With Maduro’s close ties to terror organization Hezbollah, ultra-religious Iran, territorial ambitious Russia and pragmatic and ruthless China, he was an imminent threat. As one article put it, the real reason the Pentagon approved the action on Venezuela is that it considered Maduro, 63, an adversary presence.  The Pentagon concluded that Chinese control of resources in Venezuela, Iranian weapon manufacturing, and Russian military integration, EXCEEDED acceptable risk parameters. The U.S. president just signed on the dotted line, but the Pentagon decided, planned, and executed.

The president no doubt chuckled with glee over burgers and fries, at the image of the handcuffed, humiliated former bus driver, turned deposed head of state, a prisoner in the U.S. Maduro must have been shocked too.

Many also explain that Maduro was helping erode the system of Petrodollars, threatening the U.S. economy in a way that left no option but to spring into military action. The fifty-year-old Petrodollar agreement, made between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, cited that oil can only be bought with U.S. dollars, which resulted in high demand for that currency, by every country in the world. The U.S. could print as many as it wanted, and the demand remained high. But in recent years, China, Russia, and India started buying oil with their own currency, weakening the dollar, and threatening American economic collapse.

Thus, framed as the war against drug trafficking, the capture and arrest were eased by the 2018 indictment which recently received an update with more charges: Narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

Putting Maduro’s vice president, second in command Delcy Rodriguez in charge was a strategic move, so that the financial system, the bureaucrats, the military, the supply chains, and all institutions continue to function, salaries would be paid, and bank accounts would be accessible. With chaos avoided control of the country is kept – the system did not collapse, and will continue to function, hopefully, under U.S. pressure and direction.

The Venezuela basin holding the largest oil reserves in the world, was indeed very tempting in the age of Capitalistic Colonialism. And US oil companies are probably all heading back to Venezuela. My refinery watchers say, no, the Aruba refinery will not reopen, it will be dismantled for good, but the chance of Aruba finding commercial gas off shore is good, since Armstrong is still there, and still looking. He sees real hydrocarbon prospectiveness down there.

Another refinery watcher thinks differently and feels that Aruba’s two delayed cokers, along with the hydrodesulfurization units are perfect for the upgrade of the heavy, high sulfur crude, the Orinoco Gold, flowing out of Venezuela.

As far as Aruba is concerned, we should worry about our winter season. It started out with a bang, but both December 27th and January 3rd flight cancellations did not help. The U.S. did not have our economic interests at heart, when it attacked on the 3rd. They would have done is before but delayed it due to weather considerations.

Anyway, I should not have been shocked at the audacity. This was not the first time the U.S. launched a large scale strike in Latin America. In 1954 in Guatemala, Washington trained and financed the mercenaries that booted out the then president. In 1961 in Cuba, 1400 Cuban exiles were trained by the CIA and launched a failed invasion. There were other attempts on Fidel Castro‘s life, including an attempt to poison his cigars. In 1965, the Dominican Republic was regarded as a communist threat and the US sent the Marines in In 1970 the U.S. backed Pinochet during his coup, in Chile, and he, as you know, was a very bad player. In the 70s and 80s the U.S. had interfered in Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil to eliminate left-wing, communist, opponents. In 1979 in Nicaragua, the CIA provided 20 million in aid to the Contras, which flared into an international scandal since it involved arms sale to Iran. In 1980 El Salvador, the U.S. helped crush a rebellion which resulted in a 20 year long civil war. In 1983 it was Grenade’s turn when the Marines and Rangers intervened with a goal off curbing Cuban influence in the area. Then in 1989 in Panama, General Noriega — but he was not really the legitimate president. He was a general.  The U.S. was then responsible for the invasion and for the toppling of Noriega’s regime, He faced drug charges in the U.S. and spent more than 20 years in prison.

A similar case with Maduro, though Maduro was once the legitimate winner of the elections.

About December 27th

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/about-december-27th/

Aruba Birdlife Calendars 2026 Now Available

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/aruba-birdlife-calendars-2026-now-available/

Some useful tips, on New Year’s Eve to guarantee good luck year round

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/some-useful-tips-on-new-years-eve-to-guarantee-good-luck-year-round/