Borrowing – A state that borrows and consumes can only ever repay its debts by borrowing again.

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/borrowing-a-state-that-borrows-and-consumes-can-only-ever-repay-its-debts-by-borrowing-again/

Two new books by historian Dufi Kock

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/two-new-books-by-historian-dufi-kock/

Investors are increasing pressure.

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/investors-are-increasing-pressure/

Back in Aruba after 18 years, Executive Chef Frank Uphoff

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/back-in-aruba-after-18-years-executive-chef-frank-uphoff/

Forum on the Future of San Nicolas by Suzette Dumfries

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/forum-on-the-future-of-san-nicolas-by-suzette-dumfries/

The next wave of Dutch Caribbean innovation is here!

https://batibleki.wheninaruba.com/the-next-wave-of-dutch-caribbean-innovation-is-here/

Aruba Wastewater Sustainable Solutions (AWSS) would like to announce that starting August 17, 2026, AWSS will begin a 10-day preventive maintenance program on the main equipment (the aeration system with diffusers) responsible for treating blackwater.

These preventive tasks are essential to maintaining the high reliability, safety, and efficiency of the blackwater treatment process. AWSS assures that normal plant operations will continue without interruption during the maintenance period. However, during this time, there may be temporary odor disturbances in the area surrounding the Bubali plant.

AWSS reassures both the community and the commercial sector that all necessary measures are being taken to minimize any inconvenience. This type of temporary discomfort is normal during operations of this nature and poses no risk to public health.

“We thank our community and commercial sector in advance for their patience and understanding while we complete these important works,” stated the AWSS management board. “Performing this preventive maintenance ahead of the high tourist season allows us to ensure high-quality and sustainable wastewater treatment services for Aruba.”

The work is expected to be completed by August 27, 2026.

A successful Kingdom Startup Program wrapped up this week and preparations are in full swing for next year’s edition. The Kingdom Startup Program was a six-week entrepreneurship program bringing together university students from Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten to develop innovative solutions for challenges and opportunities across the Dutch Caribbean.

Through workshops, mentorship, customer discovery, and real-world experimentation, participants learn how to transform ideas into validated ventures while developing entrepreneurial skills that prepare them to create lasting impact.

Admission was free, for entrepreneurs, students, professionals, investors, policymakers, educators, or individuals curious about innovation. At the end of the six weeks the finalists were presented at an evening at the University of Aruba.

The showdown at University of Aruba featured five teams, they each got three minutes to pitch their project then a jury deliberated and awarded prizes to the top three contenders.

Waste2Wall won first prize, a group of students from Curacao, they were rewarded with $3,000 for attempting to turn local waste into strong foundations by manufacturing blocks, pavers, and curbstones changing the way construction is carried out while reducing waste. Their presentation was the most complete, quoting sources and market opportunities. It was the best thought-out pitch.

The second-place winner, KIMA, from Aruba, made a charcoal briquette alternative from coconut shells and coffee grinds. The students were trying to replace the imported charcoal bought in stores with KIMA charcoal. They walked away with $2,000 toward further development of their idea, and a promise from Aruba Wine & Dine CEO, a member of the Jury, to support them in their quest and involve his company’s chefs in evaluating their product and improving the BTU per pound, the briquette’s heating value, and the temperature output.

The third-place winner, was picked as a special mention by the jury, DRS Solutions from Sint Maarten. They deserved encouragement, and $1,000, for their idea of making building materials from the offensive sargassum seaweed that is choking the beaches and disrupting tourism. The sargassum seaweed challenges many countries, and attempts are being made to turn it into fertilizer, biogas, building blocks, and any useful commercial products.

Two more teams presented half-baked idea, or maybe I just did not get them, one idea from Sint Maarten focused on free solar panels as a solution for families struggling to pay their electric bills, a noble idea, that would require sponsors with very deep pockets, and another startup, Impact Action Hub, that had the good idea to connect young talent with potential employers even before graduation. The idea is solid, but it still needs to be worked out. No CEO would hand over his company to an inexperienced student, no matter how smart. But the idea of involving students in business early, is a winner.

The audience enjoyed the energy of all participants from the Dutch Caribbean islands, and the fact that they grew together in their entrepreneurial journey. They were full of exuberant youthfulness and pizzazz. Most importantly, university students from Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten were exposed to the idea of being their own boss, self-supported, and living off their innovations.

The Forum at Santa Teresita Center in San Nicolas unfolded over three days. I attended the second day and noted that the event attracted an engaged and engaging audience.

Visit https://www.suzettedumfries.com/, to learn more.

Dumfries introduces herself as a nation builder with international experience, yet at this time, she turns her focus on San Nicolas, her hometown, the place everyone forgot, the town that is a political priority at elections time, to be relegated to the backburner once elections are over.

Suzette shared with her audience that she conducted research into the why, why has success and wealth did not trickle down to San Nicolas, and what can be done to remedy that sad situation. She shared her findings with the San Nicolas community this week.

I believe there will be another set of meetings next week, to explore solutions.

I found Suzette’s understanding of the current situation valid, and her analysis true.

In her slides she presented a central argument about San Nicolas and the long-term impact of Lago’s presence and departure. She suggests that San Nicolas has historically been discussed in separate pieces: infrastructure in one place, tourism somewhere else, economic affairs elsewhere, along with social policy, the refinery and culture.

This fragmented approach made it difficult to understand how these elements are interconnected. The vision behind the Forum was therefore to bring together the different players who collectively shape Aruba’s development and place them “into one room.”

Suzette’s second research revelation focused on Lago as the organizing principle of San Nicolas. Lago was not simply a refinery or an employer. It functioned as an institutional ecosystem built around its workforce. Its role extended across four interconnected systems.

First was economic security, providing employment, salaries, pensions, and benefits.

Second was human development, through apprenticeships, scholarships, and career opportunities. Third was social infrastructure, including housing, hospitals and healthcare, and schools.

Fourth was community infrastructure, such as sports parks, social clubs, and recreational facilities.

Suzette argues that Lago also generated a much broader local economic ecosystem. Its payroll circulated beyond the refinery, creating demand for households, shops, services, and landlords who owned real estate and rented to shops and people. Alongside this formal economy an informal and shadow economy existed that also developed under the same port-and-refinery conditions.

Consequently, when Lago left, San Nicolas lost more than a major employer. Two systems were disrupted simultaneously: the visible institutional structure that Lago had created around its workforce, and the less visible economic ecosystem that had grown around the refinery.

Suzette’s key message was that understanding San Nicolas today requires looking beyond the refinery itself, beyond the workplace, and recognizing the social, economic, human and community systems that were interconnected with it—and how their disruption contributed to the challenges San Nicolas faces today.

Suzette’s analysis stated that beyond the gates, two economies grew together. The two parallel economies, one formal representing wages, households, shops/services, landlords, migration-driven growth, and the other informal or shadow economy, built around a large transient male workforce and represented by the bars, the entertainment district, offering informal lodging, in a regulated red-light district, populated by cross-border/migrant labor with weak legal protection.

In later years, this shadow economy will often be linked to human trafficking, and other illegal activity.

Just to refresh our memory, Suzette presented the 1985 systemic rupture when Lago closed. She shared that the impact hit everything at once: 1,300 direct refinery jobs lost, 6,000–8,000 indirect jobs lost, national unemployment jumping from 5% to 27% within months, and planned hotel rooms rising from 2,318 to 7,702 (1985–1992) reflecting the pivot to tourism. She framed it as an economic, urban, migration, and institutional shock simultaneously — the closure removed an entire “operating system” from the city, not just a plant.

And when Coastal, Valero, and RdA came in they were just employers with a much leaner footprint, and no comparable social infrastructure – no housing, no hospital, no schools, no pensions.

It is interesting to note that as of November 2025, government policy for the first-time treats ending the refinery era — not reopening it — as the goal.

Chef Uphoff is not simply an executive chef; he is a culinary professional who has spent more than two decades building kitchens, teams, and hospitality concepts across the globe.

His mom he shares, cooked with her heart, and dad’s attempts at grilling were tolerated. But as a young man he already had an understanding of food, which after a few test runs, landed him in a kitchen working for old school mentors.

Thus, his career began in the Netherlands, apprenticing under respected Michelin-starred chefs, 85 hours a week for one thousand euros.

At the wake of monetary crisis that crippled fine dining, his path took him to Aruba. He was tired of the uncertain weather and the long hours, he dreamed about the tropics, when he saw an ad one day looking for a chef for Moomba Beach. Four days later, he was here, basking in the sun.

His short stint at Moomba led to another stop at the fondly remembered Chez Mathilda, and the transition to the next-door hotel complex was easy. Chef Uphoff joined the culinary team at the Renaissance Aruba Resort, and climbed up the kitchen ranks, to become executive chef, helping to open L.G. Smith Steak and Chop House and later the Aquarius Buffet Restaurant, two highly successful dining concepts, to this day.

In 2004 he participated in the international competition, Taste of the Caribbean, as a member of the Aruba culinary team.

Aruba has always been an important chapter in my journey, he says. At Renaissance, before it became Wind Creek Aruba Resort, Chef Uphoff worked across the complex, feeding vacationers in hundreds of rooms, at two resorts, dining at multiple restaurants. He oversaw major banqueting facilities and large-scale events, including all food & beverage served on the private island.

On his off day, while enjoying the beach, the sun, and the new friends he made, he often thought about more world travel ending up in Aruba where he wished to raise his children, sometimes in the future. As he watched children jumping in the waves, carefree and content, he vowed to return.

With the travelling bug still in his system, he continued to work at the Seychelles, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Ras Al Khaimah, before leading culinary operations at Hilton The Hague.

He always said to himself that if the opportunity arises, he will be going back to Aruba.

His wish came true, in 2024. Chef Uphoff was hired as the Executive Chef of Divi & Tamarijn All Inclusive, where his responsibilities extend beyond food, to people, standards, sustainability, and the overall guest experience.

With Divi’s excellent culinary team, he helped develop the latest Club Margot, which opened exactly one year ago, a new dining concept, serving a family-style curated, set menu, right on the beach, with spectacular sunset views. The food? A blend of Mediterranean flavors, interpreted with Caribbean flair. Club Margot also features a spectacular bar surrounding the live piano station, shaking craft cocktails to order, made with premium brands and exotic fruit. Club Margot is now the most successful of the Divi all Inclusive restaurants.

With his team Chef Uphoff helped inaugurate The Barista, a coffee bar at Tamarijn all Inclusive, presenting fresh Viennoiserie, including eclairs, croissants, pain au chocolat, Danish pastries and craft coffee.

I love the rush, the unspoken expectations, the vibe, and the excitement in restaurants, as diners prepare for memorable dining experiences, its what drives me to always upgrade and improve and raise the bar on our kitchen performance, the chef explains. With Divi’s high occupancies and repeat business we love to surprise our guests with new offerings all the time.

Cosmos, a rooftop bar & restaurant will be opening in December and the Italian Paparazzi restaurant is transforming into an authentic, artisanal pizzeria serving simple yet extraordinary pies, stretched, folded, and tossed by hand at an exhibition kitchen.

On his day off, Chef Uphoff goes to the beach with his two girls, 15 and 9, and watches them jumping in the waves, carefree and content.

His track record tells the story: Michelin-trained, internationally experienced, award-recognized—and firmly rooted in the belief that great hospitality starts with a dedicated culinary team and the drive for excellence.