Letter to the Editor Dear Editor, I am writing with deep concern regarding a troubling photograph circulating publicly, depicting disgraced former MP Theo Heyliger, currently serving a five-year sentence for bribery and money laundering at Pointe Blanche Prison, holding a cell phone in his cell. This shocking image raises serious questions about the integrity of our prison system, the enforcement of regulations, and the potential misuse of influence, particularly given Heyliger’s wife, Grisha Heyliger-Marten, is the current Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport, and Telecommunications (TEATT). The presence of a cell phone in Heyliger’s cell is a clear violation of…
Author: The Publisher
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A bit late but still a good question. Why did St. Maarten never put money aside for the loans it received from the Netherlands back in 2010? Why indeed? It is tempting to suspect that St. Maarten never intended to repay those loans. If that is true, it makes our country a highly unreliable kingdom partner. Another possible explanation is that bookkeeping is not our country’s strongest point. Financial supervisor Cft has advised the government for years to improve its financial management. The most heard excuse for lack of progress: lack of capacity. The last known number of civil servants…
PHILIPSBURG – – The Permanent Parliamentary Committee for Kingdom Relations has suddenly woken up to the fact that St. Maarten is unable to repay loans that were granted almost fifteen years ago, in 2010. “Why did Curacao and St. Maarten not make reservations in their budgets for the repayment of these loans?” is one of the questions committee-members posed. The budget for kingdom relations mentions loan repayments of 205 million (euro) this year but there is little chance that the Netherland will see this money – if ever. The committee also wants to know when a decision will be taken…
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten has already plenty of problems to deal with and now another one should be added to this seemingly endless list: sargassum. According to a rather alarming report on the CNN website, this year there is already 31 million tons of seaweed drifting in the Atlantic ocean – 40 percent more than the previous record from 2022. “Sargassum hurts ecosystems and economies wherever its overgrown arms reach,” Stephanie Elam writes in the CNN-article. Brian Lapointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute notes that sargassum is “a harmful algal bloom when it comes…
The political summer break is almost there and it is a good a time as any to assess the situation in our country. In my opinion (but who am I?) it does not look good and that is a pity. Why am I writing this? St. Maarten is unable to repay loans the Netherlands granted fifteen years ago. The prison is a mess – nothing new: it has always been a mess. Prison guards do not take their responsibilities seriously: when a fire broke out their solution was to flee the premises. The Minister of VROMI says that bribery is…
By Tom Clifford in Beijing It seemed too good to be true, an economic version of the Arthurian legend. Let it not be forgot that for one brief shining moment there was a place called Camelot. The modern version might go like this… Our destiny in the distance shone, it was Amer-ina standing alone. America and China (Amer-ina), a united economic front, an inviting destination for the global economy, the city on the hill. Not too long ago this portmanteau seemed to sum up an oft-used phrase, a new world order. It was meant to work like this. US companies would set up shop in China…
St. Maarten is once again at a financial crossroads. With a slate of bullet loans dating as far back as October 2010 now coming due, the country finds itself unable to repay them. The advice from the College Financieel Toezicht (Cft) is clear: refinancing is the only viable path forward. But at what cost? The alarming revelation in the Cft’s recent advisory is not only that St. Maarten hasn’t repaid a guilder of these loans in over 15 years, but that no provisions were ever made in annual budgets to do so. These bullet loans—appealing at first glance due to…
By Hilbert Haar So now St. Maarten is saddled with a bunch of loans it is unable to repay. The only way out: refinancing. I am curious to see what kind of agreement our country will be able to make with the Netherlands about this issue. Until then, I remain more than a bit worried. See related article: Cft advises to refinance loans St. Maarten is unable to repay The advice of the Cft about the repayment of these loans makes a couple of things clear. First, St. Maarten has not repaid anything on loans that date back fifteen years…
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten is in a financial bind because it is unable to repay loans the Netherlands granted back in 2010. The State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Zsolt Szabó said that he is “not convinced” of the need to refinance these loans but financial supervisor Cft, asked for advice, responded that it does not see another option. On October 21, 2010, St. Maarten received five bond loans from the Netherlands that expired between ten and fifteen years. They all had different interest rates and St. Maarten was not required to make interim payments. The first loan…
PHILIPSBURG — Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten (Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication) presented a detailed roadmap towards the development of agriculture in a recent meeting of the parliament’s Permanent Committee of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry (CAFAH). The minister pointed out that there is just 51,000 guilders allocated for agriculture in the 2025 budget. “We must recognize, if we really want to develop the sector, that we cannot continue to depend on external financing.” Heyliger-Marten acknowledged that the tariff war started by American President Trump will have an effect on St. Maarten and that this will make it more urgent to…
