WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG — Liberty Latin America Ltd. (“LLA”) today has announced that it has completed the acquisition of the remaining 12.5% of United Telecommunication Services (“UTS”). In March this year, LLA acquired 87.5% of UTS and the acquisition of the remaining 12.5% now results in LLA owning 100% of UTS. The governments of Curaçao and St. Maarten held stakes of 87.5% and 12.5%, respectively, in UTS. C&W Communications (“C&W”) is part of LLA, and the UTS operation reports to Mr. Nicolas Collette, Vice President of C&W, Southern Cluster, which also includes Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago. “This is an exciting moment…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – The navy support vessel Hr. Ms. (His Majesty’s) Pelikaan delivered eleven of the 22 container-cells from Bonaire to St. Maarten last week. The containers will be placed in the yard of the Pointe Blanche prison and facilitate the return of inmates that are currently behind bars in the Netherlands and elsewhere. After Hurricane Irma half of the cells at the prison became unfit for housing detainees. The prison’s capacity dropped from 120 prisoners before the hurricane to 80 after the monster storm. Bringing back the 23 inmates that are currently in prisons in the Netherlands is urgent from…
PHILIPSBURG — The board of the United St. Maarten St. Maarten Party (USP) on Monday re-iterated what it has always said when it comes to forming a government: objectives and initiatives have to be about the people of St. Maarten first. “it’s very simple for us,” the USP said. “Our people come first,” the party added. The board issued a statement on Monday afternoon after UD Faction Leader and Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers withdrew his support from the UD/SMCP coalition on Monday morning. The USP pointed out that MP Meyers basically echoed statement made by the USP MP’s for…
PHILIPSBURG — Social and Health Insurances SZV and Accessible Ventures recently signed a service agreement that would benefit those most in need of door-to-door transportation to access medical care. This new service is based on a medical referral application procedure and is for SZV insured who are: dialysis patients, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, paraplegic, bedridden or blind, patients with physical and/or mental disabilities and unable to drive themselves or acquire proper transportation or patients with limited access to family support. Requests for the service can only be submitted by the family house doctor or specialist and is subject to review…
PHILIPSBURG — Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunication (TEATT), the Honorable Stuart Johnson departs St. Maarten today with a “jam-packed” schedule ahead as he travels to Europe with French St. Martin Government officials and representatives of the Tourist offices on both sides of the island this month. The entire trip has a cost of Euro.8,300.00, with an exponential value. Port St. Maarten will also be in attendance as they try to drum up a new business and speak to the improvements they have made since 2017. The overall effort is in keeping with the Ministry of TEATT’s bid…
PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament Claude Chacho Peterson today had the distinction of having to give his prepared closing speech immediately after the unexpected announcement made by MP Franklin Meyers during his speech that he had withdrawn his support from the present government. MP Meyers even commended MP Peterson as one of the few coalition members who was a true team player in the coalition. Below is the complete text of the speech of MP Claude Peterson. SPEECH – CLOSING OF PARLIAMENTARY YEAR 2018-2019 Madame Chairlady, as the Faction Leader of the St. Maarten Christian Party representing one of eight seats…
Dear Editor, Super hurricanes are likely to be a regular feature of island life in the Caribbean in the future. The Irma experience and the Dorian experience in the Abacos and Grand Bahama are going to be repeated and the territories who are going to suffer this experience can best be fully familiar with the challenges of bouncing back. We should learn everything we can about resilience and reconstruction. The Abacos/Grand Bahama experience is not comparable to Sint Maarten in respect of its greater vulnerability of low lying areas, although this applied to Sint Maarten to some extent in some…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Franklin Meyers has just announced in Parliament that he withdrew his support from the government. “I hereby withdraw my support from the present government!” he said in ending his speech this morning during the closing of the 2018-2019 parliamentary year on Monday, September 9, 2019. Whether he has withdrawn his support from the coalition remains to be seen. But with MP Frans Richardson in extended detention and with only 14 members sitting in Parliament, MP Meyers withdrawing his support from the government brings the number of MPs supporting the government to only 7 in Parliament. UD member…
PHILIPSBURG — New care contracts have been signed between SZV and private practice psychologists Miranda Veltman, Caroline van Oost, Carmencita Dekkers-Chemont and Alexandra van Luijken. The care contract offers SZV insured medical coverage for assessment, consult, support and therapy from the psychologists. All three psychologists are members of the Association of Psychologists and Allied Professionals (APAP). The care contract between the parties include several layers of quality indicators that form a minimum standard of quality of care required to patients. Efficient and quality service delivery is important to all parties. The contract between SZV and the psychologists provides the needed…
~ Central Bank CBCS intervenes with the application of the emergency regulation ~ WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG — Banco Del Orinoco N.V., established in Curaçao since 1987 as as international bank of Venezuelan origin, is in chaos. The financial figures are unreliable, there is no ability to pay account holders their money and there is talk of fraud and deceit. This is evident from reading the judgment based on which the emergency regulation demanded by the Central Bank was issued yesterday, as well as the special authorizations granted to the CBCS. In a press release, the CBCS says it nicely: “The Central Bank…
