PHILIPSBURG — One year after hurricane Irma, the corporate community of St. Maarten is on review in the book RESILIENCE – a series of interviews with business owners and leaders who took the lead again after the complete devastation on September 6, 2017. The book is available as of September 6, 2018, as a Kindle ebook and as paperback via Amazon. The author, Barbara van der Woude, recently moved to St. Maarten. “Admittedly, I was quite anxious when I visited the island again for the first time after Irma. I fell in love with St. Maarten during a holiday in…
Author: The Publisher
Nearly $700 Million USD paid by NAGICO to insureds in the Caribbean thus far The US$58.2 Million Dollar judgement fully paid to Princess Juliana International Airport by NAGICO Philipsburg, Sint Maarten (September 3, 2018) — National General Insurance Corp N.V. (NAGICO), a diversified insurance company serving 21 territories in the Caribbean, has over the past 12 months paid nearly $700 Million US Dollars to its clients in the islands that were affected by hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017. The Princess Juliana International Airport (“PJIA”) is among the many NAGICO clients that have been paid. A total of USD$58.2…
PHILIPSBURG — Two female occupants who were driving in their vehicle on Friday evening August 31st on Billy Folly Road were surprised by an unknown man who jumped into the backseat of their vehicle while on their way from a local restaurant. Both females, not knowing who this man was, feared for their life jumped out of the vehicle leaving the suspect behind. At the same time the suspect jumped into the driver seat and drove off with the car. The suspect crashed the vehicle on the Welfare Road injuring him self shortly after stealing it. A police patrol was…
By Elco Rosario It was around September 1998 when I was visited in my notary office on Sint Maarten by two intelligence agents, one from Holland, Mr. Oosterlaken and one from Curacao, Mr. Schuschen. They had come to finish an interrogation which had started on March 9th of that year. Topic: the functioning of the notary by us. Like the first part of the interrogation this one also felt to me like giving an introductory class to students. At the end the two gentlemen thanked me for the information given and admitted that they had learnt a lot. I then…
By Hilbert Haar We leave Irkutsk on a Monday morning – rising early because the train leaves shortly after 8 a.m. for a trip of 22 hours to Ulanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Our cabin is more luxurious than the one on the train from Moscow to Irkutsk and our travel companions are Andreas, a young Pole and his father-in-law Jan; at age 73, Jan’s age mirrors that of his son-in-law who is 37. A trader in fuel, he is married to Paulina though he spends quite some time away from her traveling the world. So far, he’s hit sixty…
Dear Editor, Lets line up the following facts: 1. The failure of many developing countries, particularly small ones has been caused by the breakdown of effective democracy that has been undermined by various forms of non-democratic behavior including vote buying and undue vote influencing. 2. The recent demonstration that was based on the accusation that the prosecutors office in Sint Maarten is “selective” in it’s choice of cases to prosecute. The case in the forefront concerned vote buying. Surely we should hope that the prosecutors office should prioritize cases whose behavior have the widest possible impact on the future of…
PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten (August 28, 2018) – The St. Maarten Guyanese Association (SMGA) last evening was forced to postpone its election for a new executive board after Chamber of Commerce representative Ms. Ruth Patrick and Minister of Justice Cornelius De Weever pointed out that the association was not in possession of the original copy of its registered constitution. Both Minister De Weever and Ms. Patrick were invited to preside over the elections to ensure transparency, but when they requested to view the original Chamber registration, SMGA was only able to produce a draft document. As such, they indicated that they…
By Hilbert Haar With some amazement, if not amusement, I have taken note of the ‘I stand with St. Maarten’ march in Philipsburg. Obviously, this was a protest organized in support of MP Theo Heyliger, who is the subject of prosecution on charges of a (suspected) attempt at bribery. The protesters claim that the country’s leaders are being prosecuted ‘systematically.’ In my opinion, that’s a tall order. Maria-Buncamper-Molanus has been sentenced for tax fraud, former MP Patrick Illidge for bribery and MP Frans Richardson is on the ropes for bribery too. Is that systematic prosecution? It feels more like systematic…
Philipsburg, St. Maarten, August 30, 2018 – Long in the making, the proposal to ban single-use plastic bags, has been submitted to parliament for its consideration. “This is a significant step towards effective waste management on St. Maarten. I’ve proposed to amend the General Police Ordinance and prohibit the use of single-use plastic bags. Single-use plastic bags have significant effects on ecosystems and a variety of species and have contributed significantly to the solid waste problems we experience on St. Maarten.” stated Wescot-Williams. “Small, but Significant Step in Overall Waste Management” In my research, it became evident that there are…
BONAIRE, AUGUST 26, 2018 — Early Sunday morning the process to move about 90 to 100 prisoners to the newly constructed prison at Plantage Aruba in Bonaire started. Prison Director Wibo de Vries (see screenshot above) took a moment to inform the press about the process and said that the mega-operation was going well. As a result of the level of preparation the operation had not been of any cause of concern for the organization. During the press briefing JICN Prison Director De Vries explained how the mega-operation was very well planned and prepared as it was a long time…
