by Chris Morvan You can tell when the World Cup is on because suddenly the world goes Brazilian. People who you know for a fact have never been within 1,000 miles of Rio de Janeiro have got that distinctive flag flying from their car. And why do these people feel the need to declare such an unwarranted allegiance? Because Brazil are always good and are quite likely to win the tournament again. Distinctive flag, did I say? With the greatest respect to whoever designed it back in the 19th century, it looks like something a teenager knocked up on his…
Author: The Publisher
It snuck back in quietly, but Dollarization is back on the political agenda. With Ferrier’s announcement that we have just two years worth of guilder banknotes left, the decision will have to be made the coming months whether to opt for a Caribbean Guilder (with Curacao), a St. Maarten Dollar or go with the US Dollar or the Euro. Money is still on everyone’s mind, but we are still not seeing any flowing. Now it is even threatening to dry up. Yesterday, we published news that APS is discussing launching a St. Maarten Investment Bank. We have a suggestion for…
PHILIPSBURG – National Ombudsman in the Netherlands Reinier van Zutphen and St. Maarten’s Ombudsman Dr. Nilda Arduin have joined forces to come to the rescue of citizens who need post-hurricane help and do not get satisfactory attention of the government. At a joint press conference at the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in Cupecoy, Arduin and Van Zutphen explained how the office of the Ombudsman is able to help citizens in need in the face of the 2018 hurricane season that got underway on June 1. “When governments are involved and they come across people who are…
By Hilbert Haar Actions speak louder than words; that thought came to mind during the seventh annual Governor’s Symposium, this time with climate change as its central theme. The time to act is now, I heard. The sea level is rising and if we wait long enough we’ll see all our beaches, the airport, the cruise port, Philipsburg, Simpson Bay and other low lying parts of the island disappear under water. The Lowlands will become a separate island. Useless to say, with no beaches to go to, the strip in Simpson Bay swallowed by the sea and Philipsburg a no-go…
PHILIPSBURG – “We are among the most vulnerable Caribbean tourists destinations between 25 and 50 years from now,” Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday said in his opening address at the seventh annual Governor’s Symposium about the impact of climate change on Friday morning. Experts presented a bleak picture of St. Maarten’s future due to rising sea levels, stronger and more frequent hurricanes and periods of serious droughts. Joseph Isaac, head of St. Maarten’s Meteorological Department presented a number of options to mitigate the impact of natural disasters. “Build seawalls, improve drainage systems and amend building codes,” he said. “Every dollar spent…
PHILIPSBURG – The Common Court of Justice postponed on Thursday morning a decision about a civil inquiry at the Harbor Holding Company and its subsidiaries until December 13, but it granted the public prosecutor its request to suspend Mark Mingo immediately as statutory director for the duration of the legal procedures. The public prosecutor’s office filed a request to order a civil inquiry and to take provisionary measures against the port companies on September 1 of last year. Due to Hurricane Irma, that request got lost and the prosecutor’s office submitted its request again on February 19 of this year.…
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PHILIPSBURG – The statues at local roundabouts are important symbols but they are not official monuments, Minister Jorien Wuite (Education, Culture, Youth and Sport) said at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing. The statue of One Tete Lohkay and the statues at the Salt Pickers roundabout near the police station have both been damaged by Hurricane Irma. One Tete Lohkay has completely disappeared from its pedestal at the roundabout near Learning Unlimited. One Tete Lohkay, the runaway slave girl that became a legend in St. Maarten’s history, is even more of an important symbol because of the approaching date of…
PHILIPSBURG – Starting in September, eligible students will be able to begin with their law studies at the University of St. Martin, Minister Jorien Wuite (Education) announced at Wednesday’s council of Ministers press briefing. The law study is an initiative of former Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. and should have started last year in September. Hurricane Irma changed those plans. The budget for the course was already created at the finance ministry, and Gibson’s successor Mike Ferrier has honored the reservation. The law study will be offered in St. Maarten by the University of Curacao. “The objective is to…
PHILIPSBURG – With hindsight, the Navy had its priorities wrong when it came to the rescue in Sint Maarten after Hurricane Irma in September of last year. Or rather, the government chose the wrong priorities. Brigade General Peter de Vin, the Commander of the Navy in the Caribbean, says this in an interview published on Tuesday in Alle Hens, a publication of the Navy in Curacao. “It was beyond our imagination. Especially St. Maarten, Saba and Statia experience hurricanes more often, but nobody had expected this. Hellish natural violence. In spite of the disaster this was a unique operation for…
