PHILIPSBURG — August 27, 1983, was supposed to be just another hot and dry day in paradise. Temperatures peaked at 32 Celsius at noon and did not go lower than 28 during the evening. St. Maarten was a peaceful place, its population just above 16,000, a far cry from the estimated 43,000 people that call the island their home today. Little Amy Velasquez was looking forward to her sixth birthday the very next day. Sadly it was the last day of her precious life. She was brutally taken, raped, tortured and murdered by a 21-year old from Anguilla, one Ashton…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — “Unlock private investments and promote job creation through public investments.” That is one of the recommendations Richard Doornbosch, President of the Central bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) makes in his report The Insight of Foresight that was released on January 26. Doornbosch also advises helping the unemployed to find work through job training programs and job search assistance programs, to invest in education and lifelong learning, to address rigidities in the labor market and to improve the quality of, and access to digital technologies. Both Curacao and St. Maarten should also have a multi-annual plan in…
By Hilbert Haar We have lost out trust in our politicians. We have lost our moral compass. Our integrity compass. Actually, we don’t have a compass at all anymore. Court rulings are wrong. I am not making this up. These opinions come from former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards and former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs. They are both hitting the proverbial nail on the head. Our politicians – not all of them, but too many of them – are foolhardishly setting the wrong example while they ought to be role models for the current and the next generation. But they are…
Knowledge is power, gives confidence and peace of mind. Knowledge straightens the spine, lifts up the chin and empowers one’s steps. Knowledge, formally acquired through the educational system, or informally learned through modern technology, is not a luxury but a must in today’s world. In retirement for three years, I reflected on forty-five years of engagement with society as a teacher, lawyer, TV host, the first Ombudsman of Sint Maarten, mentor, motivator and more, and feel compelled to issue a CALL TO ACTION for 2022. First to all who aspire to assume a leading role in public office, and secondly…
ST. PETERS — Santa Claus brought Christmas cheer and goodies to a number of residents in St. Peters and the surrounding areas on Wednesday, December 22, 2021. Hundreds of children were also fortunate to receive gifts from Santa along with several hampers with food items, including hams and turkeys, that were given out to the households. The Hyacinth Richardson Education Awareness Foundation, HREAF, and its partner Secours Populaire Français (SPF) came together to give back to the community to make a great Christmas for the St. Peters residents. HREAF founder, Hyacinth Richardson noted that there were many parents who are…
PHILIPSBURG — René Zwart is of course not really a former journalist, as he describes himself in Kadushi’s Prikkeljaar 2021, a collection of 45 columns he wrote for his creation dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl in 2021 and 36 columns from writers on the six islands of the former Netherlands Antilles. His recent interview with John Samson on Caribisch Network conforms this: “I will only stop with Caribbean journalism once I am dead.” Zwart, founder of Antilliaans Dagblad in Curacao, returned after his retirement to the Netherlands. Spending time on a golf course was however not part of his plans. He felt – and…
PHILIPSBURG — The important role of Princess Juliana International Airport as a hub, and that of local airline Winair as the main carrier for flights to and from St. Barths were confirmed by data released by Fabrice Danet, the director of the Airport of Saint Barthélemy Remy de Haenen. In December of last year, 21,140 passengers arrived in St. Barths on commercial flights, up 31.5 percent compared to 2020. The total of arriving passengers for 2021 is 147,292, an increase of 23.7 percent. The overwhelming majority of these passengers (13,540) arrived from Princess Juliana International Airport, 63.8 percent more than…
“We cannot drink champagne if we only have money for Coca Cola.” – Marcel Gumbs PHILIPSBURG — First MP Claudius Buncamper declared himself independent. Then Akeem Arrindell followed his example. Result: the United St. Maarten party (USp) lost its representation in Parliament. After Buncamper’s suspension that situation will soon be resolved, because his replacement will come from the USp-list In the meantime, Aging With Grace-program host Linda Richardson recently asked in a Facebook panel-broadcast what should be done about situations like this. StMaartenNews.com publisher Terrance Rey was the first one to react: “The USp has given us a practical definition…
PHILIPSBURG — Former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and former Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards both expressed their support for vaccination against COVID during a Facebook-broadcast of Linda Richardson’s Aging with Grace-program. “I believe in science and I am pro vaccination,” Gumbs said, “I have tried to convince some friends and family-members to get vaccinated, but the anti-vax narrative has become stronger. One of my friends said he was not going to take the vaccine because he said he did not know what is in it. I said, do you know what is in the air we breathe? He answered: Well, God…
PHILIPSBURG — Leader of the United St. Maarten Party (USP) Pamela Gordon-Carty on Wednesday decried the amount of civil servants that are leaving government service and placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the National Alliance/UP coalition government. She said the government has created an atmosphere of hopelessness and victimization which is directly contributing to the exodus of public servants. “While I want to wish the entire population of country St. Maarten a prosperous and health filled new year beginnings, I would also want to express my dissatisfaction with what has been going on in plain sight right here.…
