~ Or the silent ruination of St. Maarten without a word being uttered ~
By Terrance Rey
The news of the week is naturally the unlawful destruction of the ruins at Diamond Estate. The public outcry about this was heartfelt. Cultural icon and head of the Cultural Department, Clara Reyes, was one of the first on social media to voice her outcry at the destruction of the site that has become the location of the annual midnight re-enactment of the Diamond 26 Run when slaves ran to freedom after slavery was officially abolished on the French side of St. Martin.
One daughter of the soil and local lawyer was quick to point out that these ruins were not an official monument and were on private property. Another island-born son of the soil and member of Parliament gave a lengthy discourse about his investigation into this matter, calling the Fleming family by name as the owners of this property and even the name of the owner or representative of the adjacent property. However, the one name he did not call, eventhough he has parliamentary immunity and could have easily done so impunity, was the name of the realtor negotiating the sale of the property.
Apparently, the property in question where the ruins were located, which are now merely crushed rocks, is up for sale. The speculation is that either seller or buyer are fearing that the ruins would be declared a protected monument and therefore could limit the potential development of the property significantly. One school child said there are plans to build a casino at that location.
Personally, when I heard the news of the destruction of the ruins on the Lady Grace news program, I said someone wants to clear the way for the construction of the tunnel to St. Peters to commence. However, the aforementioned MP alluded to the fact that only the realtor stood to profit from this destruction. Strange, because last I knew, the realtor commission in brokering a sale and purchase agreement between a seller and buyer was only 6%. 94% of the sale amount was for the sole benefit of the seller. The benefit for the buyer is that he or she is free and clear to develop the property unencumbered if there aren’t any limitations stipulated in the deed.
Unless the ruins were under imminent action of being declared a protected monument, I for one would not see the need to sneakily destroy the ruins in the middle of the night. There is a video recordings of the work of the excavator – that was not orange zo te zien – which is not surprising at all because St. Maarten people like to show off, even when committing a crime against the community, knowing full well there is such a thing as social media nowadays.
Or was it an accident? Accidents do happen. So you can imagine that maybe the plan was to place the excavator on the property to clear the bush and brush in the area in the morning and it being in the dead of night and obviously dark no doubt, the excavator probably accidentally rolled over the ruins and crushed all of the stone structures and then with the spotlights on, tried to fix the damage or maybe cover up the damage, I don’t know. I can’t place myself in the mind of such a person doing such a nonsensical thing.
But accidents do happen. My own grandfather tumbled down Marigot Hill with his caterpillar one afternoon when I was a kid and the heavy equipment machine ended up landing on his foot crushing two of his toes. I believe it was his right foot. I believe so because the same time he was in the St. Rose Hospital recuperating – where the St. Rose Arcade now is located on the Front Street opposite the St. Joseph School convent building – I had to be rushed to the same hospital with a bloody left foot for stitches for a deep cut caused by stepping on a broken Heineken beer bottle when turning a corner while furiously racing a Grifter bike. The surgeon said the gash needed several stitches to close it up, but after two stitches ceased the operation because of the dreadful howling sound I was making. My grandfather, who had no clue it was his eldest grandson bawling down the whole hospital, said at the time that he was wondering what kind of animal they were busy butchering that caused such a horrific howl in the hospital.
Coming back to modern day horrors that face me now as publisher of StMaartenNews.com, I can tell you that I am seriously miffed by the fact that some people have sent me messages asking me why I, as media, am not writing about this hush-hush happening causing a heap of noise in society and in particular in the cultural community on the island. One even asked why my fellow journalist and writer Ralph Cantave and I were both quiet on the topic.
Well, I don’t know about Cantave, or about any of the other online news sites that also not writing about the topic – save for the news of the destruction itself and a distraught letter to the editor by one letter writer that can be read online here at StMaartenNews.com – but I do know that it is election season and election fever is in the air. The realtor being alluded to is said to be the son of a major politician that recently relaunched a well-known political party with a very public and vocal number two candidate. Her husband, whose support is still doubtful despite his presence during the party launch, is also an enormously popular politician and whose mere existence is enough to bring out the big guns against this new old party and its leader. This party leader is old enough and old wise enough to know better than to react to rumors, innuendo and whatsapp gossip about her son as I assume that as a former prime minister in at least three cabinets, she would have had some kind of media crisis communications training saying don’t ever react to accusations on social media as it makes you emotional and prone to make mistakes whereby you can end up putting your foot in your mouth and then you can’t take it back out.
Nevermind the need for a tell-all expose article on the topic hellbent on the destruction of a politician and her new party, I have asked the minister of VROMI if there is an investigation into this case and he was kind enough to reply that he is looking into the matter and will be meeting on Monday with his colleague minister of Culture about the issue.
In any event, no matter the outcome of this investigation and even if the owner of the excavator can be determined and who gave the orders to destroy the ruins is found, the damage has already been done, much like the ruination of so many areas on St. Maarten already. I do hope though that a form of punishment can be carried out whereby the culprit is made to re-create the ruins, and this is opened up as a tourist attraction eventually. I have written in a previous Cusha Column that visitors to the island are looking for authentic immersive travel experiences and what better attraction to exhibit for this type of experiential travel than the Diamond 26 Run for freedom. It is both a culturally exhilarating and physically fulfilling activity to partake in while visiting the island and experiencing the island’s historical heritage up close and personal instead of only the usual cookie-cutter collection clutter of diamonds, jewellery, booze and cigarettes in the dilapidated concrete jungle that we call Philipsburg, which was recently toured by the incoming minister of Tourism.
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Terrance Rey is author of the book “Cusha Columns, the Enigma that is Sint Maarten” published January 2023 and available in book form at the Van Dorp bookstores and at Adolphus Richardson Office Supplies for $19 US Dollars. The image of the cusha bush on the cover of the book signifies the prickly nature of the columns Rey writes. His next book is entitled Cusha Cartoons, a collection satirical cartoons about politicians and their politics an antics on Sint Maarten. The book Cusha Columns is also available online as ebook if you buy a subscription on the website of StMaartenNews.com. Support the work and buy a subscription. You will receive a free copy of this book.
