Open letter to Theo Heyliger

Dear Theo,

There is always a reason for something. Nothing happens “just fo so” as we like to say. It is amazing to me that you are still trying to peddle your sob stories to the public as if we are supposed to feel sorry for you or your family or forever be beholden to your grandfather’s legacy.

Why do you think you are entitled to throw a pity party for us every few months? Why do you expect for us to cry a river every time you speak about being so called “persecuted”. It has gotten so bad, both you and Frankie are now singing the same tune as if we are all utterly stupid to the truth. The song is old. We are no longer dancing to it.

Why are the Dutch meddling in our affairs Theo? It is not because of anything I did or my neighbor or my sister. It is because of decades of your shady deals and your suspicious acquaintances. I digress, you and many others who were elected to serve the interest of the public, not your own. SXM is just 16 square miles. Do you really believe that we don’t have friends in high places (or in low places) who know about your deals and how your family have enriched itself? They talk. We hear.

Do you really think we believe that you run clean elections, or that you put certain people on your political lists because “they have something to contribute”, or that you’ve never ever benefitted from infrastructure projects? Do you really think that we are so dense. Theo what you are facing now is a backlash of years and years of suspicious dealings.

It is exactly your grandfather’s history and your history with questionable persons, is why the Dutch are meddling in our affairs. There is nobody else to blame but yourself and others with similar records.

It wasn’t me or my neighbor or my sister who was caught on tape taking a bribe, or was prosecuted for buying votes, or is fighting government for permits to construct a pier in Simpson Bay, or was shady about funding for the causeway and so forth. It was all of you who brought this on the people of St. Maarten.

All of you people with the big family names, Wathey, Labega, Meyers, Matser, Corallo, Buncamper, Laveist. YOUR actions. Not ours! See the trend Theo? So the next time you feel the urge to cry to us, don’t! Just tell yourself Theo, the people aint stupid. Lemme not insult their intelligence.

Thank you for understanding.

Raoul Nicolaas