The sense of frustration on the island of Aruba is growing as intense as the frustration of Americans who can't fathom why investigators there can neither get traction on the Holloway case, nor seem to hang on to most of the suspects...
The increasing resentment on the island is currently focusing on Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty, who made comments yesterday pleading with countries around the world not to allow the Kalpoe brothers entry and essentially calling them criminals. A local paper, the Aruba Beam, reports this week that the Kalpoe and van der Sloot families "feel like prisoners in their own homes" because of the crush of mostly American press. And a psychologist on the island has pronounced the island "deeply hurt and profoundly offended" by the foreign press' portrayal of the island and by reaction to the case by many Americans, given the outpouring of support and assistance by Arubans toward the Holloway family (including massive volunteer searches and the Aruban government's having reportedly picked up the tab for the family's stay during hte search) ... A rival paper, the Aruba Post, also is running extensive coverage of the protests, including some calls for the family to "respect our Dutch laws or go home..."
A source on the island tells me the demonstrations seen today aren't a sign of anti-Americanism, just frustration: "We have been raised to be pro-American," the source said. "We love everything American, we have no chip on our shoulders . . . people here are feeling the pain now, the humiliation at the way we have be made to look, there is a great sense of injustice felt by islanders."
Meanwhile, some on the island are beginning to take a harsher tone, with rumors bubbling up about the Hollway's mother reportedly taking time off from her search to drop into a few choice jewelry stores and shop, "sightings" of Holloway's aunt lounging away on a beach chair near the ocean search site, and increasingly open resentment toward press questions about white slavery, drugs and other safety issues on the island, along with a bubbling up of questions of whether Arubans had anything to do with Natalee's dispapperance at all (is Nataleee off partying in Venezuela...?) Clearly the 24-7 coverage is beginning to get to people on the island ... though the prosecutor hasn't helped matters with all of the contradictions (suspects charged, then not charged, then released...) and failure to make a single break in the case...
Update:Riehlworldview and Scared Monkeys are live with an article translated from an Aruba paper that goes right after Natalee Holloway and essentially portrays American teenagers as debauched drunkards who come to the island looking for trouble.
Update 2 (July 8): Natalee's mom apologizes to Aruba
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%>
Tell a friend
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if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
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'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
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sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
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End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
