Dear Editor,
We regretfully took note that the Dutch government continued on its path to destabilize the peaceful Caribbean region after serving last year a term in the UN Security Council which primary objective it is to prevent conflicts.
After the UK and France launched an ultimatum against the sovereign state of Venezuela recently, the Dutch Foreign Minister Mr. Blok announced that the Netherlands will join them if Venezuela does not comply. Yesterday, this provocation escalated when the Prime Minister of Curaçao Mr. Ruggenaath, whose government which last week has been forced by the Dutch government to surrender their limited autonomy back under Dutch control and rule, declared the same.
Curaçao, together with Aruba and our island Bonaire, being the closest neighboring island to the Venezuelan coast can be considered a direct escalation, provocation, and violation of UN Charter guiding principles of non-interference and non-intervention and respect for sovereignty and affairs of states is directed by the Dutch government from The Hague.
This is a highly hypocritical approach by the Dutch government which has continued colonization of its Caribbean dependencies and recently has erased the democratic rights of the Dutch Caribbean islands by:
1) Forcing the democratically elected Curaçao government to surrender their limited autonomy and accept direct higher supervision from The Hague with control over the budget and all judiciary powers and intervention powers remaining unilaterally in the Dutch Parliament in The Hague;
2) Destabilizing and forcing the democratically elected government of St. Maarten after the natural disaster of Hurricane Irma to surrender their limited autonomy and border control, budgetary, judiciary and went as far as they will have to approve or who will be appointed in the government positions and are completely back under Dutch rule and control;
3) Forcing the local government of Bonaire, which has surrendered already all the tax-revenues and powers to the Dutch government, under threat to accept an undemocratic program-manager above the locally elected government to govern and only accountable to The Hague;
4) Undemocratic abusive actions of their unilateral legislative powers and military and police powers to depose the legitimate elected government of St. Eustatius and appointing a non-elected ruler and depriving the citizens of St. Eustatius of their democratic rights by blocking a free election.
Ironically all this is happening at this same moment and is kept under the radar where the Dutch government is taking the front-line in this provocation towards an armed conflict where his re-colonized ABC islands’ inhabitants, all innocent humble friendly Caribbean peoples, would be in the first line of retaliation and can easily be wiped out and ethnically cleansed; meanwhile, the command will remain safely in The Hague, Europe.
It would be no coincidence, because the ABC islands, all within eyesight from each other, all are equipped with an international military standards airport and deep harbors could be the mayor reason behind this war-campaign, as through war-economics and military actions they enriched themselves to become one of world’s richest countries, is nothing new to the Dutch glancing back at their horrific colonial past.
We would like this letter to be a serious warning to the Caribbean as the colonizing powers headed by UK, France, and the Netherlands and backed by US who all share the major colonial interests to remain in the Caribbean region, have finally shown their real intentions that they are back on track to repossess their former colonies and attempt to turn back the colonial clock if possible.
The intentions and tactics are very clear, as the Dutch promoted, supported and financed the division, destruction, and dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010, and recolonized the Dutch Antillean islands. The same tactics of destruction are carried forward to the Caribbean level, to divide the Caribbean and stop the unification and integration process of the Caribbean.
We wish to make a dramatic call to all Caribbean leaders to use this moment to serve as wake-up call, to stand up for all Caribbean peoples. As we all came with the same boats, we all are still in the same boat, with the same common right to emancipation and freedom, to unite and fight together to maintain a peaceful Caribbean, and to actively help to decolonize the Caribbean, as there is no free Caribbean until all Caribbean peoples are truly free.
James Finies,
President of the foundation “We Want Bonaire Back.”
