Finally, after a five-week delay, two Venezuelan vessels set sail for the island of Curaçao loaded with watermelon, lemon, avocado, and bananas. The status quo is celebrated with joy, drums, laughter, and ambition. Among them, the crazies paid tribute to the governor, who, for three years, said very little about the border closure and, for political reasons, remained silent and distant from those affected.

I remember the countless protests and complaints of the maritime workers. They demanded help time and time again, with no one extending a helping hand. Amid the persistent self-promotion of some Fedecámaras (Venezuelan Chamber of Commerce) spokespersons to claim someone else’s victory and the political indifference of those in power, the people of Vela and its mariners migrated. Some changed their route at sea, while others died in their attempt to reach the islands. Three years of tragedies, civil weariness, and despair. How does one recover lost time?

The paralysis of the economy in Falcón with the island of Curaçao increased extreme poverty in La Vela. According to estimates from the defunct board of commerce in the Colina municipality, around 15,000 mariners and their families were exposed to extreme poverty, and 300 formal and entrepreneurial businesses ceased to exist. At least 64 commercial vessels became inoperative, resulting in additional losses.

At the end of 2021, six customs and shipping companies closed their doors. The unemployment rate increased, and 30 direct and 50 indirect positions were left vacant, to name some of the consequences.

Throughout this time, the Chavismo blamed the sanctions and “political interference” by the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

A few days before the reopening in April 2023, disbelief reigned in the coastal areas of Falcón. Seeing is believing! They were right. The bureaucratic burden did not allow the Venezuelan state to exploit fireworks on the D-day.

The mariners did not have money to pay for a passport, and there was a lack of foreign currency to cover expenses. More than 100 mariners from La Vela did not have the necessary documents to return to international work. The vessels were not prepared. Poverty is a reality. Inflation makes it impossible for exporters.

The long-awaited moment finally arrived for some. On May 7, two vessels and a group of mariners full of hope bid farewell with great joy at the artisanal dock, which also needs state investment. They will face the challenge of elevating Venezuelan dignity on the island and presenting Curaçaoans with the incomparable taste of Venezuelan fruits and vegetables. They will have to compete with Colombian and Dominican producers. They will have to find the best supplier and overcome bureaucratic obstacles.

Did La Vela and its maritime workers deserve three years of punishment? Trade exchange with the ABC islands represented 18% of Falcón's GDP in 2018.

Jhonattam Petit,

Venezuelan journalist

Dear Editor,

We hardly ever take time out to think about the concept of time. The minute hand of the clock on your wall moves 1,440 times in a day; and with every click a minute of your life has gone by forever; will never ever come back. Yet, when we are bored at home, we think of ways to “kill” time. There are a host of ways we waste it: by sitting in front of our TV for hours on a daily basis, playing games on our phone or computer, excessive talking about insignificant matters, engaging in other useless activities or by doing absolutely nothing. Over the years, all of these wasted minutes/hours add up to many months and even years of our life.

We are all confident that we have plenty of time left. Everybody else dies; our best friends, parents and siblings; we don’t! I actually know a gentleman who many years ago told me all his relatives lived to be very old – they all passed away in their late 90s; some even became centenarians. So, he is now convinced that he will also live to a very ripe old age. I simply smiled when he told me this. He no longer lives on the island so I don’t know if he is still around or not. I have to admit that there was a time the same thought used to enter my mind. My Dad passed away at the age of 82, so I expected to live at least until around that same age. Stupid assumption!

I have so far attended two funerals where the coffin was so small it took just one person to easily carry it into the church. At one of the two funerals, I myself did exactly that.

God once appeared to recently appointed King Solomon in a dream and told him, “Ask! What can I give you?” Solomon replied, “I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. So, give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” Wow! If only our politicians would constantly ask God for wisdom, we would indeed be living on a corrupt-free, greed-free and prosperous island paradise. (But, don’t hold your breath.)

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had not asked for a long life or riches for himself, but for wisdom to lead His people, so He gave him “a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before nor shall any like you arise after you.” When God gives, He gives abundantly. So, Solomon was known to be the wisest king ever.

This king with his God-given wisdom made some profound statements to humanity. “I praised the dead who were already dead more than the living who are still alive.” He goes even further by saying, “Better than both is he who has never existed, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.” This wisest of kings also said that “the end of something is better than its beginning and the day of one’s death better than the day of one’s birth.”

I used to think that the vast majority of us were afraid of death. But the reason that’s not true is because none of us takes time out to dwell on the last day(s) of our life, and if/when we do, we reflect on it for like a whole two minutes. We refuse to give it much thought, as if by not thinking about it, it’s not going to happen.

The Bible also states that: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Therefore, we should definitely not be afraid of death. The thing we should all be very afraid of is being an unbeliever at the time of our departure or living an ungodly life during our brief days here on earth.

There are countless Scriptures in the Bible that talk about how brief man’s life on earth is. David’s prayer to God was: “Lord, make me aware of my end and the number of my days so that I will know how short-lived I am. You have made my days just inches long (the width of a man’s hand) and my life span is as nothing to You.”

The ambitious ones among us spend their entire youth pursuing a good education in the hope of getting a well-paid job. After they obtain their dream job, they accumulate a big house, a nice car and lots of other material possessions. Some of us even brag about our wealth and life achievements.

Certainly, a very sensible pursuit; however, after they accomplish all of these valuable goals, they spend little or no time getting to know their Maker and … what comes after death.

The answer to the question “Why is time so precious?” is very obvious. Because we don’t know how much, or more importantly, how little of it we have left. When you run out of time, you run out of everything. All the things you have accumulated over your lifetime won’t matter, since you can’t take them along with you. Starting today, let’s learn how to spend time wisely!

Clive Hodge

Dear Editor,

I was told that the way I write about members of Parliament is as if I expect all of them to be lawyers. I started to answer him, but I changed my approach and asked him, “What papers do you have?” “But I went away to study.” "Why?" “Because I wanted to be an architect.” “So you are comfortable with someone with no kind of an education deciding whether the drawings, layout and measurements for a building are correct?” “But they have advisers.” “But who has the last say?”

When he shook his shoulders I said to him, “If you are an architect I believe you have a certain level of education, and you had to spend some sleepless nights studying. Do you still think that my way of writing is putting too much pressure on our members of Parliament?” His answer was, “Everybody have their way of looking at things?”

Then I asked him if he had read that a whole lot of police officers left the force and more are leaving to go work as police officer in other parts of the kingdom. He told me that they are not from here. I do not know who is who, but I am more and more convinced of what I was thinking. These do not take being a police officer to heart. And somewhere I Timothy 6:10 crossed my mind. So my question now to all members of government: how serious are they taking this step by the police and what are they going to do about it? Are they going to pack their bundle and leave and go or are they ready to deal with the brunt of it in a mature and responsible way?

This concerns the safety of the whole country, so let us see if there are solutions for all of those faults that they were finding.

I Googled the word “deserter” and it says “a member of the armed forces who deserts.” Over the years many police officers have left the police force of the Netherland Antilles in their prime, but like I mentioned over the years, not en bloc at one time. The history behind the recruitment of several of those police officers awakens the thought that “when you do not do much to get something you do not value it.” And I know that the present Minister of Justice definitely did not have a hand in recruiting those who left. And please, we do not need a quick fix.

While we are at it, let me state this. Unless the justice workers continue not to be satisfied, I believe that it would be expedient if in case the justice money problem is resolved and they are being paid, for the Minister of Justice to publicise this. Even though I am convinced that St. Maarteners born and raised in St. Maarten should spend at least four to five years away from St. Maarten at the beginning of their career, I will state what my father always reminded me: “Home is the place where even though you grumble the most, you are treated the best.”

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

One word: hypocrisy. I wrote this before and stated that it will be necessary for me to write it again.: “Those who desire to live honestly, who want their lives to display faithfulness and authenticity make choices based on what is true rather than what is expedient. The integrity of the upright leads them.”

I have said the following on several occasions: Anyone born or living on St. Maarten who is accepted to become a police officer should not go to the police school on St. Maarten. And when that person is ready to go on patrol, he/she should not be permitted to return to St. Maarten within four years. They have to mature in the job, they have to get accustomed to ridicule from everyone. on St. Maarten even from their school friends who either envy them or who do not want them to do that which is necessary to maintain law and order.

Even though my parents are from Saba and St. Maarten, when I came to work in the Windward Islands I was already a 10-year veteran who had worked on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, experienced in both dominating fights as well as crowds. That is why I can state the above. With the high grade of erratic behavior of the drivers on St. Maarten, why are not the coffers for fines for traffic violations filled?

All of this has being going on since 10-10-’10, where are the statistics to prove what kind of work was delivered by those who are attacking the present Minister of Justice? And why only now is all of this coming to light?

Do I have a right to put “hypocrisy” at the heading of this letter after reading the article “police officers leave to work in the region”? I do not know where they are going to work, but for their sake I would hope that they go to either Aruba or Curaçao, where they will be confronted with a different kind of population and maturing in the police force would alter their outlook on police work.

Again I am not defending the Minister of Justice, I am shedding a light on hypocrisy. Since 10-10-’10, the first government to last this long, to take all kinds of blows from all who know better, who had to constantly endure criticism for lay-and-waiters, which had to tolerate radical behavior from its police force, etc. So my question remains: from when was all this known? I wonder if the present Minister of Justice had done the same as her predecessors who would they have striked against? It was expedient to attack the Minister.

Now this. I am sure that every member of government at one time or the other has done their shopping in either a store, a supermarket or a hardware store and automatically received a receipt. So my question is: why do the proprietors of these businesses feel free to do what they want with prices, spoiled goods, change and anything coming to the shopper and believe that this is the correct thing to do? Is the shopper entitled to an itemised receipt for the purchased goods? Why is it so that the price of a product is listed at $8.99 and if you pay with a $10 bill the cashier tells you nine dollars and, here is the kicker, when the buyer claims his/her one cent he/she is told that we don't have one cent US? Am I to believe that no one in government knows about this practice?

Ask them when last did they get a receipt at any supermarket run by Chinese, where now and then it is alleged that sometimes goods are spoiled. A receipt to substantiate the purchase of the spoiled goods. Those are questions that members of government who claim to be in opposition should ask the concerned Minister. But then again, why would they ask those questions? They would rather not ask questions which would benefit the public, because questions like those would not be good for the permit holders of those businesses which are not usually Chineses nationals. Did I say hypocrisy?

I hope the prices on pens and pencils don’t go up, because if we continue to have to endure hypocritical behavior from members of government, I might have to go on the hill to get writing material.

Tell the businesses to change the price of goods from $8.99 to $8.95 and give us back our $0.05. The going word is “rip off” and intentionally ripping off the people is a crime.

I will repeat, every time goods come out of the same container the price of those goods goes up. And you know something, that is not the Minister of Justice portfolio, but I do not hear anybody threatening with strike, but I am sure that the Economic Department knows about it also. Integrity and politics do not go hand-in-hand.

Actually this should be an open letter to the concerned minister, because government uses this newspaper to communicate with the community of St. Maarten.

Russell A. Simmons