"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 Foundation We Want Bonaire Back
OPEN LETTER TO THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY
from
James Finies, President
Foundation We Want Bonaire Back
January 29, 2019
To: CARICOM and all Caribbean
leaders
Subject: Ultimatum for
Venezuela equals ultimatum for the Caribbean to unify to maintain a peaceful
democratic Caribbean
Honorable Ladies and
Gentlemen:
With reference to our
attached letter of June 11, 2018 urging the CARICOM and the Caribbean region to
intervene and object to prevent an armed conflict in the Caribbean we herewith
would like to bring the following to your attention:
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 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 Curacao Mr. Ruggenaath, whose government which last week ha
been forced by the Dutch government to surrender their limited autonomy back
under Dutch control and rule, declared the same.
Curacao, 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:
- forcing the democratically elected Curacao
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;
- 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;
- 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;
- undemocratic abusive actions of their unilateral
legislative powers and military and police powers to depose the legitimate
elected government of Sint 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 its re-colonized ABC island 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's from each other, all are equipped with an international
military standards airport and deep harbors could be the major reason behind
this war-campaign, as through war-economics and military actions they enriched themselves to become one of world’s richest countries. This is nothing new for the
Dutch if we glance 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. They 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.
