"These major developments are contributing to re-establishing colonial regiments back in the Caribbean and these re-colonized territories are misused as this Venezuela case and crisis is unfolding to destabilize the region and vision towards a united and integrated Caribbean."
- James Finies, Foundation We Want Bonaire Back.
_______________________________________________________________________________
OPEN LETTER TO SECRETARY-GENERAL OF CARICOM
James Finies, President Foundation We Want Bonaire Back
H.E. Ambassador Mr. Irwin La
Rocque
Secretary-General and Chief
Executive Officer of the Caribbean Community
Caricom Secretariaat
Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown
Guyana
Bonaire, February 6th, 2019
Subject: Urgent appeal from the people of the Dutch
Caribbean islands to the CARICOM and Latin America.
Excellency,
I would like to congratulate
your excellency and the secretariat on attending the upcoming meeting in
Montevideo, Uruguay. In reference to the escalating Venezuela crisis and our
previous letters of June 11, 2018 urging the CARICOM and the Caribbean region
to intervene and object to prevent an armed conflict in the Caribbean and
recent letter dated January 29th, 2019, as the crisis and conflict
is deepening we herewith would like to request your urgent attention and call
to action on behalf of the peoples of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Curacao and
Aruba.
By now it is very clear and
obvious that the provocation and escalation is initiated and led by mayor world
powers headed by the UK, France and the Netherlands and backed by the US as we
witnessing a continuing military build up in Curacao, the ABC islands. We the
people of the ABC islands highly object to be dragged into this conflict.
As the discussion is
fundamentally based on the issue of democracy and human rights, the so-called
ultimatum headed by these colonizing powers is directed towards a new election
to re-elect a democratic president and government for the peoples of Venezuela
we would like to illustrate herewith the hypocritical position taken by the
government of the Netherlands (member of the UN Security Council) a
front-runner in this provocation and escalation of this crisis.
The autonomous democratic
Caribbean islands forming the country Netherlands Antilles in the Dutch Kingdom
was dissolved and disintegrated on October 10, 2010. The Netherlands which
maintained ultimate unilateral legislative and judiciary powers in the Dutch
Kingdom abused these powers to continue with colonialism in the Caribbean
region.
The more dense populated islands
Aruba, Sint Maarten and Curacao, something what is not so obvious to outside
world, they were all stripped from their autonomy and are back under Dutch
control and rule. The Dutch which controls and decides on the budget (and
judiciary) of the Curacao government, headed by the Secretary of State Mr.
Knops, a ex-military and ex-lieutenant active in the Iraq war, forced the prime minister of Curacao, Mr
Rhuggenaath which is subordinated to the Hague powers to escalation of the
crisis.
Curacao Prime Minister Rhugenaath publicly sided with the ultimatum for
a new election causing a direct interference in the sovereign neighboring
country Venezuela internal affairs. Curacao which as Aruba, the closest
Caribbean islands to Venezuela, are equipped with a full US military forward
base and with international harbors and airports of military standards are at the moment converted in the most
strategic war-campaign-bases. War planes are already landing and troops are
deployed from the Netherlands towards the ABC islands under guidance of Dutch
brigade-general Peter Jan de Vin which was deployed to Curacao to overseer this
military operation along with State Secretary Mr Knops.
 |
| Dutch troops patrol in Kralendijk, capital of Bonaire (December 2018) |
As the Dutch government is
preaching or claiming to support democracy and human rights in Venezuela
meanwhile Bonaire is in a heavy humanitarian crisis by neutralizing and erasing
their democratic and human rights. Imposing unilaterally laws for a systematic
institutionalized ethnic cleansing of the local population, explosion of the
crude death rate over 60% and massive immigration over 400% increase of non-Bonerians. At the moment in a
short period the local Bonerians became a minority on their own island and
there is no stopping to this displacement and extermination process.
On Sint Eustatius the
democratically elected local government were un-democratically removed from
power, with claims of corruption without proof or formal investigation by the
Dutch government with abusive use of legislative , military and police powers.
The Dutch appointed a non-democratic ruler to govern and erased the peoples
democratic rights by stopping elections on the island till further notice. Note
that the government of Sint Eustatius is the only Dutch Caribbean island which
stood up against the Dutch government because illegal annexation on October 10,
2010 and presently are in court-proceedings against the Dutch government.
These major developments are
contributing to re-establishing colonial regiments back in the Caribbean and
these re-colonized territories are misused as this Venezuela case and crisis is
unfolding to destabilize the region and vision towards a united and integrated
Caribbean.
Our urgent call to attention
and action is towards the Caricom countries and our Caribbean and Latin
American brothers and sisters for supporting our islands of Bonaire and Sint
Eustatius in our quest to get re-inscribed back on the list of the
Non-Self-Governing-Territories of the United Nations and fall back under the
scrutiny of the international community on our way back to regain and restore
our fundamental human and democratic rights.
Yours sincerely,
James Finies, President
Foundation We Want Bonaire Back
