Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) supports Aruba and the Caribbean with letter to mrs. Condoleezza Rice
A.M. Digital
11/30/2005

The Aruba Tourism Authority (ATA) provided us with copy of a letter that was sent to Secretary of State, mrs. Condoleezza Rice by Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. The letter which is self explanatory is hereby published in its entirety:

November 18, 2005

Dear Secretary Rice:

Over the course of the past several months, the American media has covered the disappearance of Ms Natalee Holloway who visited Aruba on a class trip. We share the grief of her family -- especially that of her mother -- who clearly is anguished by her disappearance. We understand and applaud Mrs. Holloway’s success in keeping Natalee’s story in the headlines. That success would be the wish of any parent under similar circumstances.

We are most concerned by two developments, however.
The first relates to calls by some media in the United States to “boycott” the Caribbean. Over the same period of time, one television station regularly introduced the Holloway story over the banner “Caribbean CoverUp?” as if the entire Caribbean should be brought into a matter that affects only one of our island nations. Although this practice of extending a particular situation to the entire geographic region is unmerited, we understand United States’ laws regarding freedom of the press and we have been addressing that matter ourselves.

The other related matter that is particularly distressing is the call for boycotts of Aruba from persons holding elected offices as in the case of the Governor of the State of Alabama. You will understand that the people of Aruba feel particularly selected for persecution when a casual perusal of the FBI’s list of missing persons (http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/kidnap/kidmiss.htm) shows scores of persons who have been missing throughout the United States for far longer periods and there is no call for boycotts of those States in which the missing person was last seen.

Aruba is a strong supporter of the United States in hemispheric matters and depends heavily on its growing tourism business to sustain its economy. Aruba, in fact, is one of the great success stories of our hemisphere particularly as a people who are committed to democratic ideals and economic self-determination. Moreover, there is no one in our region who believes that any government official in Aruba or in any other Caribbean country would be engaged in protecting the wrongdoing of any individual citizen while risking the entire national economy.

It is for these reasons that we wish to express our strongest possible outrage at these calls for boycotts, particularly from elected officials within the United States. We are confident that wise counsel from your good offices to those individuals and officials regarding these international matters would prove helpful in preventing these troublesome developments.

Sincerely,

Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, Secretary General
CARIBBEAN TOURISM ORGANIZATION