11.03.2005

“Never did I use the word ‘boycott’”, says Beth Twitty
DIARIO Aruba
11/03/2005

ORANJESTAD(AAN): After DIARIO conversing with Beth Twitty’s lawyer, Mrs. Helen Lejuez, DIARIO also conversed with Mrs. Twitty and asked her about the objective of her visit to Aruba.

She said that her visit is nothing strange, given that she was 4 months in Aruba and wants to maintain communication ties with Commissioner Dompig and lead prosecutor Karen Janssen and the best way to do this is face to face.

Twitty also said that this is why she flew to Aruba. According to Twitty she found that Dompig started out strong saying that he is focused on the suspects, indicating that they are the ones involved in the disappearance of Natalee.

He said about the confession recorded on tape, where according to him, Deepak said that they raped Natalee also is big proof in this case. Now, two weeks later, she feels that things are falling off course.

Beth Twitty tells DIARIO that it is very regrettable that he has said that the family has collected millions of dollars from people who sympathize with them.
She said that this is not true and that that false information was given to Commissioner Dompig and she regrets this, because she doesn’t want to put a negative light on the people of Aruba.

Beth Twitty said that the family collected $110,000 at the end of August, in a ‘silent auction’ and another sum of money collected by students and people from the community who sold lemonade and ice cream.

She says that if people were to account for the sums, they would realize that Dompig is absolutely wrong to make any accusation against them. There were also some other donations, but in no moment did the total arrive anywhere near a million dollars.

DIARIO told Twitty that the intention on the part of Aruba is to break the silence from Natalee’s classmates, as well as getting more information from the chaperones.

Beth explained that she also wants them to converse with these people, but this has to happen through the proper channels, so Dompig has to go through the FBI and not do this any other way.

Twitty said that she wants for this to be done correctly, where they have to speak with the indicated students.

She says that she understands if Dompig says that there are more questions about the student declarations, but on the other side the FBI has to interrogate Joran van der Sloot, because there are big holes in his declarations, where for example, after Joran declared that he thinks Deepak killed and buried Natalee Holloway, there were no follow-up questions.

DIARIO asked Mrs. Twitty also about the fact that Dompig said that the father of Natalee, Dave Holloway, and for example Equusearch who is helping to look for their daughter, do not have access to the collected monies.

Once more, Beth explains that this is not true, where she says that they just paid more than $20,000 so the group could come to Aruba.

She also said that she was hoping for the police corps or Karen Janssen to call the FBI, to get access to additional sophisticated equipment to help with the search.

Mrs. Twitty said that she came with a written declaration with the intention to give Mr. Dompig, so that they don’t have any erroneous declarations from her.

DIARIO asked Mrs. Twitty about the fact she said certain things against our island on American TV programs. According to Mrs. Twitty, at no time did she use the word ‘boycott’ and she doesn’t have the power to do this.

According to Twitty this is something that only a government can do. DIARIO asked Beth about the fact that she said not to come to Aruba. Beth Twitty explains that she only asked of those who support her, to not travel to Aruba, but only for the period until Natalee is found.

She said that what she said was not against the citizens of Aruba, because they always helped and supported her. Accoriding to Twitty what is disappointing is what now Commissioner Dompig’s manner in which he says negative things about her, which are not consistent with the truth.

Twitty said that she realizes that perhaps Natalee’s body will never be found, because she doesn’t know what the youngsters did with her body after they were finished with her.

She said that she doesn’t believe that they will stop trying to find what happened and she is sure that in the same token, Dompig also knows that Deepak, Satish and Joran are the only ones responsible of causing harm to the country of Aruba and not Natalee Holloway nor the people of Aruba.

[translated by Getagrip]