Editorial: The Natalee Holloway investigation cannot continue with fables and insinuations
Bon Dia Aruba
3/28/2006

In nine weeks Aruba will confront once more the sad case of the disappearance of the young student Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in the early morning hours of the 30th of May of 2005 here in Aruba, and who has still not been found.

For close to one long year the country of Aruba has felt and suffered the consequences that this sad case has brought along with it, fighting against an unfair campaign and the sensationalism of the American press, which has seen in the drama, principally television networks, a system to boost their ratings amongst the American public.

Aruba did everything possible, procure a national search, in which thousands and thousands of people searched and the government which gave free time to thousands of its workers to participate in this search, with the cooperation of countless businesses who procured transportation, food and drink.

Schoolchildren who were involved in the search and there were even people detained who never had to be detained, such as the two security guards.

The community received the mother and family of Natalee with open arms, the hotel sector invested money to help in the search, gave the family all that they could give them during their stay in Aruba, sharing in the pain and sadness of Natalee Holloway’s family.

However, at the moment that things were calming down, Aruba recuperating a little from the publicity and negative campaign that the family initiated against our country, the young Joran van der Sloot, the principal suspect in this case, decided to make use of his right to attend to his own image and credibility.

In an attempt to straighten up his image and to say what he says is the truth, Joran messed things up for himself, and once more threw back Aruba in the mix, where the name of our island is again being misused with negative and unfair propaganda.

It was his right, but the Dutch youth has to take into consideration the damage that he caused once again to himself, but also his country.

His declaration solely served to launch more speculation, to raise the anger among those who consider him the principal suspect in the disappearance of the young student.
His truth wasn’t truth to those who have practically already condemned him, especially in the U.S.

When this fury also subsided a little, now another uncomfortable situation has arised, when a high functionary of the Aruba police force gave an interview to an American TV channel, making statements that at no time serves the cause of justice, nor the cause of the country of Aruba.

Declarations which create more confusion, create more questions, while at no time do the bring clarity or closure to this sad case.

A justice official, when he is going to give a declaration, these declarations have to be based on facts, concrete and legal facts which at no time, as a high ranked police official, he can give declarations which are based on ‘insinuations and rumours’ or probabilities.

Commissioner Gerald Dompig in a certain sense gave an irresponsible declaration when he spoke of the death of Natalee Holloway and more still how this youngster died. Justice does not recognize this, which is based on their legal conclusions, on accumulated information and that cannot be confirmed at any time with the reality of the situation.

In the first place, no one knows where Natalee Holloway is, if she is dead or alive, and more still, no cause of death can be determined if there is still no knowledge that she is dead. An autopsy cannot be conducted on a body that has still not been found, to determine the cause of death of this person.

This is simply why the Commissioner cannot come forward and state for public consumption that ‘they’ ‘buried’ the body once and ‘after’ ‘took out’ the body and buried it again.

It would take a superhuman person, a person with no feelings and with a lot, but a lot of courage to go back to a body that he buried a few days before and go bury it elsewhere. It would take a diabolical mind to be able to do this.

To top it all off, in this case one cannot speak of a body since there is still no body and if there is no body, then how can the Commissioner know that it is buried? On the basis of what ‘was said’, of the witness’s testimony that nobody is aware of, and if it is true that these declarations are based on what Mr. Dompig believes happened then he has to keep his thoughts to himself, investigate this information to give them a concrete and legal basis, before going to the public and stating these.

What is taking place is another slur for an island that is already putting up with a lot, a slur, to top it all off, caused by our own people, justice officials who have to have known better than go to the public with this type of information.

The belief that there is a body to be found but to never find the body since no one knows if there is a body to be found, has to stop and at the moment where the remains of the youngster are found, if she is dead, then it’s time to come forward and publicly say that Natalee Holloway is dead. Before that, nothing and no one justice official can come forward with this belief, given that legally, they cannot support it.

If any media wants to speculate about this, it’s another matter, but no responsible media can do this if they consider themselves a responsible and serious media.
According to the laws of our country, a person is legally declared dead five years after his or her disappearance and not before that.

The case of Natalee Holloway has to be solved, but as long as it’s not solved we cannot permit ourselves the luxury to commit this type of blunder.