Monday, July 04, 2005
Aruba, Just Another Slave State
I am always amazed by the latest news from Aruba, and there is plenty of it. FOX knows that, if they deploy an army of reporters and technicians to this tiny resort, it will diminish coverage of gas prices and the war in Iraq. Even in the midst of this hideous diversion there is an aspect of the story which is deeply disturbing, and, so far as I can tell, almost completely unreported.
So tonight I tune in and the latest report is that a couple of teenaged boys, already in jail for the past month in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, have been ordered released. That is certainly a nice gesture, especially since neither one has ever been charged with anything.
It gets better. There is another young man, a son of a Dutch official, who is also in police custody, and, according to FOX, is expected to remain under arrest for another 60 days. Again, local authorities are holding suspects without any formal charges.
Knowing that some of you vacation down there, am I the only one who finds it troubling that a supposedly advanced and civilized government, a Dutch possession, holds people in jail for extended periods without a trial? This is the most fundamental of human rights and such a flagrant abuse tells me that more bad things happen in Aruba than we know now.
I bet the Department of Homeland Security would love to do this to American citizens, but there I go again!
So tonight I tune in and the latest report is that a couple of teenaged boys, already in jail for the past month in connection with the disappearance of an Alabama teenager, have been ordered released. That is certainly a nice gesture, especially since neither one has ever been charged with anything.
It gets better. There is another young man, a son of a Dutch official, who is also in police custody, and, according to FOX, is expected to remain under arrest for another 60 days. Again, local authorities are holding suspects without any formal charges.
Knowing that some of you vacation down there, am I the only one who finds it troubling that a supposedly advanced and civilized government, a Dutch possession, holds people in jail for extended periods without a trial? This is the most fundamental of human rights and such a flagrant abuse tells me that more bad things happen in Aruba than we know now.
I bet the Department of Homeland Security would love to do this to American citizens, but there I go again!
