I was searching the net to educate myself what kinds of workers would the refinery need. This is what I found, people who know about machinery, pipes, pumps, valves, construction, safety, complicated repairs, chemicals, power lines, boilers, and coolers, people who can identify an issue and resolve it. In other words highly educated and highly qualified, drug free, multi-tasking, trouble shooters.
Where will ours be coming from?
So far it seems that ours will be coming from Venezuela, with their families, and extended families to work in Aruba in the event that our refinery finally starts huffing and puffing.
History repeats itself. When Lago Refinery opened in the late 1920s, it brought in technically educated people, masons, welders, pipefitters and pipelayers, from the English speaking Islands. They settled in San Nicholas and that is why we share native family names with Anguilla, Trinidad and Grenada such as Brown, Hodge, Fleming, Richardson, Gumbs and others, who ‘migrated’ to Aruba over the first part of the 20th century, to work for Lago.
So when the MinEcon, conducted his mass celebration rally in San Nicholas on the night the MinPres returned from Caracas, from the photo opportunity with the former bus driver promising 1,000 high-paying jobs to locals, I sadly noted that we are unprepared, we have not educated any local youth in the past few years in preparation for the opening of the refinery and the boys who served under Coastal, El Paso and Valero, are old. Well, not that old, but too old to maintain 12 hour shifts around the clock.
When I look at the newspaper picture introducing all those involved in bringing together the refinery project I look at a bunch of adorable retirees. And to add to our worries, our relatively young and dynamic MinEcon, was hospitalized with chest pains last week, reportedly in need of a life style change to combat his cardiovascular challenges.
So basically, there are probably a few dozen qualified refinery workers around, some may come back from Surinam or the Netherlands.
Those who remember remember: Lago spent big bucks educating young Arubans to work in the Petroleum industry, they identified candidates, then educated them for middle management, singling out talent and financing university studies. However, the last graduate of a Lago professional education program is now at least 50 and works at a cushy job in one of our financial institutions.
So, after I questioned the political promise that 1,000 Arubans will get hired into high-paying jobs, I read in the newspapers that in reality, that talk about the CITGO refinery is premature. It’s all in the air subject for approvals on both sides of the ocean. Besides, the government is now negotiating with Valero, and when that’s done they will reveal the content of the agreement to our members of Parliament, to ratify, once all their questions are answered. That’s the plan, anyway.
Weren’t you astounded when you read that the MinEcon has informed Parliament that it may look at the 2,000 page agreement, but cannot copy anything for further study, not with phones, nor with office copiers, because the agreements are confidential and the MinEcon wishes to prevent damaging leaks? Can you expect our members of Parliament to seriously decide on something like this by just leafing through pages? There will be a pile of documents to peruse, and the MinEcon mistrusts his bosses’ integrity?? (The ministers report to Parliament, right? How can you tell Parliament that you mistrust its members?)
So this might become entertaining, it has the elements of a soap opera, conspiracy, betrayal, drama, secret documents, and hopes for a better future, which should not surprise us with Venezuela having at least one foot in the door. The world’s best TV soap operas hail from there.
