I am looking at the AVP list this morning. I am not even talking about the opening foursome. They did not do a good job in the past eight years, and are rewarded for their sub-par performance, by maintaining their positions on the list.
OK, Juan David Yrausquin did not go in, but Richard Arends is #5, as a millennial candidate, in hope he will be perceived as a trustworthy professional, by young voters. I don’t see him campaigning, he doesn’t have to, and as the future of AVP he is a valuable asset.
Same thinking went into positioning Michael Lampe in #11. A political party must nurture successors otherwise it rolls over and dies.
Richard Visser joined the list as #9, he was an excellent minister of sports, back then, and he can add to the total party package in spite of the fact that he took severance pay, not just once but TWICE, and in principle is a successful businessmen who doesn’t really need to work, but admittedly, it is fun and exciting to be a minister, and it beats overseeing plain pharmacies. Innovation would be his cup of tea too, in sports, health, tourism and education; he is a capitalist he sees an opportunity here, importing ipads, or magic wands for some new educational programs. And he photographs well.
Sandra Brown, that’s probably an effort to reel in Michelle Hooyboer Winklaar’s lost votes. But then you should have given Sandra Brown or Desiree Croes a higher position up on the list to fill in the “Strong Female Leader” roll. Where are the Strong Female Leaders candidates on the AVP list? In number #13 and #15.
#7 Robert Candelaria is possibly a good candidate for the Ministry of Justice, but then with Arthur Dowers in #4 I hope they do not think about him as a potential Minister of Education. Health would be true to his background but then #8 on the list, Alex Schwengle, is out of a job.
Pretty much anything on the list below #15, #16, will never get into parliament. Those positions are really there in support, helping move and secure votes. #27 Rene Herde is obviously thinking about retirement and Marksonn Maduro as #29, the token youth candidate, appears on the list for the first time. Will #24 Jeffrey Kelly get any votes this time?
A Poem by Yakari Gabriel Torres
Between social problems and false political promises there really isn’t a way to make poetry out of the island anymore. I’ve turn Aruba into every possible metaphor under the sun. I’ve made her a mother, a sky, a shelter, even a prostitute once.
Amidst elections, all I can think of is Aruba being that one homegirl you love with all your heart but keeps engaging in destructive behavior. How she jumps from one bad lover to the other, from MEP to AVP like they aren’t more men in the world.
I think of how many times they’ve beaten her, left her black and blue but she stays.
She’s loyal like that. All they do is come back and say “this time we will treat you differently” and she falls. This ever violent menage a trois. She stays in the middle shaking.
..and I, I no longer have what it takes to try and convince her to move on, to see her worth, to stand up against lovers that mistreat her. Betico didn’t die to leave her in chains, he wanted to see her free.
