There’s this joke I don’t like that goes the following: How do you know that a lawyer is lying? And the answer is: You see his lips moving. This means, every time a lawyer opens his mouth, you can bet your life he is lying. This terrible, tasteless stereotype came to me yesterday and the day before yesterday when I heard some of the declarations sounding out of the MinPres and the MinTour. Really? Who are you kiddin,’ I do not believe a word of this charade.
Allow me to rewind:
As soon as I heard that MinTour refused to sign the budget, I was pleased. Not just because I am a rebel, but because you cannot always make it easy on the ruling mighty. You have to make it difficult, you have to argue, and question, so they try harder, and invest more energy and resources in planning and thinking. In my book, opposition is a good thing, because it keeps the ruling mighty on their toes. Ban serio, you cannot always automatically agree with government, just because it said so. Then all of a sudden, I read he signed the budget, but that doesn’t mean anything, he explained, because he just wanted to get out of parliament’s way, so deliberations may continue. And that situation is so typical of Aruba’s opaque politics. While it is not really clear why he didn’t sign the budget – I can speculate, it is still unclear why at the end he did, and the nine famous points, well, the MinTour keeps them to himself, as if we have no right to know, it’s just between him and the MinPres, who just reported positiviso, trankilidad and union, and we should all be left in the dark. Can somebody tell me what happened to transparency in government?
Anyway, I don’t believe a word they are saying, and I polled some of my friends.
Friend #9: The MinPres is spinning fairy tales. If the MinTour goes back to work as if nothing happened he will have 8 colleagues ready to cut his throat in the next two years. I think it is temporary, and he is working on his new party, on our dime.
Friend #10: Even if nothing happens that was a ballsy move, MinTour lifted the veil, he sent out a clear message that he is not happy and that we have some serious problems in the party, equals government.
Friend #11: Rona you are naïve. The MinTour has kids and a family, he will not be unemployed, he can’t afford it, how will he feed his entourage if he leaves, he ain’t going nowhere!
Friends #12: Rona, don’t you know, the MinTour has a number of businesses that can sustain him and his family for a long period of time, while he is campaigning. He is getting ready to fly solo. None of the businesses are on his name, naturally, but they are fully operational, and can take him through a long campaign.
Friends #13: He should be very pissed, and the anger is still bubbling under the smooth surface. Watch what’s gonna happen, he will resign. None of the projects he worked on so hard got any attention from his cronies, no beach policy, no hotel in Seroe Colorado, no timeshare law. He’s out of here. MOREOVER, at the Monday meeting, none of his projects were mentioned by the MinPres who listed all his “triumphs” including the Watty Vos Boulevard, the reopening of the Refinery and the Green Corridor. Nothing, not a word about MinTour’s agenda. Like his did not exist.
Friends #14: All eyes are on MinTour now. He is a showman and a superstar, the MinTour will go on with himself as the producer, director and main actor, he is a one-man-spectacle, not a team player, he will resign, they let him down, all this dushi music is just cover-up, makeup, smoke up our you-know-what.
Friend #15: MinTour had no choice but make peace. He is not leaving. Imagine, he will be powerless once he kisses the ministry goodbye, he cannot go, because he will be insignificant without the leverage and power of the ministry.
Friend #16: I’d rather he stay for the sake of stability in tourism, and I wish he would continue to kick butt, even if 8 pissed ministers want to destroy him and make him miserable. At least he made a statement and made it public that something is rotten in the kingdom of Aruba. He has balls. He showed us how divided they are.
So opinions are divided, 4 say MinTour made peace, 4 believe it’s smoke and mirrors.
I drove through town Moday, at about 3pm, on my way from lunch to the house, and saw MinPres, sauntering, leaving parliament, destination unknown, suit jacket flung over his shoulder, he waved at me, pointed his trigger finger, then shook hands in the car window before me, it was quaint to see the MinPres on foot, alone, nodding, pressing the flesh and getting some exercise by walking. He is a great PR man, blinded by his own convictions.
