L’histoire se repete : Pourier and Yrausquin. I have great esteem and respect for Juan David Yrausquin and it seems that such has only grown stronger during the past week. Trying to analyze what all just happened, its epic proportion for our young country, its place in history and its consequences for our tomorrow brings about the following … saddening … line of thought. In historic perspective I believe that l’histoire se repete. In past years there were two individuals that took it specifically upon themselves to work very hard on structurally improving their countries’ finances in the Dutch Caribbean islands: Miguel Pourier (R.I.P.) of the Par in Curacao and Juan David Yrausquin of the AVP in Aruba. Back then, it was Gijs de Vries (VVD) who unwittingly - at first - committed a historic error when he interfered in the situation of Pourier, which, in retrospect, led to exactly the opposite outcome of what he had intended. De Vries allowed himself to be guided by advisors who did not understand the islands, nor could oversee the outcome of their actions (…referred to in those days as either “Haagse ambtelijke tunnelvisie” or ”…blinde vlek” …). In sociological terms, The Hague’s combined line of thought, strategy development and subsequent actions led to a cascade of undesired and unintended outcomes. Curacao suffered and the relationship between The Hague and Willemstad to date still clearly shows deep scars dating back to that historic error. With the dust of the clatter still in the air, time is too short to draw a definite conclusion yet, but it comes to mind that The Hague is once again committing the exact same historic error. The first undesired and unintended outcome has manifested itself; the resignation of our Minister of Finance, Juan David Yrausquin, just the person Aruba needs at this point and time in history to help improve Aruba’s financial situation. Time will tell how long this first scar will remain visible in the relationship between The Hague and Oranjestad, but already Aruba has been seriously hurt by this wound. How many wounds will follow in the coming months cannot yet be foreseen. But if the “Haagse ambtelijke tunnelvisie” from back in Pourier’s days is still prevalent today in The Hague, then Aruba, brace yourself; no matter what your local political preference may be…
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 13:28:31 +0000
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