Once a week (on Sundays) I do a recap about local news of Aruba.

If this is your first time reading my newsletter – welcome!

Breaking News in Aruba

So what’s been happening on Aruba?

Let’s start with…

Robbery in Aruba

A robbery took place last week at a jewelry store (Kevin Jewelers).

The owner of Kevin Jeweler told the police that 3 Spanish speaking men entered the store, pointed their guns at the employee’s and held the manager hostage.

The robbers didn’t have any masks on, their faces were caught on camera.

Until now, the police can’t find the suspects yet.

Home Robbery

Three men robbed a home in the district of Madiki.

The robbers entered the house and tied a man and his son (9 years old). They took their belongings (phones, jewels, and money)

The police found the getaway car and arrested the owner of the car (a lady) – but the police didn’t find the robbers yet….

Could this be the same people who robbed the jewelry store?

Murder near Olde Molen Nightclub

The local community was shocked with the news that someone has been murdered near Olde Molen nightclub (close to The Mill Hotel).

The police got a notification that guns were fired near olde molen, and they immediately went there to check out the scene.

When they arrived they found a person on the floor, but already dead.

The victim was a 26 year old boy known as, Ralph De Palm, born in Haiti.

No one has been arrested yet for this murder – the police is still investigating the case.

There’s a suspicion that the murder is related to drugs.

This is not the first time for a shooting at olde molen nightclub. Because in December 7, 2015 someone shot a 37 year old man to death. The suspect was sentenced to 18 years of jail.

Previous to this incident, there were many other shootings and fights here.

As a local here on the island, I will not be going anywhere near Olde Molen Nightclub at night. It’s very dangerous there – take this as a warning not to visit this nightclub – ever!

Man Found Dead Behind California Lighthouse

The police was notified that a body was found near the coast of California Lighthouse, but the person wasn’t showing any signs of being alive.

Local forensics diagnosed that the man died because he drowned, and not because of a murder.

The victim was living in Aruba, but he was born in Curacao in 1970.

This is a very sad case – what was he doing at the coastline at night?

Be careful when visiting the rough coast of Aruba, because if you fall into the sea, the waves will crash you against the rocks – the results can be deadly.

Moratorium on Supermarkets

The government recently declared a moratorium on supermarkets in Aruba.

They did a research on supermarkets on the island. The results confirm that there’s a total of 185 supermarkets (and mini markets).

There’s about 2 supermarkets per 1000 inhabitants – which is too much according to the Aruban government.

In the past 5 years the total amount of supermarkets in Aruba grew from 90 to a total of 185, while the population didn’t change too much.

The Aruba Trade & Industry Association agrees with the decision of the government to declare moratorium on supermarkets, because the amount of supermarkets is excessive compared to the amount of people on the island.

All petitions to open a supermarket will be denied, only the requests before May 23, 2017 will be processed.

The moratorium is for two years.

In my opinion the government should also control the supermarkets to watch if they are keeping their prices fair, and not charging too much on their products compared to other supermarkets.

Restaurant Hygiene Inspection

The police inspected restaurants in the district of San Nicolas and closed a lot of these establishment during their regular hygiene control, due to not having permits to run a business or not having good hygiene in the restaurant.

They closed House of Cake, Dos Reis Snack, Fruteria Dominicano and La Granja. But these restaurants are open back again, because they got their permit and hygiene back in order.

However, there’s a Chinese restaurant called wing wag bar that has been permanently closed, because they didn’t have a permit to run a restaurant.

The police are going to be inspecting restaurants in the area of Noord in the following months – let’s see which of our favorite restaurants will stay open and which ones will be closed down.

Info on Citgo

Bloomberg recently published an article saying that CITGO is basically a scam to process Syrian oil in Aruba and transport it to America.

According to Bloomberg, they have access to emails and other documentation as proof that the plan is to sell Syrian oil for a cheap price to Venezuela, which in turn will be processed at the “new refinery” –  CITGO.

The refined oil will be then be transported to America and distributed to all gas stations.

Bloomberg interviewed a Venezuelan oil dealer, and he admitted to play a part in the plan – but he also said that he has nothing to do with the situation any more.

Long story short – if it’s true what Bloomberg is saying – we’re caught in a big scam!

First Turtles

Last week the first turtle came out a nest located in Eagle Beach – it’s the first turtle for the year 2017.

It took exactly 63 days and 3 hours for the first egg to hatch. A few days later, two other turtles were spotted.

There’s a lot more turtle nest around the beaches of Aruba, so there’s plenty of turtles that need to make their way to the sea in the following weeks.

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