Presentation by JGD at CHTIC Converence 2007

                                                                                                                                                Source: Jacob Gelt Dekker
 

Distinguished foreign guests,
dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen,

A bizarre turn of events caused me to be your keynote speaker today, and just for a brief moment, I like you to share some of the incidents with me.

About 9 months ago, the entire political elite of Curacao and the Netherlands Antilles, from right to left, called for my removal from this island. As if that was
not enough, they also introduced action in       Download de presentatie van Jacob Gelt Dekker
parliament to officially declare me                    Gehouden op de CHTIC CONVERENCE 2007 in *.pdf 
persona-non-grata.  In addition,                       
party leaders called for a total boycott
of our businesses, our hotels Kura Hulanda and related companies.

What was the extraordinary  sin I committed, you wonder ???

Supposedly, I discouraged foreign investors from investing in these islands by calling for an end to ten years of  corruption,  bad government, a 50% school drop-out rate, and  crime wave after crime wave  by a large group of so-called unemployed who refuse to enter the regular work force or participate in adult education.

My protest was published on a very small obscure website in the Netherlands for the airline industry. After politicians’ bizarre reactions, the international media picked up on the story. Within one week. I received 40,000 reactions.

Soon, in the media, chat rooms and on popular websites every word, tittles and jota  of my little column was analyzed  in great detail.

When no one could identify a single untruth or unsubstantiated statement in my epistle, politicians took a new slant on my words: my tone of voice  would discourage foreign investors and therefore, not  corrupt politicians, drug dealers and criminals, but I should be declared persona non grata.  The implications were:  con the foreign investor, no matter the truth!

When amongst many, Dr. Lilian Goncalves, chairperson of Amnesty International contacted me and offered her unconditional support, I realized that my remarks had scored a full hit and exposed all those who favor cronyism, favoritism, nepotism, isolationism, clientalism, a dependent judiciary, and isolationism. Those are also the forces that disable your investment and render it to a waste. 

Dear potential investors, I would like you very much to invest in the Caribbean and make a profit. Capital is like water; it streams to places where it meets the lowest resistance.

The minimal environment you require is:

1.   Level playing field
2.   Transparency of government with checks and balances
3.   Independent judiciary
4.   International law, agreements and integration

Today, Caribbean’s largest industry with 25-30% of the Gross National Product is the Narco industry.

Whether the  Narco-industry found the Caribbean, or the Caribbean the Narco-industry hardly matters. Caribbean’s  environment of cronyism, favoritism, nepotism, clientalism, bribery and corruption, total lack of transparency, a dependent judiciary and continuous strife towards isolationism was  and is the ideal environment to make this illegitimate business flourish.   In this multi-billion dollar industry, thousand  found jobs as cocaine mules, dealers, transporters, manufacturers, money launderers etc. etc. 

Also on the other side of the divide, in the war on drugs, law enforcement in all possible forms and security became a new growth industry. On this little island of Curacao we have nearly 150 Security companies, about one per every 200 families.

Unfortunately, the Narco industry  is a predatory industry, that tends to crowd out all other legitimate business. It only benefits a few and the expense of many. It is not sustainable. Haiti is in ruins. Jamaica’s population suffers  from the terror of relentless crime waves. Venezuela is today world’s record holder of capital crime and armed robbery. 

Since January 2006, when former cocaine grower Morales became president, Bolivia’s  production of cocaine has doubled. Venezuela has invested many millions in Bolivia’ s cocaine industry and is rapidly building up its own production.   Due to strained assets, admiral Hathaway of the Forward Operation Locations, a joined task international drug enforcement, informs that  FOL can only respond to about 30% of its  intelligence.

Does this mean that the Caribbean will become  a permanent victim to the predatory narco industry???

No, I do not think so. The tide is turning and this is, more then ever before, the moment of opportunity.

The people of the Caribbean are tired of crime, violence, terror and harassment.  Internationalism, whether it is the UN,  the EU or the USA, they are all forcing solid business practices, democracy with accountability, and independent judiciaries. Also here is little Curacao, we are celebrating a mega victory of law and order in the elections of a few weeks ago.

We were pioneers in Curacao, who started ten years ago, when there was little hope for cooperation. Then, Curacao was on a steep slope of decline. Since years, the historic district of Otrobanda had fallen victim to desolation, crime and unlawfulness.  We started to buy up the remaining ruins and restore them to a new luster that resulted in the flagship of Curacao’s new image of tourism. It will not surprise you that it was the chairman of the Historic Society of Monuments who became our largest opponent, openly calling for our removal from the island.

In spite of ongoing opposition, intimidation, harassment and threats from all those who are opposed to solid business and government practices, we continued to grow.

Today, we added our second Kura Hulanda Hotel under the quality brand of Leading Hotels of the World;

yes, after nearly five years of undefined governmental stagnation.

We built a kidney dialysis clinic catering to the need of the terminally ill on the island as well as medical tourism;

yes, it was also frustrated politically nearly four years, and the local government still does not recognize medical tourism as such.

Our museum, now open for nearly ten years, has gained great international acclaim and received hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world; no the local government still refuses to recognize us as a museum and we still pay hefty import duties on our exhibitions.  

Our scientific library now counts with nearly 10,000 publications about the region from 1720 on. Although books are exempt from import duties, the local government decided that the paper the books are printed on, has to be taxed.

Our initiative with Desert Green House for cultures of strawberries, tomatoes and lettuce is a great success and should be able to provide for much of the island’s need in the next 6 months. 

A Marine Biology Research Project with acclaimed university around the world is about to start.

Hundreds of publications, television programs, presentations and talks around the world have carried our initiative. Hundreds of millions of investment dollars have followed ours, and Curacao is booming with a thriving tourist industry today.

I am happy and proud that we could make a difference, that we could make a contribution and I sincerely hope that you will follow in our wake.

Thank you.