Dear Editor,

Nineteen (19), that is how many fresh- and salt-water ponds the southern side of our island St. Martin had up until the 1960s! Today in April of 2025 we have but five (5) remaining! Fourteen (14) have been bulldozed, filled in, built on, their locations, their place in our shared history, for the most part, wiped from our collective memories, invaluable natural- and cultural-heritage destroyed!

One of our five (5) remaining ponds, the Welgelegen Pond or Little Bay Pond as it is commonly known, played an essential role in St. Maarten’s History, particularly in the survival of our ancestors who were enslaved on plantations such as Mary’s Fancy, Industry, Golden Rock (now known as the Emilio Wilson Estate) and Welgelegen.

“Welgelegen Fresh Pond was used for the breeding of freshwater fish, crayfish, crabs, waterfowls etc. … Welgelegen was a Food Pond. It used to produce food to feed at least 91 slaves daily. In times of food scarcity, much of Sint Maarten’s population could count and rely on the pond for their survival. Welgelegen Pond was also of great importance during dry periods. In times of drought Welgelegen pond functioned as a water reserve for water used in irrigation and for washing, drinking, etc.” (Report History and Ownership of Plantation Welgelegen and Little Bay Pond, W.A. Patrick, Stichting Kadaster, St. Maarten, 2001)

The Little Bay Pond is also an important fishing ground for our National Bird, the Brown Pelican, and serves as a nesting, foraging and breeding area for numerous other species of birds, consequently, it is internationally recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA). The mangroves and other vegetation surrounding the pond, and the waters of the pond itself, provide a habitat to countless species of mangrove forest and wetland wildlife.

In addition to its Natural and Cultural Heritage value, the Pond serves as a catchment basin for water from the surrounding hills, thereby preventing excessive flooding in the area and diminishing the pollution of Little Bay (Beach) by terrestrial runoff waters.

Residents including cultural heritage and environmental experts have been calling for the protection and proper management of St. Maarten’s Ponds, including Little Bay Pond, for well over four (4) decades. A little over 10 years ago it seemed as if the countless calls were finally being heeded. The Ministry of VROMI (Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure) of the Government of St. Maarten prepared draft zoning plans, consulted on these with residents and approved preparatory resolutions in anticipation of the finalization and approval of these plans. The final draft versions of these plans clearly listed the Little Bay Pond as a Conservation zone. Unfortunately none of the Ministers of VROMI of the past decade made the effort to submit any of the draft zoning-plans to parliament for debate and approval.

Editor, by now you and your readership may be asking yourself why the long (history) lesson? Well, the unfortunate reality we face today is that Little Bay Pond, this area of immeasurable natural and cultural value, is under imminent threat of destruction by development.

International developers (lagunebay.com) and their on-island local frontmen, business partners and consultants have recently launched their charm offensive aimed at misleading the population into believing the proposed destruction of one of our few remaining ponds is in our collective benefit.

Online based “media houses” have already started to feature articles, which read like paid advertisements, in which the developers flaunt their so-called “environmental and archaeological assessments” conducted by flashy international consultants. These articles claim that the developers will clean and improve the environment. Yet nowhere is there any acknowledgment of the devastating, irreversible consequences that the continued decimation of our Natural, Historical and Cultural Heritage, both tangible and intangible, will have on the identity, dignity, and future of, us, the People of St. Martin, for generations to come. Thus, completely undermining our Constitution, which was ultimately ratified, officially creating Country Sint Maarten, to protect our rights which includes the protection of our heritage for current and future generations.

The term “Sustainable Development” was internationally coined in 1987 in the Brundtland Report and calls for meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Ask yourself, does this development, or do any of the major development projects on St. Martin truly meet this definition to be called “sustainable”?

The developer will continue to take pages from the usual mode of operating. They will:

* claim the development is eco-friendly and call it progressive and sustainable;

* paint the development as the best thing to have happened to St. Martin;

* promise the creation of jobs;

* promise to address the environmental challenges the pond faces;

* claim to have the solution to any potential flooding challenges the area might face because of the development;

* claim the mangroves are not native and were never anywhere on the island;

Additionally they will seek to divide and conquer by:

* conveniently ignoring that the island’s environmental, natural and cultural heritage organizations have been advocating for the sustainable development of the island and for the protection of natural resources for decades;

* claiming that environmental organizations pick and choose their battles and are biased;

Furthermore they will:

* make the organizations out to be elitist and wave the objections off as being about race and, painfully, some of our very own will eat up that claim like a Christmas Guavaberry or Coconut tart;

* those with political influence, yes even those in parliament who stand to gain, will threaten to destabilize government if the coalition dares to intervene to stop the impending destruction;

And perhaps our favorite part of the standard method of operating (you will undoubtedly note our sarcasm) they will (send others to) threaten members of the environmental movement or our direct family members with grievous physical or financial harm. (We have a standard template for filing reports to the police and prosecutor’s office)

The developer and their representatives will make every possible attempt to mask the fact that this “lagunebay” development at Little Bay Pond will not only destroy an ecologically and culturally significant area, as if that in itself isn’t bad enough as it is, but that it will also drastically diminish access to- and the overall recreational value of the beach at Little Bay itself! The project will undeniably further land-lock residents who have already lost unhindered access to beaches at Oyster Bay, Simpson Bay, Burgeux Bay, Guana Bay, Pelican, parts of Mullet Bay and the other half of Little Bay Beach and the rock coastline at different locations all around the island.

Should we allow this planned destruction of Little Bay Pond to take place, the access to yet another beach to be cut off, we are not only erasing a vital piece of our heritage for the lining of the pockets of foreign developers and a handful of their local partners, but we are complicit in the betrayal of future generations of St. Martiners who will inherit nothing but the ruins of what we failed to protect.

What will Parliament do? What will our Ministers do? The bulldozers are on their way.

Rueben J. Thompson

Sint Maarten Pride Foundation

Much of the distress over US President Trump’s new tariffs on imports to the US ignores the key fact that the new levies are reciprocal – intended to counter tariffs that other nations levy on US imports to them. If another country imposes, say, a 25% tariff on imported US goods, then a reciprocal tariff on imports from that nation to the US would also be 25%.

President Trump's tariffs for some countries are equal to those they levy on imports of US goods, while others are lower. But the essential purpose of these new tariffs is to dismantle, or at least restructure, the long-standing worldwide practice of taxing imports of US-produced goods (often quite heavily), while exporting domestically-produced goods to the US virtually tax free.

Curaçao charges a 10% tariff (or, equivalently, duty) on the importation of US goods. That tariff is now matched by Curaçao’s exports to the US. Given the small volume of Curaçao’s exports to the US, and the fact that most of its imports come from the EU anyway, it should consider dropping the tariff on US goods altogether. Who knows? Doing so right now might gain some significant political benefits.

More generally, Curaçao imposes duties ranging from 0 to 27% on a variety of consumer-use items. Replacement car parts are a good example. Curaçao doesn’t have a car-part manufacturing industry to protect so why does it impose such a high tariff?

The island’s import duties add up to 27% to the cost of those and other essential items, making everyday and critical goods more expensive for Curaçaoans than they need to be.

To be clear, tariffs are taxes and as the saying goes, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes”, but the taxes can be applied fairly by both sides.

Concerned Curaçao citizen

I Am Boycotting American Products

By Alex Rosaria

One of the most democratic and powerful tools we have is deciding where and what we buy. My doctoral thesis, published in the Swiss professional journal World Competition Law and Economics Review, advocates for the informed and conscious consumer to participate in the process of change in favor of social justice – just as was the case during the fight against apartheid.

Today, more than ever, younger generations are using the concept of “politically engaged consumers” to push for change. In the past, I have used this approach to boycott Miles Café for its statement that Curaçao is an island of monkeys, Heineken for refusing to pull out of Russia like others did in protest against Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, and Nestlé for causing immense suffering to mothers and children in Africa.

The way the White House is bullying the developing world through its trade war is reason enough for me to take action against American products – even though I’m aware of how dependent we are on them. But there are options: I can choose not to buy certain lemonades, beers, pizzas, fast food, alcoholic beverages, cars, electronic devices, vacation packages to the U.S., cell phones, and much more.

Choosing not to buy products from a specific country in the name of justice is an action I’ve always supported. In this case, the tariff bullying will no doubt make the world’s most vulnerable people even more vulnerable and impoverished.

~ Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia and the Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He is from Curaçao and has an MBA from University of Iowa (USA). ~

Dear Editor,

To will a life devoid of preferences for particular subjective experiences, a life which remains unaffected by the chaotic, unpredictability of existence, is to welcome a life with its myriad of inherent misfortunes and disruptions. It is tantamount to what Friedrich Neitzsche referred to as the eternal recurrence of the same – a willingness to embrace and relive the gamut of one’s past life experiences over and over again: in essence it is to equally affirm pain and suffering as a given of life.

To exhibit this sort of courage which liberates us from the fear of suffering, the courage that relieves us of the fear of exposing our sheltered vulnerabilities, the courage to expose the contents of one’s psychological make-up, the courage to allow the free play and stimulation of every human faculty, the courage to become consciously aware of and experience the whole range of our sensibilities and sensitivities, essentially the courage to develop a healthy desire to feel every feeling and think every thought, is to display the courage which epitomizes a life which approximates fearlessness.

In this state of fearlessness, courage then becomes the beacon which beckons us to its presence, inviting us to exercise and consume its restless internal capacity which promises to bestow upon us unquantifiable intestinal fortitude. Tempted by its daring and the possibility for us to become potent human beings we ought to then allow courage free reign within our psychological milieu, thus enabling us to transcend the limitations of its binary opposite – miserable paralysing timidity. Transcending the life diminishing boundaries delineated by fear propels us to the apex of what Maslow’s pyramid of hierarchical needs refers to as self-actualisation.

In this mode of self-realisation having earlier ascended the lower rungs of the stairs of anxiety built on our basest of needs and the fear of the unknown we are now elevated to the summit of our human potentialities which were once inaccessible to us and fiercely guarded by fear.

Having ascended during our internal pilgrimage we now have a friend in courage and can confidently call on it to flex its spiritual muscles to disallow any future attempt from its flighty weaker accomplice – fear – to reverse our ascension displacing us from atop the plateau populated with beings experiencing the highest modes of human existence. We are now courageously well formed to incorporate Carl Jung’s partially diabolical shadow into our consciousness. We are no longer unafraid to probe the depths of our unconscious psyche, but are instead hastening to bring to the surface for peaceful coexistence all the dragons and demons that were once lurking in the shadows of our unconscious.

We can now denounce the Greek God Phobos severing ties with his fearful, panic stricken and flighty nature, embracing and celebrating instead the spirit of Ares whose brave nature now possesses us. We are thankful to the Greeks and remain unfazed by the fact that in spite of their mythology being irrational, it nevertheless offers inspiring insights, comfort and courage to the feeble, in particular those who are unable to face the perils of life. We are extremely grateful to Ares for possessing us during our daring quest to discover what it truly means to summit the mountain of human potential despite the presence of fear.

Medals of valour are now in short order for the gallant spirits who dared not remain perpetually imprisoned by the terror which once shackled their fearful minds. Valiant souls whose spiritual adventurism fuelled and sustained by stubborn determination bravely resolved to experience the heights possible for anyone riding on the back of courage. These enlightened, heroic self liberators who are now in possession of such a coveted virtue as courage now have an understandably loathsome distaste for subjects cloaked in fear.

The newly badged soldiers of fortitude having persevered, in the process becoming fully liberated from the dread that once impeded and threatened their entry into the promised land have now joined the ranks of the eternally resolute in spirit. While residues of fear still remain amongst the courageous victors it nonetheless exist in such insignificant proportions that any attempt to rear its head will be adventurously devoured. Hail to all the bold psyches whose odysseys have resulted in their victorious souls becoming transformed beyond the shores of those who fear to dare. Once gripped by fear these newly-minted pilgrims of valour dared to seek and so were spiritually rewarded with a life that will persistently pay homage to courage.

Orlando Patterson