Dear Editor,
I think it’s very unfortunate, because I was really looking forward to it: the lawsuit that Member of the St. Maarten Parliament Christophe Emmanuel was supposed to file against me.
In this newspaper I had called him a “fraud.” After that I received a threatening letter in which he told me to take back my words, otherwise he would certainly take “legal actions.”
I still think Emmanuel is a fraudster, but there aren’t going to be any legal actions. Unfortunately, because I would have liked the confirmation from the court that there is enough reason to call Emmanuel a “fraud,” because as a minister he supposedly committed dubious acts pertaining to the handing out of parcels of land.
Maybe Emmanuel did not dare to take me to court anymore, because this month several other politicians from St. Maarten are under investigation or are being prosecuted. For example, an investigation is taking place of the “criminal” landfill whereby the role that politicians might play in this is being looked into. Former politician Silvio Matser is on trial for voting fraud. But the biggest news is the approval by the court to prosecute Theo Heyliger, who has been the most important politician on the island for many years. The big man behind the current government is reportedly suspected of bribing a politician, but is possibly involved in more cases.
St. Maarten is not the only island where a big clean-up is happening: also in Curaçao a number of politicians have been prosecuted this month, including former minister Jacinta Constancia, who has to go to jail for fraud in a remarkable case that involved the purchase of 40,000 masks. Earlier, she had to resign as a member of parliament because she hit a colleague in the face during a debate. A very serious matter is the prosecution of former minister George Jamaloodin, who is suspected of being one of people that ordered the murder of politician Helmin Wiels. Jamaloodin, who as a minister walked around with a gun and was involved in a criminal robbery at the secret service, fled to Venezuela, but hopefully will soon be extradited to Curaçao. Both ministers were members of the government of former prime minister Gerrit Schotte. The court will rule in his case next week. He is suspected of accepting a bribe. Schotte was previously sentenced to three years in prison because he had been bribed by gambling boss Francesco Corallo, who could therefore influence the policy of the Curaçao government. This gambling boss operates from St. Maarten and has close contacts with all kinds of politicians.
Stories about fraud and corruption on the islands aren’t new. I’ve written about this in the past. But the developments of this month show that more and more it is possible to act against corrupt politicians. The Netherlands assisted in this process, after the Second Chamber passed a motion of the SP and the VVD to investigate the connection between politics and the gambling world on the islands. Initially, the interference from the Netherlands led to remarkable reactions. Theo Heyliger organised a demonstration against me and VVD colleague André Bosman. Gerrit Schotte sent a detective agency to us and accused me of wanting to plan a coup on Curaçao as a secret service agent of the Dutch AIVD. Francesco Corallo sent lawyer Gerard Spong, who unsuccessfully tried to silence me as a member of parliament. Corallo is on trial in Italy for the bribery of politicians, among other things.
It’s very good that fraud and corruption are finally seriously dealt with, but that is only possible if we also dare to follow through with it. I would also like an investigation into the media that publish articles about the gambling mafia, but that have to deal with intimidation and even with cyber attacks. And let’s not forget the white collar criminals, like the dubious accountants of KPMG.

Ronald van Raak
Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament for the Socialist Party (SP)

Dear Editor,

With Winair’s 57^th anniversary milestone falling on August 24, 2018, Winair’s management deemed it necessary to share with the public what the status of the company is today, especially in the aftermath almost one year ago of Hurricanes Irma and Maria’s devastating effects to our region.

Winair was founded by Captain Georges Emilien Greaux, Captain Hypolite Faustin Ledee, and Mr. Norman Chester Wathey in 1961 with its home base established at Princess Juliana International Airport. In 1976, Winair was acquired by the Netherlands Antilles to ensure that the vital air connectivity between St. Maarten, Saba and Statia was kept.

With the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010, the ownership of Winair was transferred to Country St.Maarten with just over 92 per cent interest in the company and to the Netherlands with just under 8 per cent.

An ad hoc committee led by Mr. Michael Ferrier and supported by Mr. Roberto Gibbs, Mr. Jeroen Veen and Mr. Michael Cleaver created the conditions to execute new statutes based on book 2 of the civil code, followed with a new supervisory board of directors being established in July 2011.

Mr. Georges Alain Greaux, became chairman of the supervisory board of directors and along with his fellow directors Robert Budike and Gerrit Draai (†2018) started with the daunting task of turning the company around by establishing a good management team and plan of action. With the mandate at hand to make the company viable again, Mr. Michael Cleaver, a seasoned airline executive was hired as CEO and President of the company, followed by Mr. Roberto Gibbs as CFO to complete the management board.

By the first annual general meeting of shareholders in June 2012, all backlogged financial statements were presented and by the end of 2012 Winair became profitable again. This feat was made with no capital injection from either shareholder and is a true testament of the work that has been put into it by the employees and by having great management leadership to motivate and guide them.

While the region has seen the collapse of many airlines such as ALM, DCA, DAE, BonairExel, Tiara, Cardinal, and lately PAWA, and some uncertainty with Insel Air, Winair has been able to grow and reinvent itself not only to survive the various airline industry conditions in the region but to achieve the success it enjoys today.

Winair is proud of its achievements post-2011 and the list is far too long for this press release and highlights of our accomplishments that have previously been released via the media. Some interesting facts are that Winair had close to 23,000 flights in 2016 and was well on its way to reach that number in 2017 and is the number one carrier in runway utilization and passenger movement at Princess Juliana International Airport.

We continue to strive to give passengers the best service possible, on time performance, and most importantly a safe and enjoyable experience. Our maintenance program and flight training rivals that of larger carriers, something that we are proud of and is recognized by many airlines resulting in partnering with us on interline and code share agreements.

Besides scheduled flights, Winair flies charters regularly and has throughout its history also provided medical evacuation services. In its 57 years of existence, Winair has contributed tremendously in the developments of not only PJIA as a hub, but all regional destinations it has served as well.

The economic impact cannot be understated, and this includes the human resources from home base to all outstations through direct and indirect contributions to the respective economies.

Recognizing these facts, Winair endeavors to work with all its destination stakeholders to find the right marketing tools to drive the business to and from these destinations and all its spinoff effects such as taxis, hotels, rental cars, shopping, restaurants, etc. Winair will provide air connectivity to approximately 175,000 passengers thru SXM in 2018, generating hundreds of thousands if not millions of US dollars in various sectors of the local St. Maarten economy. Winair is also proud of the assistance it provides schools, NGOs, charitable organizations in St.Maarten and the region.

Post-Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Winair made painful adjustments immediately to its cost of operations and due to its 56-year-old headquarters being totally destroyed, found temporary facilities to mount its call center and administration. Our headquarters is expected to be completed in about 5 months with improvements to accommodate our customers better.

The hangar was badly damaged but is now fully repaired and functional. Once our aircraft returned to base immediately after Irma, Winair operated 70 relief flights for the government of SXM and brought in relief supplies for its staff and other organizations.

Winair also adapted itself to changing traffic patterns post-Irma to ensure it was able to successfully offer services of customers traveling to and from Antigua, San Juan, and St. Kitts due to limited services offered by Princess Juliana International Airport. We also introduced services to Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Santo Domingo and Haiti with our partner Air Antilles, and opened a sales and reservation office in Philipsburg to ensure a point of contact was re-established immediately after Irma for our customers.

The changes made in both cost of operations and route to market were successfully implemented and had enough traction in the first half of 2018 for the company to turn over a profit. This positive side includes employee levels coming back to almost pre-Hurricane Irma level.

Winair has faced the possibility of bankruptcy in the past, so it remains our goal to maintain a healthy bottom-line instead of recklessly introducing below-cost discounted promotional fares. With that healthy bottom line, we’ve compiled the financial tools to look at new aircraft purchases as part of the reinvestments in the business in order to better serve our customers for the long term.

Winair’s ambition is to truly be a leader in the regional airline industry, but also recognizes that forging alliances and partnerships with other strong regional airlines is a big plus in providing a superior network of connectivity at a lower cost to the traveling public. We are a founding member of the Caribsky Alliance along with Air Antilles and LIAT with the goal to establish this connectivity network with all the benefits of better options and fare structures on the menu for our customers.

Finally, we would be remiss if we did not thank our entire Winair team in St. Maarten and our teams and partners in our 16 destinations for their hard work in making Winair the success it enjoys today. Our commitment to provide safe and reliable air connectivity remains unchanged, and our customers can always be assured we will be here today and tomorrow. We also take the opportunity to thank you, our customer. We do not always get it right, but we do want to listen and fix it, because we care, and because we enjoy welcoming you back on board.

Winair management

Dear Editor,

We hope with the publication of this letter the relevant authorities inside GEBE will make good and professional decisions. A section of Front Street was plunged into darkness when a transformer malfunctioned on Front Street.

Several calls and Facebook posts were made to GEBE and at some point one person came to check the transformer. Taking into consideration there were three cruise ships in port on Wednesday and we are all struggling to revive this economy we feel disappointed that some more urgency was not placed on getting the power back on.

The only feedback that was given was that management had to make a decision. We are concerned that if “this management” doesn’t see the need for urgency we will continue to be without power.

As part of the economic engine of this island it is our hope that GEBE dispatches its personnel as soon as possible to get this power problem solved. We sincerely hope this is not a situation of not caring about the needs of businesses on St. Maarten.

Concerned clients

Dear Editor,

I was not yet 20 years old, in my first month on the job, living at home by my parents when my father sat me down, pointed to the suture(seam) between the tiles on the ground and told me to “watch that good.” I was not nearly aware of what he was going to tell me.

  He said to me, “I want you to always walk that straight line, because there will be many who will not walk that straight line. A day will come when everybody will be obliged to walk that straight line. It will be difficult for those who were not accustomed, whereas if you walked that straight line it will have become second nature to you.”