Summary:Boycott Watch called Aruba's bluff, and Aruba
blinked. Now: more truth revealed.
Revised 12-25-07 due to news
reports.
Boycott Watch has been
monitoring and reporting the status of the boycott of Aruba inspired by the
disappearance of Natalee Holloway since the boycott has been declared. As a
recognized expert in boycotts including the tourism boycott inspired by the
disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, Boycott Watch president Fred Taub
was made two appearances on Your World with Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel
(FNC) on this topic (see below).
In the second
appearance, Fred Taub made several points about Araba's mistakes in announcing
the closing of the case again the "Aruba Three". Aruba reacted to all but one
point Fred Taub made within 24 hours, then the last point in less than 12 hours
later.
Let's examine the record:
In an interview by Neil Cavuto on December 18, 2007,
Fred Taub made the following points:
Boycott Watch made the observation that soon after
Aruba announced a case closing timeline, Aruba announced it expects higher
revenue in 2008. This resulted in Boycott Watch concluding that Aruba feels
getting the case out of the news will relieve the financial pressure of the
boycott against them.
Boycott Watch made the observation that Aruban
tourism is hurt every time the Natalee Holloway case is in the news and that
Americans are upset at the announcement of the closing of the case as evidenced
by consumer comments in the blogosphere.
Boycott Watch made the observation that Aruba would
have been better off leaving the case open. Dropping the case was PR campaign
gone bad. In response, Aruba suddenly claimed they never intended to close the
case.
Boycott Watch made the observation that Law
enforcement officials never close a potential murder case until a conviction is
made.
Boycott Watch stated, based on US law, that there
is no statute of limitations on murder. Aruba emphatically responded, and for
the first time ever, that there is a 6 year statute of limitations on
manslaughter a 12 years for murder under Aruban law.
Boycott Watch made the observation that Aruba
tourism is down and stores in Aruba are lacking customers.
Boycott Watch made the observation that the new
evidence could not have been anything really new or significant since it is the
prosecutors who present the evidence to the judge and the judge said nothing
was really new. When Aruba released the evidence, it was discovered that it was
a comment on an Internet chat where one of the Aruba Three said Natalee is dead
- courts consider this as opinion and not actual evidence. Fred Taub was right
again in that the new and then undisclosed "evidence" was irrelevant.
Within 24 hours of the
airing of the live interview, Aruba reversed the case closure they openly said
they would close for two weeks, now claiming they never intended to close the
case, and that the case could go on for another 6 years. Aruba clearly reacted
to the interview.
Aruban officials did not reverse
their public case-closing declaration for weeks, and only did so after
confronted with bad PR, upset consumers and most significantly the comments by
Boycott Watch president Fred Taub on Your World with Neil Cavuto. Since only
Fred Taub made these observations, Boycott Watch must conclude Aruba reacted to
the interview and that the re-opening, therefore, is meaningless. All other
commentators reacted to Aruba's PR failures after Aruba announced the
re-opening of the case.
The recent comments by Fred
Taub and Aruba's reactions conclusively prove once again that Fred Taub of
Boycott Watch is the foremost expert in boycotts, consumer reactions and how
businesses should to respond to boycotts; or as in the case of Aruba, how not
to respond.
The news from Aruba did not end there.
On December 14, 2007
Hardbeat
News reported that Aruba was warning by the International Monetary Fund that having their entire economy based on tourism makes them "vulnerable to external shocks." To this, Boycott Watch responds with one word - Duh!!!!! The IMF report echoes the Boycott Watch reports and statements by Fred Taub on Your World with Neil Cavuto (FNC) on November 29, 2007.
The
external shock is clearly the two and a half year old boycott against Aruba.
The warning only came after Fred Taub of Boycott Watch reported the Aruban
boycott status on Your World with Neil Cavuto. In fact, it was Fred Taub who
stated the boycott is still hurting Aruba.
The IMF warning is, however, not only another indication that the boycott of Aruba is working, but also that the IMF is worried it may have to bailout Aruba's economy if the boycott persists. As such, Aruba needs to take heed that they need to actively pursue the Holloway case and not just give Americans lip-service.
Boycott Watch has been on the cutting edge of reporting on the Aruba boycotts, and has
reported all along that the Aruban economy is hurting because of the boycott.
In fact, Boycott Watch broke the story of an Aruban cover-up of the results of
the boycott against them. (Here )
Today, Boycott Watch reports activity which may
have led to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway:
Boycott Watch has received several reports regarding
activity within Aruba that is so commonplace that it is simply ignored by the
locals. First, it should be no surprise that local Aruban men regularly try to
pickup American women, but what is surprising is that is allowed to happens in
hotel lobbies and other privately owned businesses. If this were to happen in
hotel lobbies in the USA, such people would be thrown out and told never to
return again, but it is tolerated in Aruba.
This
activity is so common that Arubans commonly call these people "pimps." We
understand that there may be several groups of "pimps" and we believe this
activity may explain why Natalee Holloway was simply not noticed while she was
with the Aruba Three. "Pimping" tourists in Aruba is not only common, but
accepted. Some of the pick-up lines the "pimps" have used are "common, this is
Aruba, it's paradise" and "this is paradise, what can go wrong here?"
One thing which has been shown on TV is the bars in
Aruba where in conga-lines, alcoholic beverages are poured directly into the
mouths of tourists as they dance. What has not been reported is that no ID's
for age are checked in these conga-lines, so the "pimps" as they are called by
locals, use these to get girls drunk and take advantage of them. Once drunk,
the "pimps" can take the tourist anywhere while Arubans simply look the other
way.
Meanwhile, the website
Scared
Monkey's reported another girl missing in Aruba and the active search for
her. The girl who was last seen with local Aruban men was later found "heavily
sleeping" and "smelled of drugs" whatever that means, in her mothers bed. While
this illustrates the level of fear of personal safety in Aruba, some people are
questioning if the deep sleep is drug related. We checked the
CIA
Factbook which reports Aruba as a "transit point for US- and Europe-bound
narcotics with some accompanying money-laundering activity; relatively high
percentage of population consumes cocaine." As such, the drug related questions
in such cases have merit.
Boycott Watch is not
making any assertions, but we do wonder if any of the Aruba Three were tested
for drugs after Natalee's disappearance and if Natalee was seen by any Arubans
the night she disappeared but was perhaps simply ignored because of the
commonality of the reported "pimping" activity.
See Fred Taub interviewed live on Your World with
Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel speaking about Aruba's decision to
close the Natalee Holloway case on December 18, 2007:
See the previous interview of Fred Taub live on Your
World with Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel speaking about the Aruba
boycott on November 29, 2007:
