Natalee Case Discussion #799 2/5/09 - 2/11/09

[jen3560]

ktf - I see the same picture emerging that you see!~



This might answer some questions about the failed sale of the refinery:

IN LATE 2007, PRIME MINISTER ODUBAR SAYS THE ARUBAN GOVERNMENT WILL STATE THE CONDITIONS OF THE SALE OF THE VALERO REFINERY TO THE NEW BUYERS

Valero Energy Corporation sells Aruba Refinery to Petrobras

American oil giant Valero sells refinery in Aruba to Brazilian semi-government company Petrobras stating that the refinery in Aruba no longer fits in their industrial strategy. Interestingly enough, many tourists have made that same value judgement that Aruba does not fit in their vacation strategy either.

Prime Minister Nelson Oduber said late last year that the government will state conditions to new buyers.  “They must guarantee that they won’t force any dismissals; that the new owner will invest at least 1.5 milliard dollars in the refinery, so that it also produces white products, like gasoline.” 

Valero sells refinery in second quarter (Amigoe: 4/2/08)

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2008/04/02/valero-energy-corporation-sells-aruba-refinery-to-petrobras/

 

 

ON FEBRUARY 15, 2008 NEGOTIATIONS REACHED A POINT THE MATTER WAS PUT IN FRONT OF THE PETROBRAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS, BUT THE COMPANY BALKED AT SOME OF THE CONDITIONS

Data: 15/2/2008
The other refinery Petrobras is eying is Valero's 275,000 b/d Aruba plant. Negotiations in recent months reached the point where the matter was put in front of the Petrobras Board of Directors, but the company balked at some conditions. Aruba 's diet of mostly heavy crudes like Maya makes it a good fit for Petrobras and Brazilian Marlim crude, analysts say. However, Aruba has long had union problems and a less than stellar performance track record, so the
sophisticated and very disciplined Petrobras is not likely to overpay for the assethttp://www.gasnet.com.br/novo_atualidades.asp?cod=511 ON MAY 14, 2008 PETROBRAS POSTPONED THE DECISION ON WHETHER TO ACQUIRE THE VALERO PLANT IN ARUBA. THEY ADJOURNED THEIR MEETING WITHOUT MAKING A DECISION ON THE PROPOSED ACQUISITION 14-05-08

Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil's state-controlled oil producer, has postponed a decision on whether to acquire a Valero Energy plant in Aruba that would boost the company's refining capacity by 14 %.
Directors of the Rio de Janeiro-based company, known as Petrobras, adjourned their meeting without making a decision on the proposed acquisition, said Alberto Guimaraes, chief executive officer for the company's US unit. No new date has been set for the board to consider the transaction, Guimaraes said.

Petrobras wants to acquire refineries outside Brazil and expand a Texas plant rather than export crude from offshore discoveries including Tupi, the Western Hemisphere's biggest oil find since 1976, Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli said on May 5.
Petrobras owns stakes in 18 refineries that process about 2 mm barrels of oil a day, or 85 % of current output, said Lilyanna Yang, an analyst at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York.

Valero's Aruba plant can process 275,000 barrels of oil a day and includes two delayed coking units, which handle heavy crude similar to the grades in Brazil's offshore deposits.
San Antonio-based Valero acquired the Aruba plant four years ago for $ 627 mm.



Source: www.latinpetroleum.com
http://www.gasandoil.com/goc/company/cnl82520.htm

[Keepthefaith]

The Unions for Valero down in Aruba.How do those work?Who runs them?Who in the Aruban Govt asked for to much from Petrobras?Just thoughts....

[caesu]

i don't follow this Valero situation very closely

but i can add that Hendrik (H. S.) Croes was the attorney for Valero Refining Company-Aruba N.V. / Valero Marketing&Supply-Aruba N.V.

http://jure.nl/bg1608
http://jure.nl/bf4083

in the leaked internal VNO-report stated that Hendrik Croes wants to bring Aruba on a collision course with The Netherlands.
Hendrik Croes needs this because The Netherlands wants more transparency in the Aruban governance.
this threatens the business interests of Hendrik Croes on Curaçao, Bonaire and of course Aruba.

as we know Hendrik Croes and Nel Oduber are the real force behind the strategies of MEP.

http://i44.tinypic.com/j63d3r.png

[texasmom]

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/printer_52556.php

Google translation:

Aruba
 
Drugs in drinking

10 Feb, 2009, 14:49 (GMT -04:00)

ORANGE CITY - A 26-year-old from Iran coming tourist MS had to be transported to the hospital after a drug in her drink had done. Last Saturday chaired the bather a drink tequilla when an unknown man in her came to a chat. After a while, felt S. are unwell. When the police arrived the victim had been taken to hospital for treatment of her complaints. The next day S. together with her husband to the police in order to make a statement. The matter is further investigated.

[Buckeye]

New Drug Paths to U.S.

 
Determined to keep control of their lucrative, illegal business, Colombia’s drug cartels are finding new partners to move their cocaine and heroin into the United States and Europe.

Imprisoning the country’s top drug lords and deporting their traditional European contacts weakened the cartels for a time, but now law enforcement officials fear that they are rebuilding their illicit empires with reliable new routes.

The cartels are capitalizing on the legendary smuggling prowess of Arubans, Puerto Rico’s status as a U.S. territory and the Dominican Republic’s strong New York City ties. Guatemala, once merely a stop on the drug route into Mexico and the United States, has become a jumping-off point for Europe as well. And the Russian mafia is now helping deliver the drugs to the European market, according to Colombian and Caribbean law enforcement sources.

The alliances emerged in an attempt to make an end run around Mexico’s drug distributors, who had taken advantage of the Colombian cartels’ vulnerability to grasp a tremendous share of the market.

“There are great efforts to break the Mexican monopoly,” said one high-level intelligence source. “Groups who don’t have anything and who don’t want anything to do with Mexico are exploring new possibilities.”

The growing importance of heroin in the mix of Colombia’s illegal drug exports has permitted another distribution shift that circumvents the Mexicans. Heroin is worth nine times more by weight than cocaine, making small quantities of heroin highly profitable.

So drug traffickers no longer need to hide large shipments of cocaine in freighters that dock at Mexico’s Pacific ports. Instead, they can rely on “mules” to take heroin directly to the United States in their luggage or their stomachs. These couriers transport about 90% of the Colombian heroin that enters the U.S., according to the intelligence source.

Mexico became a necessary stopover point for Colombian drugs headed to the U.S. about three years ago, when tighter controls made transshipment through the Bahamas, Jamaica and other traditional Caribbean routes highly risky. By the time Miguel and Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, the self-confessed heads of the monolithic Cali cartel, were arrested in 1995, the Colombians were hooked on Mexican help.

“With the fall of the Rodriguezes, Mexican ‘narcos’ began to take control away from the Colombian cartels,” said the intelligence source. “Today, Colombian organizations depend on the Mexicans for getting 60% to 70% of their drugs into the States, and the Mexicans have moved from being simple intermediaries to the owners of the trade.”

But as the big Colombian cartels fragmented, the infrastructure they used to get drugs across the U.S. border crumbled. Emerging traffickers on the South American country’s Atlantic coast to the north and in Valle del Cauca province, of which Cali is the capital, in the southwest developed different contacts to export their narcotics.

Distribution in Europe posed a different problem. The Colombians traditionally worked with the Italian Mafia, especially to launder money in Europe, according to intelligence sources. But that alliance has weakened over the last two years as nine Italian capos have been extradited from Colombia.

Further, the fragmenting of the Colombian cartels has made the business less attractive to the Italians, sources say, because now they must deal with several small players rather than a single, dominant drug lord. While the ties between the Italians and Colombians have not broken, they have definitely frayed.

Poolside Drug Deals

As the Mexican traffickers extended their tentacles deeper into the narcotics business, their services became pricier. They doubled their smuggling fee to 40% to 50% of a cocaine shipment, said Special Agent Bill Mitchell, who heads the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Miami field office.

In response, Colombian traffickers began testing alternative routes in the Caribbean. In recent months, they have struck long-term alliances with Dominicans, who charge a 20% smuggling fee, according to Felix Jimenez, a DEA special agent in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Dominicans provide a full-service smuggling package for Colombians, DEA officials say. “They have the language, proximity and a full network in New York, so they have no problems bringing money back,” one official said.

Dominican officials from President Leonel Fernandez down have openly acknowledged that they are worried about the role their countrymen are playing in the drug trade and are seeking closer cooperation with U.S. law enforcement.

DEA officials said many deals are struck on the eastern Caribbean islands of St. Martin–which is half French, half Dutch–and Antigua. “St. Martin is a very comfortable place for Colombians to travel,” one agent said. “The U.S. can’t get our hands on them.”

Dominicans and Colombians check into entire blocks of hotel rooms for a week or more and sit by the pool talking on rented cellular phones until the shipment is set up, according to another DEA official. From there, the official said, the Dominicans take charge.

Dominican “armies for hire” have taken over entire housing projects in Puerto Rico and in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood–staging areas to vastly expand Colombia’s U.S. drug market, DEA officials contend.

Dominicans also control a two-block area in Queens that is full of wire-transfer businesses set up to launder money, said one DEA official.

“Everything’s in line,” he said. “They are set in the States.”

Targeting Puerto Rico

Colombians looking for new alliances in the drug trade have also targeted Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory that lies 70 miles east of the Dominican Republic.

“Cocaine and heroin traffickers from Colombia have transformed Puerto Rico into the largest staging area in the Caribbean for smuggling Colombian cocaine and heroin [into] the U.S.,” James Milford, DEA deputy chief, said during testimony before a U.S. House subcommittee in July.

When Jimenez’s agents cracked a major Puerto Rican drug ring in April, they arrested two Colombians and nine Dominicans. The alleged leader of the ring, Jouhan Rivera Rosa, had been arrested earlier in the Dominican Republic on separate drug charges.

Traffic has also picked up over the past three years on the island of Aruba, a landing site for drug planes for nearly two decades, according to law enforcement sources.

Proximity to Colombia–as well as connections to Europe and North America that the tourist trade has already established–has made Aruba an excellent transshipment point, U.S., Colombian and Caribbean authorities agree.

In addition, Aruba is well equipped to provide money-laundering services, they said.

Aruban smuggling fame dates to the days of the Dutch pirates. In this century, Arubans have established close contacts on the Guajira peninsula, Colombia’s traditional entry point for contraband.

Still under the protection of the Netherlands, Aruba is now a major passageway for cocaine and heroin entering Europe, Dutch authorities say.

The Colombians also appear to be turning to Central America for new drug routes into Europe.

Guatemalan and German authorities are investigating a case that has so far resulted in the arrest of Andreas Haeneggi, the local general manager of the Swiss corporate giant Nestle, and his son. They, along with the police chief of the tourist resort of Antigua, are suspected of being part of a major drug ring that hid $100 million worth of cocaine in cut flowers bound for Germany. All three have denied the charges.

With the operations of Italian allies curtailed, the Colombians are finding that their most reliable drug partner in Europe is the Russian mafia, officials say.

Russian Connection

With an explosion of drug consumption, especially heroin, in the former Soviet Union, criminal organizations–made up in part of ex-members of the KGB and former military and police officials–are making a bid for control of the East European market, according to Colombian authorities.

“The Russian mafia has set itself up on the Caribbean islands so as to be able to contact the Colombians,” said Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano, commander of the Colombian police. For example, more than two dozen Russian banks have offices on the island of Antigua, raising questions about why so many faraway financial institutions would have so much interest in such a small island, Caribbean law enforcement sources say.

Serrano readily admits that this emerging alliance worries him. “These are tough people,” he said. “An alliance between the Russians, the Italians and the Colombians would finish us off.”

 *

Darling reported from Bogota, Puerto Rico, Miami, Barbados and Guatemala. Times Caribbean Bureau Chief Mark Fineman contributed to this report from Miami and Washington, and Special Correspondent Steven Ambrus contributed from Bogota.

Not saying the above is true or not, but this article was written in 1997. Not New.

http://articles.latimes.com/1997/nov/17/news/mn-54735

[texasmom]

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/printer_52563.php

Google translation:

Aruba
Chamber unhappy with explanations Bijleveld leak Aruba

10 Feb, 2009, 14:56 (GMT -04:00)

DEN HAAG - The Lower House is not satisfied with the explanation that Secretary Ank Bijleveld-Schouten (Kingdom, CDA) authorizing the leaking of confidential information from the Dutch Representation in Aruba. Most of the groups can accept the criticism of VVD'er Johan Remkes, the letter today 'least satisfactory' said.
The Secretary of State, the Lower House today written to the leaking of information in Aruba late investigations. They can not anticipate the results, but already has some measures to prevent possible recurrence. In the letter she once again to the matter "extremely seriously" to find. She has in the past week two times with the Aruban Prime Minister Nelson Oduber to smooth wrinkles to iron. Oduber in March to the Netherlands. "Then we will of course the relationship between our two countries to discuss," said Bijleveld.
SP MP Ronald van Raak Bijleveld qualified the remarks as "very bad". The Court wants the State Secretary in a new letter creates more clarity. The groups want the additional clarification before they start March Bijleveld discussion on the leaked documents, which include harsh words about Aruban directors.
State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Bijleveld must do its homework, says Ronald van Raak Second Chamber of the Socialist Party. He asked last week to explain how the confidential week notice of the Dutch Representation in Aruba in the public could come. Also he wanted to know whether the content is correct.
 
The Secretary of State sent a letter to today, although the Court, but stated by Van Touch insufficient information. "Actually, they announced only that an investigation has started," says Van Tap. "They are pristine with no word on whether the contents of the report is true, so it should do its homework." From Touch would also like that the State explain what impact it has that Prime Minister Nelson Oduber has said that 'irreparable damage' has been in the relationship between Aruba and the Netherlands.
Last week a leaked confidential report of the Dutch Representation in Oranjestad from. That was an accident in Aruban hands. In the week were incriminating statements about the Prime Minister, various ministers and their families. Justice Minister Croes was furious and said about intelligence practices in the Netherlands.

No aid emergency debate
The groups want now that the Secretary investigate the leak well before March 3 has completed. On that day there is a General Discussion in the House where the row will be discussed. PVV'er Hero Brinkman believes that time away. He asked today for an emergency debate, but was in addition to Rita Verdonk does not support. "Have we mafia government in Aruba once in blot and then the Court would not talk about," says Brinkman disappointed fixed. From Tap says however: "That makes no sense, because then they can not answer. Her research will still need to be completed. "

[texasmom]

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/printer_52559.php

Google translation:

Aruba

Minister duplicate permits to boot

10 Feb, 2009, 14:54 (GMT -04:00)

ORANGE CITY - Minister Booshi Wever has the commitment to the softball game on the field of Centro di Bario Brasil where thousands came out for a performance of Le Groove, not comply with the licensing for events. The police therefore took a negative opinion, but after internal consultation with the responsible Minister of General Affairs, Prime Minister Nelson Oduber, it was decided that the sporting event could still go through.

The application for the event was made Friday after it appeared that the popular band Le Groove had not managed to qualify for the finals of the Calypso & Road March Contest. The application was submitted by Wever, who is not entitled to a evenementenvergunning orders. Moreover, the policy that applications ten days in advance must be sent. The police dismissed the application, therefore, but after a conversation with Oduber was decided that the softball tournament that was to raise funds, should go by. This action by a band as usual in this type of event, said police.
SAC stretched Saturday at the end of the afternoon, however, interim measures to make known the same time the tournament with a free jam 'which was organized not only Le Groove but also six other music bands would occur. This was on the radio and via SMS stadiums of jason@8-productions.com published. Other SMS with the message 'ban boycott calypso & road march "were distributed.
The police agreed to SAC because they are public order and safety of two major events could not guarantee. The judge showed Saturday, as yesterday in this newspaper was no decision can be made because the written authorization would be ready until Monday. SAC was therefore inadmissible. However, the court issued an opinion that would have been if the court a verdict had to react. There was, according to the court no longer a sporting event, but a competitive event. And to no risk in respect of public order, the court did rely on the organization to the sporting events to be without the shows.
The session was suspended and the lawyer of SAC was at that time a mediation attempt. That was rejected by the organization which Le Groove and other musicians later that evening occurred. The police, the organization ultimately still a fine because the event in the field of Brasil might last until midnight, but only at four o'clock in the morning ended.
SAC has not yet decided whether to return to the court proceedings, after the permit is issued for example, damages to be claimed.
 
   

[texasmom]

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/printer_52558.php

Google translation:

Aruba
 
Nearly 6 million florin for container scanner
 
10 Feb, 2009, 14:50 (GMT -04:00)

 
From left to right Gerardo Oduber Minister Nilo Swaen and Maureen Allen that the papers to buy a scanner for customs sign.
Oranjestad - Aruba will scan a container for a value of nearly 6 million florin. Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Nilo Swaen, Gerardo Oduber, President of the Board of Directors of Development Fund Desaroyo Aruba (FDA) and Maureen Allen Secure Solutions Inc.. signed yesterday the contract was signed.

It is part of the FDA-project under the National Security 2008-2012 which was published that a container-scanning device for customs purchased. Customs Corps chose to buy this container scan, as incoming and outgoing shipping containers are adequately and effectively it can be controlled. This version would be the most modern.
FDA Implementation of the project is awarded to the Canadian company Secure Solutions Inc.. The scan itself is made by Smiths Detection, a company that specializes in protection technology for government. It is part of Smiths Group, which is registered in Watford, England. Secure Solutions Inc.. has the same type of scan, amongst other things, to the Bahamas and Barbados and for which countries the maintenance.
The signing was also the Director and other representatives of AIB Bank, members of the staff of Economic Affairs and customs there. FDA is under the Department of Policy and Programs of the said bank. Meanwhile, FDA since 2002 in a total amount of 222 million florin spent in various projects.

[wreck]

I wish I had a "milliard" dollars! 

[texasmom]

O/T

Johan,
I hope you will watch this program with Marlies family and post something about it. 

I wish I could watch it!   

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3445.new

[Kermit]

Hendrik (H. S.) Croes was the attorney for Valero Refining

Is he related to

Glenbert Croes and Gilberto Croes Jr
Gilberto (Betico) F. Croes Leader of the Government of Aruba for more than 12 years

[klaasend]

TONIGHT ON DANA PRETZER:

www.scaredmonkeysradio.com

[johan555]

O/T

Johan,
I hope you will watch this program with Marlies family and post something about it. 

I wish I could watch it!   

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3445.new

oh thanks TM is there any news ?

[Anna]

Hendrik (H. S.) Croes was the attorney for Valero Refining

Is he related to

Glenbert Croes and Gilberto Croes Jr
Gilberto (Betico) F. Croes Leader of the Government of Aruba for more than 12 years

If Jr means "son of" wouldn't that make him their uncle?  Along with Rudy?

.

[Blue Moon]

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/printer_52556.php

Google translation:

Aruba
 
Drugs in drinking

10 Feb, 2009, 14:49 (GMT -04:00)

ORANGE CITY - A 26-year-old from Iran coming tourist MS had to be transported to the hospital after a drug in her drink had done. Last Saturday chaired the bather a drink tequilla when an unknown man in her came to a chat. After a while, felt S. are unwell. When the police arrived the victim had been taken to hospital for treatment of her complaints. The next day S. together with her husband to the police in order to make a statement. The matter is further investigated.

And that's the end of that story.

[Keepthefaith]

Hendrik (H. S.) Croes was the attorney for Valero Refining

Is he related to

Glenbert Croes and Gilberto Croes Jr
Gilberto (Betico) F. Croes Leader of the Government of Aruba for more than 12 years

If Jr means "son of" wouldn't that make him their uncle?  Along with Rudy?

.

I would believe so.Hendrik is Rudy's brother.IIRC

[Anna]

DENGUE/DHF UPDATE 2009 (07)
***************************
A ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>

In this update:
[1] Trinidad
[2] French Guiana
[3] Brazil (Minas Gerais)
[4] Brazil (Mato Grosso)
[5] Brazil (Acre)
[6] Brazil (Bahia)
[7] Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
[8] Bolivia
[9] Peru

******
[1] Trinidad
Date: Sun 25 Jan 2009
Source: Trinidad & Tobago Express [edited]
<http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_opinion?id=161429596>


The incidence of dengue, which is quoted as 182 per 100 000 [population],
represents the cumulative incidence as of the end of week 37 [8-14 Sep] of
2008 (WHO, 2008). If there were 3832 reported cases at the end of week 52
[22-28 Dec 2008], then a conservative estimate of this disease's cumulative
incidence for 2008 would be around 293 new cases for 100 000 of the population.

In 2002, WHO's estimate of this country's cumulative incidence was 480 new
cases for 100 000. For 2002, of all the countries in the Americas, only
Brazil and Honduras recorded more new cases of dengue than Trinidad. By
week 37 of 2008, again Trinidad and Tobago was 2nd only to Brazil in this
regard.

The case fatality rate for this preventable infection was estimated to be
1.26 per cent (WHO, 2008). This tells us that roughly 48 persons quite
likely would have died from dengue in this country during 2008 using the
ministry's figures.

In 2007, PAHO [Pan American Health Organisation] member states in the
region adopted Resolution CSP27.R151, which urged that dengue be considered
a "problem that reaches beyond the health sector". Thus PAHO/WHO have
sought to promote the implementation of their "Integrated Management
Strategy for Dengue Prevention and Control (IMS-dengue)" within member
countries, focusing on the conditioning factors associated with the social
determinants of this disease such as, uncontrolled or planned urbanisation,
environmental degradation, the lack of a reliable water supply, improper
solid waste disposal, and the growing presence of dumps filled with
discarded junk, tyres, and plastic containers."

Dengue has been on the rise for 25 years in the region of the Americas,
with cyclical epidemic outbreaks every 3-5 years, the last major one
occurring in 2002, with more than one million cases reported.

The PAHO/WHO report states that "to date, 14 countries in the Hemisphere
have prepared their national IMS-dengue." The only Caribbean country on
that list is the Dominican Republic![byline: Steve Smith][/color]
- --
communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map showing the location of Trinidad in the
Caribbean can be accessed at
<http://healthmap.org/promed/en?v=10.5,-61.3,5>. - Mod.TY]

------------

Must be sort of like crime in Aruba.  Just don't report it and it doesn't exist.


.

[texasmom]

O/T

Johan,
I hope you will watch this program with Marlies family and post something about it. 

I wish I could watch it!   

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=3445.new

oh thanks TM is there any news ?

Johan,
From what I understand the program will be shown on the 16th, and the trial will begin on the 17th.  That's all I've heard recently.

[johan555]

thanks mom do you know were that trial is ? bonaire  curacao ?

[texasmom]

thanks mom do you know were that trial is ? bonaire  curacao ?

I believe it said the family has traveled to Bonaire for the trial.