AMERICAN URBAN POPULAR CULTURE AND ITS NURTURANCE AND SHAPING OF GANG-CULTURE IN THE CARIBBEAN: CRIMINAL GANGS SUCCESSFULLY CHALLENGING THE STATE APPARATUS REGIONALLY THE COLLECTIVE CLASS AS AN ANTI-DOTE TO THE PRESENT NEO-COLONIAL STATUS.

™ Flag of Independence.

Only full-fledged independence, led by an educated cadre of Pan-Caribbean Pan Sint Martin nationalists can lead this island and the region out of our present economic, social, cultural morass and beyond the 21^st century. I wrote following in 2000 while I studied at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen where I did scientific research, studied Psychology, Child Pedagogy and Social Case Work. Let it be known here without any hesitation or shame that Iam, one of the stereotyped African Caribbean males who was an active participant in the “street sub-culture”. I am also one who in spite of my environment overcame social and racial barriers, to attain gainful employment after my studies on Sint Martin. I write from experience and I live in the communities that I write about the people that I write about in some instances are actual acquaintances of mine, no stranger to their world it is imperative that I do all in my power to positively contribute to the active independence of our nation, in order to correct the malaise brought about in society, through colonialism and it’s neo-colonialist child in contemporary times. It is also time to reveal the true criminals the so called government officials and their illegal, goons and pirates in their employ, who prey off of the weak in society.

The following are 2 Articles found in the Dutch Constitution I will utilize this document to illuminate the atrocities committed against so called Antilleans in Holland.

Hoofdstuk 1 Grondrechten

Artikel 1

Allen die zich in Nederland bevinden, worden in gelijke gevallen gelijk behandeld. Discriminatie wegens godsdienst, levensovertuiging, politieke gezindheid, ras, geslacht of op welke grond dan ook, is niet toegestaan.

Everyone in Holland will be treated equally under equal circumstances, discrimination on grounds of religion, lifestyle, political ideology, race, or sex or upon whatsoever grounds is unlawful i.e. illegal.

In an article in the Daily Herald Monday, November 24, 2008 (Ethnic details not necessarily in VIA).

The very fact that politicians in Holland would even consider a separate registration for Antilleans is in fact if it were put into practice illegal as per article 1 of the Dutch Constitution.

A general index is the new tool that they have suggested to register all so called problem youth excluding of course from this index Dutch problem youth. It is in fact a racist and discriminatory practice.

If a truly democratic registration were to be enacted according to the spirit of their own constitution the Dutch would have to register Dutch youth in that database since this is not being discussed in the debate I must declare here and now that it is a racist tool and it is counterproductive to the democratization of the so called Antillean.

Artikel 2

De wet regelt wie Nederlander is.

De wet regelt de toelating en de uitzetting van vreemdelingen.

Uitlevering kan slechts geschieden krachtens verdrag. Verdere voorschriften omtrent uitlevering worden bij de wet gegeven.

Ieder heeft het recht het land te verlaten, behoudens in de gevallen, bij de wet bepaald.

According to this article their law decides who is a Dutch citizen since the so called Antillean according to their law is also a Dutch citizen why then are they treated unequally because we are in fact not “true” Dutch citizens .

We are forced Dutch citizens when we fully understand and accept this independence will not seem strange to us but it will simply be a natural progression in the ongoing development of our “civilization”.

The following is from the work: “A Socio Cultural Political Analysis of the Education System on Sint Maarten”.

By Wade A Bailey: The following was written in 2000 and is more relevant at present, than when it was first written. (® ™ © Mr. Wade Alexander Bailey is the sole owner of the images independence flag and the image of the book, A Socio Cultural Political Analysis of the Education System on Sint Maarten, Mr. Wade Alexander Bailey is also the sole owner and copyrights holder of the contents of all the books quoted herein, no material from said works can be used without citing Mr. Wade Alexander Bailey as the source of the material failure to do so, will result in legal action against those found in violation of said rights.

The so called Antillean in Holland is being marginalized and discriminated against not only because they are so called buitenlanders, (English translation an alien) but also because the Antillean is being used as a primary tool of advancement of the criminals that control the cocaine trade.

Any people who in large numbers in any community in the world will sell Crack Cocaine as a means of livelihood will always be despised and looked upon as men of little or no worth at all.

The Soualiga Youth is an organization consisting of youth and young people from Sint Maarten who seek to provide adequate information to people from Sint Maarten studying in Holland.

Our information consists of Black Awareness, material and self-help material.

Our organization is an organization geared toward the betterment of the social position of youngsters in our communities through training and mentorship programs, this we did successfully for many years in Groningen.

The Soualiga Youth is not in any way an organization with any political agenda neither are we remotely revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination.

A revolutionary movement is a movement geared towards the violent overthrow of government; government can keep their perceived position of power.

Soualiga Youth has taken time to clarify our stance in order to expose certain unfounded statements made by our traducers.

The SSNA has been disbanded yet we see the so called government representatives for Sint Maarten students in Holland forcing students out of housing to make room for those coming in August this simply means that the situation is unchanged .

Many people within our community complain that there are no jobs the government won’t give them work.

No people on earth should be dependent upon another for their sustenance.

Our people should try as much as possible to live within the framework of their own communities. In Holland the so called Antillean has every fundamental right to control their own destiny and direction just as other ethnicities and cultures do in Holland.

The only way to curb and curtail the crime associated with Antillean youth be it petty or great is for the community to act as a village and police itself.

The youth are in need of persons from their own experience who can inform them of relevant issues as pertains to their stay in Holland.

We are trying to combat the twin evils of drugs and alcohol the youth are being destroyed for commercial gain, this destruction of our children must be fought.

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The students are faced with a myriad of difficulties all of which can be eliminated with information.

The only problem that cannot be eliminated with information is the housing situation in Holland, it cannot be eliminated but it can be alleviated.

We also provide legal advice and information to students concerning their plight in the social context that comprises Europe.

Europe is a society that is gendered towards the socialization of human beings into certain patterns and ways of thinking and living called normen en warden, or norms and values all of the European norms and values may not be suited to the Caribbean psyche Soualiga Extraordinary Minds will begin a process of elimination of certain myths and propagate factual information backed by judicial material that will serve as a buffer

To the now encroaching erosion of the civil liberties of young Sint Maarteners living working and studying in Holland.

The so called Antilles will soon cease to exist we see that Holland is moving to eradicate some of the people from their country that are nonproductive and criminal.

This is a good thing if the government moves to include students in this policy then we will be dealing with a form of discrimination.

The Soualiga Extraordinary Minds Foundation is not political in our goals we nonetheless advocate an independent Sint Maarten.

A freethinking society will remain a free society that is the mark of a civilized society if society deliberately does not promote freethinking this society is arbitrarily a totalitarian regime.

Sint Maarten is an autocracy it is unarbitrarily ruled by a foreign merchant class comprised largely of Brahmins of Aryan Indian descent today they are called today they are called Hindu’s these people decide largely the economic life in this society the other ruling classes are the European Nationals, and the Asians that comprise the business sector .

There is no large Caribbean conglomeration of business entities here on the island.

Whoever controls the economy in a society controls the destiny of the country, this is the reason African-Caribbean youth specifically local Africans of the Diaspora are targeted for extermination in our own communities, we are not representative of those that donate large sums of money to politicians to fund their election campaigns.

In effect the government of Sint Maarten is dependent on people of a different value system for their economic sustenance.

We have seen many abuses of local youth in the past our youth have been deluded by the image of Hollywood and have become young predators, in our own society murdering our peers in unprecedented numbers.

We the visionary and the ones who are destined to lay aside our own illusions for the advancement of our society we must spare nothing.

Education is our weapon we are the advance guard of a new society the creators of a new society founded on our true culture, and we pledge loyalty to each other and the flag of independence.

Linda S Richardson then director of the Stichting Sint Maarten Student Support Service.

Above is a scanned copy of the official letter provided by our lawyer mr H.H. Veurtjes . The letter of course is in the Dutch langauge here I provide the translation: A number of student representatives, secured my services in the matter of the representation of several Sint Maarten students. There are apparently issues surrounding the illegal termination of rent contracts (that are secured via your person Linda S Richardson).

In the interest of good client advise I am requesting from you a recent copy of an example of the rental agreements , as a means of informing me of the manner in which the rental agreement is structured as per students from Sint Maarten.

Above is a copy of the letter sent to Soualiga Youth addressed to Mr B Bailey.

The letter informs the foundation of the first letter sent on behalf of the students, it then informs us that when he has heard from the SSSS he will get back to us.

Foundation St. Maarten Student Support Services at The Hague

Bezuidenhoutseweg 93 2594AC Hague

The Company Foundation St. Maarten Student Support Services is located at Bezuidenhoutseweg 93 in The Hague and is active in the sector other interest- and non-profit organizations; hobby clubs. The company is registered at the Chamber of Commerce under number 27272081, and is located in Bezuidenhout West in the municipality of The Hague. Foundation in St. Maarten Student Support Services are between two and five employees. See all the 30 companies in the

Above logo of the SSSS or S4. Out of the work that Soualiga Youth erected.

The above is a photo taken from the Daily Herald showing the type of weapons seized from students at the Vocational Trade School in South Reward here on Sint Maarten. Weapons right at home in prison. Such a “school”, is only a training ground for prison and the ones being funneled into prison are the African Caribbean males that will be highlighted hereafter. The following is the headline and the article connected to the photo above: AN EXAMINATION OF THE STATE OF EDUCATION ON SINT MAARTEN: IT’S PRESENT STATE OF ACUTE CRISIS AND ITS ORIGINS.

The following was written by Wade A Bailey as an opinion piece in the Daily Herald.

“Some months one can see scenes of groups of youth all over the island some in uniforms and others in plain clothes fighting either on or outside school premises.

I live in the St Peters area and have witnessed such scenes myself.

Since the institutions of education are witnessing these types of scenes regularly I call this an acute crisis not only in the context of the school environment, but it is also a social pathology.

It has its roots in the youth culture that has been adapted by the youth of today.

What is dominant youth culture today what informs the youth culture of our day?

The above scene looks like something from a jailhouse not a school house since students are bringing this type of material to school with them one must first examine their culture.

The popular culture of our day is Hip-Hop culture any doubt as to this assertion can be quickly dispelled by a simple listen to CNN, BET, FOX, or even our local television channels.

All over the world Hip-Hop is a dominant musical art form.

I will like to state here for the record that I am not against Hip-Hop culture.

In its earliest stages Hip-Hop began as a culturally, and socially conscious movement, that sought to inform as well as educate youth on various aspects of their existence in relation to the globe. (Metaphysics) an aspect of the culture was developed by KRS ONE called edutainment using entertainment as a tool of education, therefore intrinsically Hip-Hop culture attempts to educate enmasse what is its core message then?

The core message of Hip-Hop culture was intrinsically self-reliance relying on self instead of governments and an inherently racist educational system, I speak of a racist educational system chiefly in the context of the experience of the African in America although the same is applicable here on Sint Maarten and throughout the region.

I must make a distinction here for the benefit of the genuine Hip-Hop culture Rap music culture is not in and of itself Hip-Hop culture even though rap borrowed heavily from Hip-Hop and is in a sense a delinquent child of Hip-Hop it is yet a different art form and I want to give Hip-Hop culture it’s just due in that I distinguish Rap culture from Hip-Hop culture.

As I stated previously Hip-Hop is a socially conscious culture it is also politically conscious, it not only uses the spoken word to achieve its end it uses fashion, and an art form unique to Hip-Hop called tagging graffiti is not tagging and tagging is not graffiti, Hip-Hop also uses fashion to achieve its end.

The actual culture that the majority of our youth are living today is Rap culture.

Rap culture decides the way they dress, speak, think, and relate to their peers their family and society at large.

Rap culture is not socially conscious nor politically conscious Rap culture is a street oriented culture, which is a “gang-friendly culture” Rap culture has been informed by and in some cases in certain rap groups such as the outlawz of whom Tupac Amaru Shakur was a founding member, certain groups are in fact actual Gangs period.

In the case of Shakur an affiliate of the M.O.B. which was in fact a Damu set, Damu is the Swahili word for Blood. Anyone familiar with L.A. will know that it is the home of the infamous Bloods and Crips gang.

Why am I examining American gang culture and Rap music specifically gangster rap in conjunction with education on Sint Maarten, it is precisely the culture of “Gangster Rap” that is the influence and purveyor of the lifestyle that is being perpetuated by our youth today globally as well as locally.

No one in particular can be blamed in this scenario Iam not indicting a defunct educational system. Iam illuminating youth culture, which in fact is ,“Gangster rap culture”, and within that analysis I want to give educators who can grasp the significance of what Iam doing a tool to combat the influx of gang culture by way of the vehicle of music and now technology. As a result of the internet gang culture is now a “global culture of influence”, introducing this culture as entertainment, this is death perpetuated by gigantic multinationals for the bottom-line money.

The youth on the island of Sint Maarten are in fact victims of corporate greed, unequipped with the sophistication necessary to distinguish between fact and fiction the youth have adopted a culture out of ignorance and are in fact being used by both the corporate pirates in the USA and some of the local clothing outlets on the island.

This critical examination of youth culture must be done in order to understand their mindset only then can you even attempt to teach them.

The culture of Gangster Rap stems directly out of the prison and gang culture of the African American prison culture and gangs, therefore ipse facto gangsta-rap is street culture and a glorification of prison culture.

Through the medium of BET and MTV and Rap music CD’s and videos the youth have been “acculturated” into the culture of consumption of North America which is inherently a culture that promotes excess , and reveres material things over spirituality .

The youth can hardly be blamed as they are in fact being “ educated” by people who themselves are of a similar bent as themselves as many of their educators are in some instances that I have personally observed suffering from the same pathologies as themselves, pathologies inherited from a system that is inherently alien to them.

I will now expound on certain terms and phrases often used in the language of our youth.

A snitch is someone who betrays the trust of their peers by revealing to anyone outside of their peer group the inner workings of the group.

The word snitch is in fact a term used by criminals to indicate someone who “informs” the police of the activities of criminals.

The police are given many names and titles all of which are terms and phrases invented by criminals.

The culture of violence that the youth have adopted is also an explicit aspect and part of the character of Gangsta Rap. This art form, uses fashion to export its culture, as well as music, the actual culture being exported is not music but it is gang culture.

Take for instance the clothing line G-unit a very popular clothing line globally, the G stands for Gang unit it can be said it refers to the police gang unit and the point can be debated, but the individual who owns the clothing line, 50 cent, is a self-avowed gangster .

Since the very culture that many of our youth have adopted as their own, is inherently a product of prison life and gangsterism ,then, it should not come as a surprise to anyone ,that the culture is manifesting itself on school campuses.

The only way to combat this is to hire professionals equipped with an understanding of the global culture of gangsterism and to allow them to equip, the institutions of government, schools, and the public and private sectors to deal with the crisis.

Persons with a local background and from the actual neighborhoods where the youth live, should be preferentially hired, the reason for such, being locals will have an affinity with the youth that foreign personnel will not have. Also the acclimation process that a foreign person must go through seeing that they are in a strange environment will be eliminated, with the hiring of local professionals.

The actual crisis is much deeper, for it is part and parcel of the fallout from unchecked consumerism; the myriad social pathologies inflicted upon humanity, by the system of imperialism are having far reaching effects today.

We can observe today throughout the region young men slaughtering each other in unprecedented numbers.

This development should be frightening to all. The tendency of Caribbean leaders, to wait, for the answer, to come from, their North American and European messiahs will fail them.

At this juncture in the collective development of a regional policy, the leadership, by leadership I mean political leaders, as well as clergy, educational leaders, business and civic leaders as well as NGO’s will have to all work together towards the insurance and the prosperity of the region, if this is not done the region will be plunged into extreme chaos, and terror the likes of which the region will take years to recover from.

Reason why a totally new classroom culture will have to be created, towards that end I have introduced the collective class structure which is only a model and a prototype if others can create a more efficient model this will be welcomed by my person as it will only contribute to the furtherance of a greater civilization regionally.

In this work I have asserted that the system of education on Sint Maarten is an offshoot of a colonial legacy.

I have also stated that the institution of colonialism is inherently anti those it has colonized i.e. the entire African population of Sint Maarten.

The system of education as it is presently structured cannot but offer pyrrhic success to any individual that it attempts to educate.

It is inherently a failure as it was from its inception forced upon an unwilling and ignorant people its primary function was to “acculturate” Africans and poor whites into a socially agreeable pattern of living and thinking compatible with a post-colonial policy enacted in The Hague.

What I have enumerated throughout this book is corroborated by experts internationally, regionally, and globally.

I will introduce here certain facts and statements presented in The Education Summit of 2004. August 19-20^th, 2004 held on Sint Maarten.

I want to direct attention in this part of the work to the lecture given by Drs Stanley Lamp on “The Structure and Evolution of the Education System of the Netherlands Antilles.

In the introduction he enumerated four vital aspects of the education system on Sint Maarten.

They are as follows 1: the role and task of the education system in the community.

2: The relationship of the education system with the local and international community.

3: The influence of the economic, social-cultural and political structure on the education system.

4: The relationship between our mind-setting and our choices concerning the further development of the education system.

He stated “If you do not know your past you are doomed to repeat it”. How fitting indeed.

He also showed the periods of the development of the system from the 17^th century to the present.

He detailed the 1845 policy of the government i.e. Holland as pertained to education on the island of Curacao.

He states the following “ Most of the schools were Catholic schools, as a consequence of missionary activities of mgr Niewindt’s work was the Christianizing of the people, including the slaves and the freed people . Girls and colored persons also got some education”.

He further states the “Antillean education system which in 1816 started with a government school, a public, became at the end of the century rather a Catholic education system”.

Here this gentleman who has 42 years’ experience or more in the field of education shows that we indeed have an educational system that stems out of not only colonialism but also Roman Catholicism which is an institution that attempts to dictate to the worlds governments and population by postulating itself primarily as a religious institution when in fact it is a nation with its own capital the Vatican City and it ruler is called a pope.

Here we can see two powers taking control of the education of former slaves and attempting on one hand to “Christianize” them and on the other hand “Europeanize” them.

Lamp then went on from 1816 to 2002: I find it quite interesting to note that he had this to say.

2002: “In this year the Antillean community started with the implementation of Foundation Based Education. One can say with a certain amount of pride that by implementing this form of education, the Netherlands Antilles for the first time in its education history paved its own path, without taking into account Dutch or other developments in the field of education which in the past were relevant intervening and determent factors”.

He went on to state Evolution and reforming: from a process of copying and mental dependence to interdependence and autonomy: a question of self-consciousness and emancipation.

He further noted that “Based on the information provided so far, one can easily draw the conclusion that the Antillean dealing with his education not only sticks to the Dutch developments he also caters to the belief that by copying these developments he will guarantee a better life for his progeny and his people’

The above is a validation of what I have been stating all along that on Sint Maarten we never had an educational system that is a creation of the Sint Marten mind that is liberated what we have always dealt with was the “hand me down version” the copycat model is now unable to cater to the needs of those it is supposed to educate I stand vindicated in my statements and assertions by the statements of the good Mr. Lamp.

The entire report of the government in fact vindicates me and it also indicts them in their, criminal negligence of the youth of this society, the fact that no teacher presently or previously has ever thought to begin the process of dismantling the system and leading the islands youth to a greater civilization is an indictment on the slave mentality of most in the teaching profession, it is also an indictment of the visionless directors of all educational institutions locally.

Barbados has taken a different path in its creation of an African history degree program; the program is in fact a teaching degree in African studies.

That type of development can only achieve its true goal by the actual participation of students in such a program regionally.

Persons will in fact have to be invested with a new identity namely one of a Caribbean person a singular identity of being a native of Sint marten or Trinidad is not enough.

The globalization of the world is too rapid for a few small islands to retreat into an isolationist self-destructive fantasy.

The false perception of a boom on Sint Maarten is coming to an end, natural disasters, the Global Economic Crisis, transnational-terrorism and a myriad of sociological developments in the industrialized world, will see to that.

Should the one pillar economic pillar tourism be negatively affected by any one of the previously mentioned variables Sint Maarten’s perceived boom will be revealed to be exactly what it is a get rich quick scheme for foreign merchants”.

The following is an example of the class structure that will eliminate the type of criminal manufacturing institutions in our midst permanently.

PROPOSAL FOR A COLLECTIVE CLASS STRUCRTURE.

Before we go into detail about the collective class environment, I will attempt to demonstrate how this is presently being executed in a country with one of the greatest pass ratios worldwide.

The country I’ am alluding to is Japan, I’ am not suggesting here that we imitate the Japanese; I raise the point to show that the collective class exists, and it is a suitable model to meet the needs of a non-European culture.

The word collective means as a group taken as a whole.

The collective class is characterized by cooperation according to studies conducted in the USA, classes with little or no student cooperation fared worse than those with a high incidence of student cooperation.

Cooperation is also a means of instituting a sense of community and building, all these are nation building principles, and these principles are fundamental characteristics of a civilized society.

The European principles of, “over emphasized competition and domination” are uncivilized.

The European values described above are destructive to the emotional wellbeing of non-Europeans and should be discontinued.

Currently in countries such as Holland where most of the students from Sint Maarten are sent to further their studies it has been noted by the Soualiga Youth that these students are experiencing high rates of stress and a feeling of hopelessness as a result of not being able to cope with the system of education in Holland.

Since the students from Sint Maarten are largely of African descent it follows that they are right brained oriented thinkers.

The right side of the brain is in charge of noting similarities between things and their relation to each other and the whole thus unifying them.

This mode of thinking is what is referred to scientifically as synthetic, holistic, congregative et. al.

The European classroom is structured to deal with left brain oriented cultures which is the exact opposite of what is required to adequately train and educate a non-European.

The reason for illuminating this fundamental difference in approach is to say this.

Once the collective class is adopted, there will be more students’ cooperation in such a setting, if some students lag behind the rest of the class academically the other students will of their own volition assist the lagging students in their area of weakness.

All this will come about as a result of the perception of the students of belonging to a group, their identity will not be any longer in the view of themselves as an individual only but as part of a cohesive group called the class and the wider student body and we can then correlate this to the society at large.

In such an atmosphere far less attention-grabbing tactics will be observed.

One might ask why the attention-grabbing tactics would be less frequent in a collective class environment the need to belong will be fulfilled in a collective classroom.

Since the present system of education is turning out fewer and fewer graduates who are actually equipped with the knowledge of how to apply their education we see no reason why the educators, government and school boards of Sint Maarten would not move to eradicate such a system .

And create a new system of education which will deal with the system of education from a perspective of the advancement of civilization and not the churning out of so called diplomas.

Since upon arrival back to Sint Maarten from their studies abroad we can observe the students are hard pressed to secure gainful employment in their particular field of study.

Since the students are the majority of unemployed here on the island it follows that there is no system in place for them to advance themselves in on the job market which is the next logical step after having received their diploma.

In its present state the educational system is outmoded and barely able to meet the needs of those it is attempting to educate.

While the environment outside the school setting can contribute negatively or positively to the developmental process of a particular student and although the instructor cannot control it he or she can influence it.

A SYSTEM OF TRACKING.

A system of tracking is a method whereby those responsible for helping students to get there in the first place can observe students abroad.

The responsible party in most instances is government, educators, parents and students alike should be equally responsible in living up to their responsibilities within the whole process.

Presently there is no organized body or persons with the knowledge and expertise able to assist the Sint Maarten students coming to Holland from Sint Maarten.

A system of tracking allows one to observe how well the students are performing academically and if they are about to change their major.

The relevant authorities would be alerted of such a development, and then measures could be taken to accommodate the students and to find the reason for such a change.

If the student is making a wise decision or a hasty decision based on financial or social conditions the tracking system will be able to determine how to optimally advise and guide such a student.

In such a system, students will be working directly with those responsible for their scholarship financing.

In this way, government will be assured that their financial investment is being put to its intended use.

WHY SHOULD ENGLISH BE THE LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION?

English is the most spoken language in the world today besides Chinese one clear reason that English should be the language of instruction is on the level of communication, the students should be taught English so that they can effectively communicate with the global community.

You might raise the very valid point that most students will never have the opportunity to interact with people physically on a global scale.

Because of the internet E commerce is now an option to the running of a business from the privacy of your home.

Incidentally most of the best equipped programs are in English I stress on English as it is the language of international business (trade and commerce).

In most countries of the industrialized world, it is a main subject.

LOBBYING GOVERNMENT.

Since the students contend that they are an endangered species as an indigenous people group, facing social and economic extinction.

In order to secure their own interests it would be in their best interest to form a lobbying system and think talks.

The lobby group should elect out of its body a specific group that busies itself with the task of lobbying on the behalf of students through the means of petitions, all petitions should be signed by a majority.

The consistence of the lobbying system will prove to be more effective on the student’s behalf and will ensure a larger portion of the student population actually being able to function as part of the workforce on the island in their specific field of study.

The task of a think tank is to develop and bring about marked social change.

The manner in which a think tank can change the destiny of the average Sint Maartener is by equipping them with the necessary tools geared toward the betterment of the student population and their present relationship with government.

The students are not seen as a human capital investment by government nor are they treated as such.

The average student on this island is ill equipped to carry on his or her cultural or economic heritage as the means of control is not in their hands.

The student in the real sense of the word is one who is trained in the art of development of society to its highest form.

The present situation is diametrically opposed to the aims and goals of a real education.

“Some criticize to denigrate, others to uplift, know the difference”.

In this essay I will examine the phenomena of “home-grown”, Caribbean gangs with a pronounced North American urban influence. I will also focus attention on the billionaire old-guard drug baron’s regionally, their means of money laundering , their Colombian narco master’s and the contemporary largely African-Caribbean and mixed Creole youth that are challenging, the dominant well-established crime syndicates in an attempt, to create and consolidate power in the post-colonial narco climate regionally. The Caribbean local, regional, sub-regional and international drug trade is a highly sophisticated multi-billion dollar trade, that tentacle into every facet of society and reaches to highest levels within the governments of the region and police and judiciary. There are innumerable examples of prominent politicians on record, verifying my claims pertinent to same. I will examine the work of two pre-eminent Caribbean scholars, with an intimate knowledge of the region; they are Darius Figueira and Horace Campbell. Figueira demonstrates an acute understanding of the malaise that afflicts the region and offers credible possible solutions to some of them. Campbell succinctly and thoroughly exposes the past 30 years leading to the present, de-politicization of the region and the deliberate dumbing down of the populace. Here begins the actual essay and the analyses of these two experts in their fields, pertinent to what was discussed previously. In Figueira’s “Cocaine and Heroin trafficking in the Caribbean”: a multi-pronged approach is adapted in which he deconstructed the myth of the atypical, Caribbean gangster, being the Africa-Caribbean or mixed race young male wearing three-quarter pants, a “wife beater” T-shirt and tennis shoes clutching an Uzi or Mac11.

Above the cover of a CD out of the USVI specifically St Croix. The cover is adorned with the prerequisite, urban “gangsta” paraphernalia usually seen on a CD of the “gangsta rap” genre, from the US. St Croix which used to depend on its one pillar economic “product’, tourism is no longer a “port of call”, for the cruise ships and mega-yachts that used to come calling. The regular wanton murders, muggings, rapes and armed robberies of the tourist’s sought to that. The Bahamas’, Belize and St Thomas have all been added to that dismal list, due to the out of control gang-fuelled crime, characterized by a pronounced US urban flavor. The result of the aforementioned means that the perceived leadership in the islands, will out of necessity be forced to re-examine agricultural activity as a viable means of economic activity. The “New Caribbean”, reality is already being characterized by a heightened willingness for intra-regional cooperation on a broad scale.

At left the CIA logo, George Bush was once the CIA director, it should be no surprise that during his tenure as “President” of the US that crack cocaine saw its debut on the streets of inner city communities in the US, he is the original OG, of crack dealing. U.S. President George H. Bush holds a bag of crack cocaine as he poses for photographers in the Oval Office of the White House, Sept. 6, 1989 in Washington after delivering his first nationally televised speech. Bush outlined his $7.9 billion plan for the war on drugs.

The infamous Tupac Amaru Shakur, consummate actor and entertainer hailed as a prophet by many youth globally. An examination of his life will reveal, a conflicted, talented individual who was driven by forces, stronger than himself all using him to achieve various goals. Caught in a Faustian dilemma his life was the ultimate price he paid, for walking dangerously close to the edge. For the purposes of brevity within this essay his influence within popular culture, his activist roots and his gang affiliation will not be examined. The article “Blood Medallions” on this site covers Tupac, from, an historical perspective.

A friend of Gotti, clearly with Crack Cocaine on his lap in plastic bags. Gotti is a performer in the many, videos on YouTube, from the “Bush Boys”, of Sucker Garden. The majority of the “Bush Boys” are of Haitian and Dominican descent.

At right Kilo Gotti the alleged killer of Officer Gamali Benjamin. The “official”, account is in serious dispute; to date no autopsy report on Gemali Benjamin was made public. More importantly at least one of the police personnel involved in the attempt to apprehend Gotti and his cohorts, has been on suspension, since the shooting incident till the present. The person in question is a rather sketchy character who is according to some sources in the Police, the person who actually killed Gemali Benjamin. The so called rapper above has already been fingered by the police as the killer of their colleague and he will be sentenced, for murder amongst other charges.

Above Gotti after he had been shot by one or more of the police personnel trying to apprehend him.

Cocaine is a very lucrative and relatively cheap product regionally (ten grams here is $100 US in Holland one gram of Cocaine is €50 to €100 Euros), which is allowing many, who would never have the material things that they lust after, to afford an ostentatious, luxurious life. Even police officers of the highest ranks are involved in the trade locally as well, as has been proven by journalists like John Van den Heuvel and Darius Figueria. A well-known local example is the following, a known junkie (Sabbat), wealthy in land and houses, scion of one of the well-known families namely the Labega’s, fall on hard times, as a result of his severe well known Crack addiction. His property becomes the property of not one but is divided under dubious circumstances between two highly ranked police officers, police salaries being what they are; the finances for said purchases are in serious doubt, when it comes to their “legal” origins. The template described in the aforementioned is a tried and true, method that is being repeated over and over by many so called police in the former Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

Above: former Minister of Justice Roland Duncan aka the, “Pimp Minister”, former Prime Minister Sarah Wescott Williams and former Curacao Prime Minister El Hage. Duncan is known for appearing in public with several whores draped over his shoulders. Sine Duncan did all of his illegal act’s which seriously conflicted with his duties as “Minister of Justice”, while still officially a highly ranked government functionary, some of his colleagues were well aware of his illegal activities, since they were being printed in the local media. How could someone openly flaunt, such a serious post as Minister of Justice for self-aggrandizement and personal gain, without ever being publicly chastised, called out or demoted? Is that not an example of government complicity, in the facilitation of and exploitation, of women who in many instances are being trafficked into the island? Therefore my claim that government is a facilitator of the exploitation of foreign women namely in the prostitution of said women, is validated not by mere spurious words, but by the facts borne out in the corporate media here locally. The laws at present provide various loopholes deliberately so designed to exploit and entrap in a quasi-legal enterprise, that has no place in a civilized society, human-trafficking and modern slavery are the characteristics of the so called sex industry globally, Sint martin with its porous maritime border’s and weak government is absolutely no match for the sophisticated international network that control’s the movement of all so called legal and illegal prostitution networks inclu8ding the prostitutes here on all levels.

“The criminal insurgency can never be defeated as long as the illicit trade thrives, and the politicians cannot end this trade because they sleep with the drug and gun lords”.

“The directors of Hypnotic are the “Stichting Duncan Holding Pensioenfonds (Foundation Duncan Holding Pension Fund) and D&B (Duncan and Brandon) Management and Collection Services NV. Both directors are located at the address Cannegieter Street 46, the office of the Duncan and Brandon law office.

These companies have controlled Hypnotic since its incorporation in 2009, according to an excerpt from the Chamber of Commerce this newspaper obtained.

In June of that year, four months after the establishment of Hypnotic, Justice Minister Roland Duncan (at that time Minister of Constitutional Affairs for the Netherlands Antilles) entered a meeting with representatives of Richbenzwan NV, the owners of the Seaman’s Club. The minister introduced himself as a business partner of James Martin Carti, who is registered at the Chamber of Commerce as the director of the Blue Sky Hotel (Pendant Cactus Road #15, aka Carolena Bar) and also as the director of Carolena NV, a company that operates in the market under the name Younique Water & Ice. On June 29, 2009, Duncan personally signed the contract between Hypnotic Hotel and Entertainment and Richbenzwan NV that gave Hypnotic the right to operate the Seaman’s Club for the next ten years starting on November 1, 2010”.

“The criminal insurgency can never be defeated as long as the illicit trade thrives, and the politicians cannot end this trade because they sleep with the drug and gun lords”.

These companies have controlled Hypnotic since its incorporation in 2009, according to an excerpt from the Chamber of Commerce this newspaper obtained.

Above the entrance to the whorehouse “Seamans Club”, managed by Duncan’s, Stichting Duncan Holding Pensioenfonds (Foundation Duncan Holding Pension Fund) and D&B (Duncan and Brandon) Management and Collection Services NV. Both directors are located at the address Cannegieter Street 46, the office of the Duncan and Brandon law office. A Pensioenfonds is a pension fund and a stichting is the Dutch word for non-profit foundation, here again Duncan has used his knowledge of the law to cleverly, avoid high taxation by allowing his law, firm and other businesses to fall under the umbrella of a non-profit foundation.

Duncan who is a lawyer, while he was minister was intimately involved and is still involved in the prostitution sector on Sint Maarten, which is quasi legal. Prostitution is a facilitator for the laundering of drug funds from the “cow-boy” type drug dealers, who are not part of an organized crime syndicate locally. El Hage is either of Syrian or Lebanese extraction if not she is definitely of Middle Eastern ethnic stock. The guns and drugs trade is part and parcel of the Caribbean reality and is bolstered, aided and abetted by “business people” and careerist politicians. The typical profile, of a Caribbean drugs baron, is someone of Anglo-European heritage, Syrian, Lebanese or Chinese they being the lackeys of the narco-millionaires from Colombia, with the local political class benefitting directly and indirectly from the “narco-dollars”. The local three quarter pants wearing urban gangsta imitator’s, are not even part of the equation nor are they employed by or work for the true “drug barons”, regionally. Consequently the fully and semi-automatic American made guns flooding the streets of Sint Maarten, will have to be sought at its source, which is within the so called upper classes, nestled comfortably in the grasp of the so called “businessmen” aided and abetted by their political stooges and lackeys. This from Figueira: “The fact of the matter is that in Trinidad and Tobago, the archetypal criminal is a young African male living in the urban sprawl of the East-West Corridor, between the ages of 15 and 25, with three-quarter pants, a basketball shoes and a vest. That's the archetypal criminal that everybody beats on and looks for. But the fact of the matter is there is a structure, a hierarchy. And on top of the archetypal criminal in Trinidad is a non-African, decent, respectable, upstanding pillar of civil society”. “They are machines of criminality and they want to stick them with that curse of being criminogenic areas—they call them hot spots. But the reality is the hottest spots in Trinidad are those areas where reputedly upper-class, decent and
respectable citizens of Trinidad and Tobago sit down and make their multi-million dollar drug deals.
But surely they don't have to take those risks anymore when there are construction contracts passing around?
What you must understand is that a vast majority of businesses are fronts. So you're not going to catch them in anything—there will be a flow of money, but that's it. Where you catching them with their hand on the product? And then what are you going to do?
Let me give you a salient example of the reality. In the second half of the 1990s, with the collapse of Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel, and the collapse of the Cali cartel, a cartel arose in Colombia called Valle Norte, or North Valley. In the second half of the 1990s, this was the cartel with which a significant proportion of Caribbean drug traffickers traded. In fact, it is the Valle Norte cartel that made them super-rich.
Do you know the United States of America has dismantled the Valle Norte cartel and has a significant proportion of its leadership locked up? They are making jail right now or awaiting trial. Do you know that it is therefore a highly likely scenario that the US has the evidence from these members of Valle Norte with which they can come now to the Caribbean and request certain significant civil society leaders be extradited?
They're not going to do that.
If America does that—what is likely to happen to the political stability of the Caribbean? Because as you start to dig and you get linkages to the judiciary, and to the politicians and to the financial sector—America then is in a mess. America is collecting extraditable evidence but America's use of it is geopolitical”.

The Syrian, Indian, Anglo Saxon, French Creole and Chinese illicit drug traffickers became traffickers of renown when they became employees of the Medellin cartel led by Pablo Escobar.

With the destruction of the Medellin cartel, the Trinbagonian race cartels attached themselves to a fledgling Colombian cartel, named the Valle Norte cartel that grew into the dominant cartel of the Colombian illicit drug trade.

As the fortunes of the Valle Norte cartel grew, so did the size, resources and power of the local employees of the Valle Norte cartel. The Syrians became a trans-Caribbean trafficking cartel with operations spanning the Caribbean Basin including Central America. The trans-Caribbean Syrian cartel would absorb the local and Caribbean operations of the Anglo Saxon cartel effectively forming the most formidable crime family in the Caribbean Basin.

The trans-Caribbean Syrian cartel effectively operates in the DR, Trinbago, Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Maarten, Curacao, Aruba and the French Departments.

You have to understand, the oligarchs who dominate the trade also dominate the politics and they're already maximizing profits. The problem is they don't want to share. And the next thing you have to understand is that the oligarchs in the Caribbean are not Africans. So they have a race agenda. Because they want to ensure their domination of societies in which Africans are the majority.

The level of violence we have been seeing has been an outpouring of the fact that black urban males now insist: Get rich or die trying. They're not willing to settle for 10 days and CEPEP. So people feel that dem boy on badness. There is a core that drives the engagement for turf and dominance that wants to be rich. They don't want to live in no ghetto. So when they riding in their cars and they see all the multi-storey apartment blocks with one apartment for $1million-plus, they want Bimmas! They want multi-million dollar apartment and condo and house.

They want bling! So people feel they on badness and they stupid and just killing each other mindlessly. And they brain dead. They not stupid and brain-dead. They want to be rich and the problem the society have is that you [black man] want to get out of the position and place we put you in! Yuh fast! Yuh is a upstart.

So how come the big players are still immune to this resistance movement?

Because it have a certain elite...you go up against them and you will die [he laughs soundlessly]. So the ones who could be predated are being predated—it is a very conscious, deliberate programme. The basis of the programme is to get rich. They tell you flat: I want the nice things; I want to get out of here.

(but) When they get their money they are coming from groups of people who are locked out of the traditional legal structures...

What is going to happen in the Caribbean is that these African entrepreneurs who are locked out, they are going to be the willing allies...militia, and foot soldiers (of Latin American drug cartels muscling in on local turf.)

Executions. Missing limbs. Hundreds of young men mysteriously shot, mutilated, missing… Illicit drug trafficking. Expert Daurius Figueira explains how this country's many "crime waves" are linked to our location in the belly of the international drug trade

Illicit drug trafficking through the Caribbean Basin to the US started in the second half of '60s. Since then it has evolved in distinct stages. In 2013, trafficking through the Caribbean Basin now extends to placing "product" in North America, Europe and Asia through far-distant trafficking transition points such as West Africa, the Sahel region of Africa and East Africa, all under the hegemony of the infamous Mexican cartels. The Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas are the two dominant Mexican cartels present in the Caribbean island chain today.

The product mix offered under the Mexican cartels has also changed; their illicit drug of choice is methamphetamine, known as "meth", "ice", "crystal" and "glass". It is manufactured in offshore factories in Africa and Central America, eventually ending up in the Caribbean island chain. The Mexican cartels control their own cocaine production units in Peru and Bolivia and move cocaine from there to North America, Europe and Asia via the Caribbean Basin and other trafficking routes.

The Mexican cartels are exercising hegemonic control over the illicit drug trade of the Caribbean island chain and changes to the order of the illicit trade in the Caribbean Basin are evident, mainly: (a) the embrace of Caribbean "gangland" by the Mexican cartels and the evolution of gangs of young men from underprivileged areas that resulted, (b) the evolution of other illicit trades such as human smuggling and small arms trafficking has been impacted (c) the social order of narco-trafficking states has been usurped by the Mexicans' use of drugs to pay locals for their services and as "currency".

Caribbean gangland must be noted for its unique operational characteristics, i.e. Caribbean gangland does not wear ink, colours, represent or tag as North American gangland is not Caribbean gangland. In addition Caribbean gangland has an order/hierarchy and the apex/players are rooted in illicit drug trafficking. Caribbean gangland has now been embraced by the Mexican cartels; in exchange for services to the cartels Caribbean gangland are given franchises to traffic product to consumer markets in Europe and North America and be involved in the wholesaling and retailing of Mexican-sourced product. The Mexican cartels are deliberately creating a new division of labour and a new social order in the illicit trades of the Caribbean Basin. The "law lords" of Caribbean gangland are, as a result, becoming globalised players in the illicit trades, cemented in their alliance to the Mexican cartels. This reality is impacting the lowest echelons of Caribbean gangland as the feeding frenzy spreads and intensifies, driven by the quest to get in on the new action unleashed by the Mexican cartels throughout the Caribbean Basin. All vacancies are filled in this new illicit enterprise and the wannabes prey on each other and launch ill-conceived predatory attempts to topple the "dons", which evoke acts of graphic violence with the intent of sending messages, which are never heard or internalised. Hence the cycle of graphic gun violence.

This is as clear an indicator of the impotence of narco trafficking states of the Caribbean Basin as any. The State is powerless against this level of organised crime. Caribbean gangland, in its operational alliance with the Mexican cartels, has now evolved to being a global player in a number of illicit trades ranging from drug trafficking, human smuggling, small arms trafficking, identity theft and lotto scams to the smuggling of counterfeit goods. The lucrative nature of the illicit trades of the Caribbean Basin is illustrated by the operational presence of gangs formed in the US, such as Mara Salvatrucha, Los Trinitarios and Zoe Pound. They have linked their US operations to Caribbean Basin activities – all in service to the Mexican cartels.

What Caribbean gangland is today, in its evolutionary stage brought about by the nexus with the Mexican cartels, will not be eradicated by draconian, knee-jerk anti-gang legislation premised on US models. US reality has no relevance to Caribbean gangland; it is part of the problem – not the solution. Draconian, knee-jerk anti-gang legislation will fill the prisons, thereby ensuring that Caribbean gangland takes control of these same prisons, where foot soldiers can be recruited and schooled in the hard discipline of prison gang life, then unleashed on the unarmed public. The most powerful organisa tion in Caribbean gangland today, Association Neta, was formed in the prisons of Puerto Rico then spread to the US. Today, Association Neta is an apex player in the illicit drug trade of Puerto Rico, the murder capital of the Caribbean island chain. Learn well from this reality. The abiding reality today is that Caribbean gangland is the foot soldiers and enforcers of the Mexican cartels in the Caribbean Basin.

In the Caribbean Basin the illicit

drug traffickers dominate the illicit trade in small arms and human smuggling. The dominance of the Mexican cartels has diametrically changed the expanse and nature of the trafficking of small arms and human smuggling in the Caribbean Basin. Mexican human smuggling organisations have set up shop on the island of Hispaniola, other islands in the Caribbean and in several Central American nations, moving migrants such as Cubans and extra-Caribbean migrants to the US, and Haitians to Brazil. Small arms shipments supplied by Mexican cartels are now leaving Honduras for sale in the Caribbean island chain, in response to the drying up of the traditionally abundant supply from Venezuela.

Mexican cartels have indicated a preference for two operational strategies for the narco-trafficking states in which they have chosen to locate their trafficking operations. One strategy calls for the recruiting of members of the military of the state by extending trafficking franchises to recruited military personnel. In this strategy there is a preference for members of elite units of the military establishment. Mexican cartels prefer to corrupt and recruit members of the military as politicians are transitory. Secondly, Mexican cartels enter a narcotrafficking state by forming alliances with the narcotrafficking elites of the said state. They offer these elites lucrative deals that are much better than those offered by the Colombians and Venezuelans. Some members of these elites have made the fatal mistake of treating the Mexicans as inferiors. The Mexican cartels, once they have established their links with gangland and others, then move to physically eliminate the local elites with deliberate violence (one can literally lose one's head). This is how the Mexican cartels radically change the social order of the illicit trades in a narco-trafficking state, instilling a new order in which the State is forced to perpetually battle for its survival because it has lost its capacity to maintain law and order.

Daurius Figueira is a lecturer in sociology at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine. His latest book, 'Cocaine Trafficking in the Caribbean and West Africa in the Era of the Mexican Cartels' (released November 2012), is now available at leading bookshops and online at amazon.com. He is also the author of 'Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking in the Caribbean: The Case of Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana Vol.1' (2004) and 'Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking in the Caribbean: The Case of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela Vol.2' (2006).

Horace Campbell in his introduction for: (Rastafari as Pan Africanism in the Caribbean and Africa), did an excellent analysis of the drug trafficking situation regionally. He wrote “The Rasta movement in the Caribbean like most popular movements suffered a severe blow by the reversals in Grenada in 1983”.

“The change in the direction of the Grenadian society after 1979 offered new possibilities for the Rastafari movement. That the Rastafari could be organized for collective and alternative forms of power intensified the pressures on Grenada, for, if the other island states in the region could harness the energies of the Rastafari, the Caribbean could be transformed. It was this reality which led to efforts to isolate the Rastafari from progressive ideas”. One of the ways to do this was for transnational capital to tie down young Rastas in the trade of Cannabis (Marijuana), thus diverting their energies.

And in the specific case of Grenada, before the invasion, external elements had attempted to use the question of cannabis production to destabilize the Grenadian revolution. Faced with the concrete impact of the potential to mobilize Rastafari and unemployed youth, there was a conscious attempt in the eighties to promote the anti-social and negative features of the Rastafari movement, especially resulting from the position of lumpens who took the physical appearance of Rastafari. This becomes most evident in the violence, guns, Cannabis export and cocaine trade which was becoming the foundation of the island economies”. “Unemployment acted as a social sanction against the poor by depressing wages, but also ensuring that there was a pool of lumpens to act as enforcers or strike-breakers. In this period of the 1970's, lumpen elements found an alliance with capitalists in the USA to export Cannabis to the US mainland. By the end of the seventies the export of Ganja to the USA became the number one cash crop and the big agents made vast profits from this trade”. For additional information, see CRS Report RL33951, U.S. Trade Policy and the Caribbean: From Trade Preferences to Free Trade Agreements, and CRS Report R41215, Latin America and the Caribbean: Illicit Drug Trafficking and U.S. Counterdrug Programs.

Campbell wrote in his analysis about: COCAINE IN THE CARIBBEAN.

The excellent work that writers and researchers like Campbell produced have proven invaluable in their succinct analysis of the Cocaine, weapons trafficking and recently human trafficking realities in the Caribbean. Reportage of the type described is more valuable than thousands of UN reports that tend to focus more on the presence of Cocaine in the region rather than on the root causes and solutions to the dismal state of affairs. Campbell indicated in his work that the fetishisation of smoking Marijuana by young Rastafari was an aspect of popularization of the movement.

He went on extensively into the regional trade and as always Iam wont to include his statements verbatim: “The small trade to provide for urban dwellers in the Caribbean could be distinguished from the multimillion dollar trade which now exists across the Caribbean Sea. The chillum pipe and ganja, which were incorporated as part of the culture, had been superseded by the introduction of cocaine in the Caribbean”. “The cocaine problem of the USA was one of the signposts of the social and cultural crisis in that society. Instead of dealing with the root causes of the crisis

which generated the trade and consumption of cocaine the USA has used the trade across the Caribbean Seas to intensify its military presence in the Caribbean and Latin America. Recent military maneuvers by US helicopter gunships in Bolivia was only the tip of the massive police, military, naval, and coast guard operations in the Caribbean in the era of revolution and democratic openings.

The Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the US administration took the issue of narcotics transshipment in the Caribbean to carry out large scale 'interdiction' exercises, which were in fact US military intelligence operations. The DEA was integrated with the Central Intelligence Agency, Interpol, the El Paso Intelligence Agency, the US Coast Guard, the US Navy and the Federal Aviation Administration. In the context of the interdiction of the cocaine traffic, the US Naval and military presence increased the militarization of the Caribbean the extensive operations of narcotic agents, drug traffickers and US naval operations brought the Caribbean Sea back to the era of piracy in the region. Similar to the era of primitive accumulation when the island societies were backyards for the illicit operations of the international capitalist system, now the mini-states are cluttered with off-shore banks where normal banking regulatory practices are not present. It is through these banks that the profits from cocaine are laundered. At the same time all sectors of the Caribbean society have been affected by the cocaine trade. It is not uncommon to hear of Prime Ministers being arrested in Miami on charges of trafficking in cocaine”. The statement that Horace Campbell made about Prime ministers other government functionaries and in many cases members of their family being arrested for Cocaine trafficking is indeed valid as I will prove here citing some prominent examples.

Marcel Loor a former highly placed top Government functionary on Sint Maarten, who was at one time Police Commissioner of Sint Maarten, Head of the Immigration Department and Head of the Coast Guard. He was arrested in Paris France for Cocaine trafficking, on Thursday 18^th 2013. Loor was charged with laundering money between January 1, 2001 and December 27, 2006. The charge mentions an amount of $115,600 and/or an amount of $332,275, stemming from sixty cash deposits at the Standard Trust Company for Loor’s Nevis-based offshore company Santana.

The case of Marcel Loor on Sint Maarten is a glaring example of such, Loor was once head of the Immigration Department at one time he headed the Coast Guard, Loor was also the Police Commissioner on Sint Maarten clearly a “top-person” in the police and intelligence apparatus on the island and regionally.

The appeals court ruled in 2010 it was proven that Loor laundered money during a considerable short period: in the month of June, 2006. The Supreme Court has now confirmed this ruling. During that month, Charlene Craig (Loor’s girlfriend) made 14 cash deposits into her multiplier account at the RBTT bank – mostly for $8,000 or $9,000 a piece. The grand total of $115,000 was later transferred to an account in Loor’s name. Investigators also found receipts for 14 cash deposits at the Standard Trust Company for $118,000. All but one of these deposits remained below the MOT reporting ceiling of $10,000.

But on three different days, Loor deposited much larger amounts – $27,000, $35,700 and $24,000. Standard Trust split these deposits neatly in portions under the $10,000-ceiling. Loor is at present the CEO and owner of a security company that is being prominently advertised free of charge on LinkedIn and Facebook. Only in the Caribbean can a convicted criminal head a “security ‘company”. The book (Sneeuw over Curacao, Snow over Curacao), details the “Antillean”, problem in a microscopic, methodical manner.

I will use evidence and data gathered by the writer John van den Heuvel detailing the true nature of the criminal milieu on all the islands in the Antilles and specifically Curacao, Sint Maarten and Aruba. Van Den Heuvel focuses on the mid-eighties, to the 1990’s and early 2002, those years set the pace and tone for the present criminal hierarchy in the islands at present, here I will detail how the present situation is one created by drug-gangs and why the former “Antilles”, are veritable “narco states”. In chapter three of his book van den Heuvel provides proof, from formerly classified documents, a government report, police personnel and lawyers and judges, of devastating proportions yet sadly it is only “the tip of the iceberg”, according to police personnel on the island of Curacao. The unraveling of an epic case of extreme corruption and criminality within the police force of the former Netherlands Antilles, played out on the 13^th of February 1999, on a secluded beach in Boka Cacho Curacao. On the date previously mentioned a man taking a stroll on the beach found two dead Venezuelan’s along a deserted foot path.

A man testified that he saw three police men Poekie A., Remy R, and Puis R, murder the Venezuelans. Herman K. aka Herman Sito testified that the afore mentioned police officers and himself were, an organized crime team that specialized in: extortion, armed robberies, arson, blackmail and paid assassinations. The three were called “los tres cabezas de los muertes”, the three death skulls. The commission Integrity Investigation Customs in a confidential report that was leaked, by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. The commission determined that throughout the Netherlands Antilles’ law enforcement apparatus, in particular the Customs agency of Bonaire a majority of customs officers performed paid services for drugs cartels. A major portion of customs officers on all islands and some 40 out of 179 were on a so called “black list”, and were involved in drug dealing, and money laundering. The corruption in the Netherlands Antilles is pervasive and extends to the highest echelons of the judiciary, the police corp, customs, the gambling industry, the semi-legal prostitution industry, the Royal Dutch Marines and the Marcheusse. The aforementioned was meticulously, uncovered and brought to the public by investigative reporters, even before van den Heuvel’s seminal work, that portrayed the abysmal levels of corruption in the light of official evidence, from leaked documents and formerly classified reports, gained as per his own words from various personnel in said agencies.

In the ongoing street wars scenes like the one above have become an almost daily occurrence, during "high season" in the criminal sub-culture on island. Liquidations in broad daylight have become the new normal on Sint Maarten.

Another liquidation of a high profile personality in the criminal underworld here on Sint Maarten.

The scene where a Brinks Truck was ambushed by two masked men, who were shot and killed by a Pan Am trained security personnel.

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – A robbery suspect was arrested Thursday in the vicinity of Texaco on the Bush Road. The suspect Anthony L. Joseph aka, “Mouse” of St. Peters, 28 years old was arrested as a suspect in the Helena Jewellery Store robbery. He is the first suspect to be detained by law enforcement in connection with this crime and the hunt continues for the remaining suspects.

DAY, 30 JANUARY 2014 19:43 SMN NEWS TEAM

PHILIPSBURG: --- Police arrested a senior customs officer identified as Nestor Sanchez aka Kora on Thursday afternoon in an ongoing investigation. Customs officer Sanchez was arrested shortly after a drug bust on Insel Air that was travelling from Curacao to St. Maarten. SMN News learnt that police and customs were at the airport when they searched the aircraft but they did not arrest the senior officer at the airport, instead the arrest was made somewhere in Cole Bay. "We saw the police taking Sanchez out of a car when they arrested him," one eye witness told SMN News.
SMN News learnt that the customs officer was taken out of a car in the Cole Bay area.
Attorney General Taco Stein said he did not know of the case and that the only thing he knew was that police was busy investigating a case. Stein said the person to release information on the arrest of the customs officer is police spokesman Ricardo Henson who could not be reached by telephone. Press Prosecutor Tineke Kamps also refused to confirm or deny the arrest of the customs officer. "I will not confirm or deny this, you need to speak with Henson on this matter," Prosecutor Kamps said.

Customs Officer Arrested.

On Thursday January 30, 2014 during a search by the Police Corps Sint Maarten (KPSM) on the Princess Juliana International Airport, in cooperation with Customs Department, a large batch of narcotics was seized. A customs officer was also arrested for his possible involvement in this case. An amount of drugs was seized during a search conducted in his home. The investigation is being conducted by the Police Narcotic Department.

Rectification from KPSM

In the late police report of January 30th, 2014 regarding the arrest of a customs officer who is suspected of being involved in an illegal drug investigation, it states that during a search of the home of the suspect an amount of drugs was found. This is not the case. Drugs were only found at the airport and not at his home.

KPSM Police Report

Above: MP Romain Laville at right, Rogelio Gregory Koeiman middle.

Curacao / St. Maarten –Spokesman for the Public Prosecutor’s office in Curacao Norman Serphos confirmed to this newspaper yesterday that three men have been arrested at the request of the District Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York. Though Serphos identified the men only by their initials, one of the men currently in custody is the former bodyguard of Independent MP Romain Laville, Rogelio Gregory Koeiman.

The 45-year-old former police officer was detained in 2010 as a suspect in the carnival murder of musician Gabriel Santos Castil, but he was later released.

The American authorities asked Curacao for the extradition of Koeiman and two others, identified as R.M.R. (48) and G.S. (35) both from Curacao. The district attorney in New York has overwhelming evidence for their involvement in two large drugs transports, one from St. Maarten to the United States and one from Curacao to the States.

The extradition hearing took place yesterday. Because there is a lot of evidence, the court has no reason to block extradition, but the three men have the option to appeal. They could however also decide to cooperate with the American investigation in exchange for a lower sentence.

The prosecutor’s office in Curacao has only limited information about the two drugs transports. Serphos was for instance not allowed to say how big the two shipments were. “It is not our investigation,” he said.

FROM TODAY SXM

FRIDAY, 07 FEBRUARY 2014 16:32: SMN NEWS TEAM.

PHILIPSBURG: --- Detectives at KPSM seem to be making headway in the drug bust investigation they started last week Thursday January 30th, 2014.
On Friday, detectives arrested a second customs officer identified as Alexander Luciano. Customs Officer Alexander Luciano has been working at PJIAE for the past 26 years, sources close to the second suspect said he also has a severe medical condition.

Prosecutor Tineke Kamps said she will not confirm neither deny if a second customs officer was arrested in the case that is being investigated by KPSM. "We have agreed not to say anything for now so I will stick to the agreement we made," Prosecutor Kamps told SMN News when she was contacted on Friday.
However, Kamps said that the first senior customs officer Nestor Sanchez is now in pre-trial detention as the judge of instruction extended his pre-trial detention on Friday. On January 30th, 2014 police and customs officers searched an Insel Air flight that landed at the Princess Juliana International Airport and they found 270 kilos of cocaine. Shortly after police arrested customs officer Nestor Sanchez somewhere in Cole Bay. SMN News will bring you more information on the arrest of the second customs officer when it becomes available.

Customs Officer Alexander Luciano.

Local economy and dependence on tourism

Sint Maarten’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$15,000 per year is higher than most other

Caribbean countries. A 10-year performance analysis shows that tourism began to rapidly develop in 2000 and

peaked at 2.1 million visitors in 2005. This opened unprecedented opportunities for economic growth based on

tourist services. However, dependence on tourism also brings many risks since it is highly vulnerable to global

crises (which caused the number of visitors to drop in 2011). It is also vulnerable because it is difficult for a country

to remain permanently attractive as a tourist destination.

There is a gap between the development of appropriate tourist infrastructure and dependence on commodities

that must be imported, which explains the growing inflationary trend. The vast majority of work is built around

tourism: hotels, restaurants, sales, construction and transportation. A second area generating employment is

public administration and governance.

The growth of tourism has not gone hand in hand with human resource development and improved labour

qualifications. There are few highly qualified staff positions and very strong competition for lower-skilled jobs.

Local people will not accept the working conditions offered to undocumented immigrants, and employers in many cases prefer to hire the latter to avoid paying social security and escape labour regulations.

There has been an overall increase in the number of unemployed people. The numbers are higher for women than

men.

The

The UN report is a varied document; the basic's that are included herein are only the tip of the iceberg. Faced with the facts that I have posited herein, it becomes an undeniable fact that Sint Maarten is a mafia, narco-haven, which serves as a point that is being and has been for decades exploited by human traffickers and persons who specialize in the trafficking of specifically, women from the Dominica Republic and Colombia for sex work on Sint Maarten under, inhumane and deplorable conditions.

When all is taken carefully and critically into consideration that was enumerated herein, I doubt that any sane and well-meaning person will, deny that there are serious problems plaguing Sint Martin and part of the solution is the total dismantling of the present system of education, for a more humane and Caribbean-centric mode.

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LIONZMAN.