ARUBA AND ANTILLAS
There is freedom of the press on Aruba and n the Netherlands Antilles. However, several issues between press members and the government have given us food for thought.
Members of the government have at various occasions expressed themselves openly against certain members of the press and Prime Minister Oduber of Aruba went as far as to ask the Minister of Justice for an explanation and investigation on how a reporter might have obtained information on the arrest of two government officials as not even he, the Prime Minister, had not been informed prior to their arrest. The answer: Very simple, the reporter caught the news on a police scanner.
The political parties A.V.P. and P.D.A. protested strongly against these expressions emphasizing that the government had no right whatsoever to interfere with the work of the press and that freedom of the press was the main point on which a democracy is established.
But the fact that he tried to interfere with the work of the press, prompted a protest from press members who all appeared the next day on the road doing their work wearing caps with the text: ?Prensa bow menaza? (The press under menace!). The situation is now under control again as everything has quiet down and government, officials and press are once again going about their daily business on seemingly good footing.
