ORANJESTAD, WILLEMSTAD - Prime Minister of Aruba Evelyn Wever-Croes, Minister of Justice Andin Bikker and Minister of Transport Chris Romero signed a national decree last Friday to stop air traffic between Aruba and Venezuela. Minister Romero has also given a similar instruction for maritime traffic.
This after the vice president of Venezuela El Aissami announced through a television broadcast that the borders with Aruba will open immediately, but not with Curacao and Bonaire. He also praised the Prime Minister of Aruba that Aruba respects the sovereignty of Venezuela.
This announcement came as an unpleasant surprise in Aruba.
“We are not fully prepared to cope with the influx of people applying for asylum. In Aruba we now have thousands of Venezuelans without a valid residence permit. And we know that there are thousands in Venezuela who want to come our way as soon as the borders are open again. We can't handle much anymore.
Moreover, I think it is not appropriate for us to be played against our sister islands of Curacao and Bonaire. At that moment I immediately informed Prime Minister Rutte, Minister Blok and Undersecretary Knops with the request to assist Aruba in preventing the borders from being reopened.
I also consulted with Foreign Affairs and the position is clear: there is only one border, that between the Kingdom and Venezuela.
Venezuela apparently did not understand that message because later in the day they sent an official report to the Netherlands indicating that the borders with Aruba were being reopened and immediately afterwards we were informed that the planes and boats were ready to leave. A private plane had already risen from Caracas airport at that time and was on its way to Aruba.
We decided at that time not to grant landing permits to aircraft from Venezuela on the grounds of public interest, and that the "notam", the official reporting to the Venezuelan aviation authorities, had to be issued," said Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes.
Only after the announcement of the decision does it come into effect and the decision takes effect via the "note". In the meantime, one aircraft from Caracas had already landed in Aruba, but after that no aircraft could leave for Aruba. Aruba has responded just in time. There was no time to waste.
By deciding not to grant landing permits, the airspace is de facto closed again, this time by Aruba.
The law prescribes that a term must be specified for the border closure, and therefore the government of Aruba has in principle included a term of one month. This period can of course be extended.
“We sympathize with what is happening in Venezuela. We have family ties and historical ties with Venezuela. But right now, we have to think of Aruba. We comply with our treaty obligations and respect the rights of more than a thousand asylum seekers in Aruba. Reopening the borders is not yet opportune. Aruba is in the finalization phase for the introduction of the "Schiphol model". Aruba would like to introduce a visa requirement for Venezuelans, but this requires consensus at Kingdom level and there is no such consensus. So in the short term we will introduce the "ESTA" model to have a better picture of who enters our country. The "ESTA" is not as efficient as the visa, but if there is no consensus at Kingdom level, then it is not possible. It is what it is.
Aruba faces serious challenges. Financial. Social. Migration. But we remain positive," said Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes.