Should America boycott Aruba?

[scotto]

With the inexcusable handling of Natalie Halloway case I would not only boycott Aruba but also Holland.

[BrianK]

A boycott of Aruba harms who? The common people that depend on tourism for their livelihood. Is it fair to punish a society for the sins of how the legal system failed. I say legal system failure because I have no doubt the legal system in Aruba did fail. Now that we are aware of what can happen wouldn't being a responsible parent mean not allowing your child to go there be more reasonable?

If it is all about the effect of law or what appears to be lack of law then here in America there would be places that should be boycotted because of the leniency allowed when it comes to child protection.

As for including Holland is it possible the Dutch watched the O.J. Simpson trial and model their thinking process after protecting their own?

[The_Federalist]

I doubt any US law enforcement agencies would have gotten any further than the Aruban government was.

Under their laws they were able to hold suspects far longer, and do so without pressing formal charges, than our criminal justice system presently allows. Its sucks, but without physical evidence, an admission of guilt, or even indirect corroborating evidence, there really isn't much they could have done.

[Snowden]

I can see not wanting to go there with impressionable, untaught kids. Especially those in their teens who may feel that they are always safe. We Americans seem to take it for granted that nothing can/will touch us, even when we know there is no such thing as "safe." Even grown-ups tend to feel that we are safe no matter where we go - and Aruba really is no different from most places on this earth.

I am an offender; my friend Saad called me on it when he realized I was walking wherever I wished, alone, when in Jerusalem during an intifada. He, his sister, all my friends, told me not to do that. I was lucky - nobody harmed me. But a Jewish English businesswoman no doubt also felt safe. She was murdered at the Garden Tomb. The murderer? Well, he lived upstairs over the house of my friends.

Safe doesn't exist. If you want to be safe, forget being born. Even in the womb it's no longer safe. Scott, I hear what you're saying - but are you safe at home? Are any of us?

[USA11B]

Only to the extent that we boycott all cities that have unsolved murders and unsolved kidnappings. Much worse things happen and get less coverage.

[scotto]

I realize that you can’t keep yourself safe all the time and that country cannot guarantee your safety however I should hope that a place such as Aruba should have a more competent criminal investigation team in place to handle such a case. The boycott that I would be in favor of would be a volunteer boycott. If a boycott starts to hurt the Aruba economy, well, possible that would put pressure on the “powers that be” in Aruba to re-think there criminal Justus system. Or maybe I’m just taking a hard line on this as I have a young daughter and I really feel for the Hollaway family.

[DocDiggs]

Originally Posted by BrianK

A boycott of Aruba harms who? The common people that depend on tourism for their livelihood. Is it fair to punish a society for the sins of how the legal system failed. I say legal system failure because I have no doubt the legal system in Aruba did fail. Now that we are aware of what can happen wouldn't being a responsible parent mean not allowing your child to go there be more reasonable?

If it is all about the effect of law or what appears to be lack of law then here in America there would be places that should be boycotted because of the leniency allowed when it comes to child protection.

As for including Holland is it possible the Dutch watched the O.J. Simpson trial and model their thinking process after protecting their own?

We need to keep in mind that the Aruban/Dutch system of law and justice is not the American system...there are differences that must be taken into consideration rather than being found inadequate. When Americans travel abroad, they need to keep this in mind. Why should Aruba/Holland suddenly revise their system to acommodate a non-Aruban/Dutch individual? We would certainly not do that...in fact the US has made a very clear point that we will not do that.

From what I have read, I am satisfied that the Aruban police/prosecutors are doing their job, but there are some very obvious fact...it seems to me...that Americans are failing to consider. The obvious one is that Aruba is an island. If there was a murder, isn't it logical that the body would have been disposed of off shore? So what are the odds that it will be found? So short of some abject admission of guilt, how can there be a reasonably based charge of murder? There seems to be no evidence.