Ann "n...@..." wrote:
> -hh wrote:
> >
> > Gosh, amazing coincidence that Ann just happens to have a
> > commercial website that's selling that destination.
> > Maybe Ann can fill us in on the current status of Bonaire's
> > recurring petty crime problems, as I've not been following it recently...
>
> Can you tell me what island has no crime?
Little Cayman. Cayman Brac. Bequia is close to crime-free too.
None of them even come close to Bonaire, Aruba, St Maartin, Jamacia or
several other of the high crime rate islands of the Caribbean or Latin
America.
Granted, there is no such thing as absolutely "no" crime, but crime
rates: there are places that are indeed significantly better/worse
than others. Unfortunately, Bonaire isn't one of the "better" places,
but is a lot more like Latin America than Delft.
And IMO its not getting better: it used to be that on Bonaire, you
were relatively "safe" in that the thieves would limit themselves to
only ruffling through your rental car when you're out shore diving.
But within the past five years or so (after the murders in Rincon), it
has become a lot more common that they'll break into your room while
you're asleep...I've heard several reports of them wedging open the
*locked* sliding glass doors up at Buddy Dive.
Some people in denial try to suggest that the problems are other
visitors, but this excuse doesn't explain the theft of spare tires,
jacks, batteries ... they even steal the car tax stickers off each
others numberplates!
Bonaire really is "Petty Thieves Paradise", where taking from the
"Rich" visiting tourist is considered to be a victimless crime.
> I have lived in Antigua and
> Bonaire and find crime in both islands in way of petty break ins. Out
> of the thousands of clients I have sent to both islands in 20 year, 3
> had break ins and ALL left a door or window open.
Actually, your data is that you had 3 clients who bothered to *tell*
you.
Personally, for my trips to Bonaire, we've been lucky to not have been
personally affected (we have good "Streetwise Radar", although we
prefer to go to places where we can relax by not having to use it) but
we have seen reliable evidence of crime on *every* trip that we've
ever gone on to Bonaire. I've even occasionally post photos to
silence those who deny that anything bad ever happens, such as this
older example:
FWIW, this was on one of the many compounds that alledgedly have full
time security guards ... such as the individual in the photo.
> Anguilla presently has a task force to address the rising crime issue.
I was asking about Bonaire.
Back on 27 March 2007 on , you said:
"Those little kids prey on the north shore dive sites. Take a photo
of
them and bring to the police and tell them what you are doing. It
might scare them off next time. There is a big crime sweep going on
so
any little bit helps..."
So this "big crime sweep" from 2 months ago - - how did it go?
My concern is that there has always been lots of talk about cracking
down on crime on Bonaire. They claim that they know that they have a
signifiant problem and have been talking about doing something for
years, but talk is cheap.
Here's photos from the big crime protest march in 2000:
As such, my question is: "But has anything really changed?"
> The Caribbean is like the rest of the world. We have crime.
And like the rest of the world, some places are worse than others.
>From , Bruce Everiss's 2006 comment on the subject
was as follows. It is IMO quite susinct:
"What people on Bonaire don't realise is that without tourists they
wouldn't be there. Or if they were it would be to scratch a
subsistence living. The salt works, oil terminal and Radio Netherlands
are the only other forms of income, how many people would they
support? Maybe 100. People who work for the bank or the telephone
company may think they don't depend on the tourists, but without
tourists there would be no bank or telephone company."
"The thing they don't realise about tourists is that we don't
automatically arrive with every plane or ship. We can choose where we
go, vote with our feet. Every time someone is put off Bonaire by the
thefts it makes everyone in Bonaire poorer. But they don't realise
that."
"Travelling round the Caribbean you find that some governments have
done the job and educated their population about the facts of economic
life. These are the best places to visit. Some governments, like
Bonaire, haven't bothered. So you get resentment of your wealth (even
though you just look rich because you are spending on your annual
holiday) and even resentment of your presence. You just don't get
strangers greeting you as you walk round town like you do on some
islands."
I sincerely hope that one day, Bonaire does finally wake up and
actually cleans up its act because it does have some good scuba
diving, and the airline flights to get there are currently "less bad"
than they've been in well over a decade. Afterall, I have a friend
who owns a house on Bonaire that I can use essentially for free
anytime I want, but because of Bonaire's recurring inability to rein
in their crime problems, we take our tourism dollars elsewhere.
As such, if there's finally good news on Bonaire, I'd like to hear
it.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that there still is no good news.
-hh
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