The results of the recent investigation by expert Henk Ferwerda—a study commissioned by the Attorney General (PG) following a red alert on the rise of serious crimes and the increasingly younger age of offenders—serve as the blueprint of maximum urgency for the next management of the country of Aruba. This report, formally presented at the University of Aruba, is not simply a list of statistics; it is a slapping reality check that shows how our socio-economic fabric is starting to fray and devalue into organized crime within our neighborhoods.
If the future governance of AVP-FUTURO wants to lead a true transformation, it cannot forget this alarming radiography. Our youth are falling into a heavy abyss, and the solution cannot wait another day. You cannot just build structures and believe that this will have a positive effect on social life.
The Cold Reality: Vulnerable Neighborhoods and the “Soldier Culture”
The data shows that annually, 1.5% of our youth between 12 and 18 years old come into contact with the police, a figure comparable to the Netherlands. Youth criminality in Aruba has a name and a home. It is intensely concentrated in specific neighborhoods: Pos Chikito, Sabana Basora, Cayenastraat, Village, De Vuyst, Madiki, Dakota, and Seroe Patrishi. Not just from now, but nowadays more than ever.
In these neighborhoods, where many households are headed by a single parent (single mothers who must carry two to three jobs to support the high cost of living in a tourism-based economy), the vacuum leaves a gap in supervision. There is no control at home, school dropouts are high, and there are no healthy options to spend free time. Consequently, the street fills this vacuum and brings danger.
These youths, in their search for identity, respect, and easy money, are absorbed by the so-called “Crews” or “Soldiers”—around 15 to 16 active groups that function as an alternative community where they find the status and power that the formal system denied them.
Weapons from Latin America and the Danger of Drugs
The crimes are no longer a simple street fight; more than half of the criminal acts involve pure violence (severe mistreatment, threats, and organized fights). Even more concerning is the normalization and criminal increase in firearm possession, introduced from Latin America due to our geographical position, which functions as a vulnerable hub for drug trafficking, illegal migration, and smuggling.
This does not remain in the dark: this “soldier culture” and machismo are encouraged, reinforced, and propagated through direct provocation and recruitment via social media. When these youths enter the young adult bracket (18 to 23 years old), where two-thirds of structural suspects are registered at the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM), the crimes already escalate directly toward organized crime and drug trafficking.
The Rising Female Factor
The report sounds a special alarm regarding young girls. In 2024, the number of female suspects rose to 25% of the total. Often they are involved in this criminality either by facilitating weapons/drugs through relationships or by participating in conflicts via social media, while at the same time, many of these girls themselves are structural victims of exploitation, neglect, and gender-based violence.
A Judicial System Gasping for Air: The Challenge in KIA
We can ask for more repression, but the current judicial chain is at a point of complete collapse due to a lack of resources and personnel:
· K.I.A. (Correctional Institution Aruba): Faces a personnel shortage at an astonishing level of 75%, operating within an old infrastructure and with almost zero real reintegration programs to prevent recidivism.
· Limited Management: The Police, Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM), and Probation Service (Reclassering) work with their hands tied. Key programs with great potential, such as the Veiligheidshuis (Safety House) and the HALT program, simply cannot be executed due to a structural lack of funding. Without adequate and centralized data, it is impossible to carry out effective preventive management.
The presentation at the University of Aruba was very clear, but at the same time, has the AVP-FUTURO government done anything? And/or are they doing anything for this system? Or are they talking with a lot of sweet talk (“sugar in their mouth”) while letting the system break and crash, only to later go down on their knees to the Netherlands because they cannot or do not know how to manage a COUNTRY, and cannot do anything on their own as politicians sitting in government, thus continuing to hand Aruba over little by little to the Netherlands even more, because the politicians of AVP-FUTURO are incapable of managing a COUNTRY as it should be for the people of Aruba?