Day by day, it becomes more apparent that some businesses believe that simply because they own a bar or restaurant by the beach, the beach itself becomes their private property. This is completely false: all beaches in Aruba are public spaces.
Unfortunately, there is still a lack of proper enforcement to regulate the placement of tables and chairs on our public beaches. This lack of oversight allows these abuses to continue every day in various tourist areas.
In this particular case, a beachfront bar has essentially taken over a section of the beach, treating it as if it were their own commercial space. To make matters worse, the staff themselves insist that the beach is private.
This raises an important question: What is the government doing about this? What happened to the first 10 meters of public shoreline that are supposed to remain accessible? This situation is unacceptable.
Has the government sold Aruba’s beaches without the public knowing?
