Yesterday, locals and visitors alike on Aruba celebrated the long awaited Dia di Betico, the birthday of Gilberto Francois “Betico” Croes, a day that’s marked by diverse activities around Aruba, where everyone on the happy island can celebrate this special day.
Celebrated as a National Holiday, Dia di Betico starts on the night of the 24th of January with the cultural show at Plaza Betico Croes, where locals and visitors could enjoy a night full of different cultural presentations as well as tents with local food, artisan art and more.
Dia di Betico continues on the 25th of January with a protocol ceremony at Plaza Betico Croes that is organized by Comision Celebracion Dianan Nacional (Commission for National Holiday Celebrations) along with the government of Aruba. For this occasion, the Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes gives a speech, where she shares a little bit about the history of the late Betico Croes. “The love that he showed for his island was so big that this was visible through the diligent fight he led to achieve the dream of the people; an autonomous Aruba in the Dutch Kingdom. Betico transformed his love and happiness for his people through his own kids, always saying that ‘the happiness I wish for my own kids, is the happiness I wish for all of the people of Aruba,’” the Prime Minister spoke.
She reminisced about the fight that Betico Croes lead to pull Aruba out of the Antillean constellations, which was not an easy fight and did not come without sacrifices that included protests, manifestations, his unjust incarceration as well as the actions of Dark August in 1977. “But it was thanks to these actions that The Netherlands finally made the decision in 1981 to pay attention to the fight of the people, recognizing the right to autonomy. And how did this fight end? At the round table conference in 1983 at The Netherlands, where Aruba, under the leadership of Betico Croes, achieved it’s ‘Status Aparte’, making it an autonomous country in the Dutch Kingdom with its own government, it’s own parliament, own currency and own economic instruments to develop itself successfully.”
To celebrate this special day there were different activities around the island for families to experience and completely new experiences as well. Like the artist sharelly Emanuelson who opened a new exhibition temporarily and made an interactive presentation, Natusha Croes who created 2 audiovisual productions, one titled ‘Lama ta na Caminda” which tells the story of strong ties between firm land and the neighborhood Rancho, a neighborhood of fishermen, and the other titled “Awa ta Bida”.
During the activities, there was also 4 mini documentaries shown that were made specifically for the project “Manteniendo herencia na Bida” (Keeping our inheritance alive), which tells the story of each of Aruba’s era’s.
All around the island, the pride and love felt for Betico Croes could be felt and seen from flags, to pictures, to activities dedicated to him and his love for Aruba.
