ORANJESTAD – The island of Aruba has a special day coming up. Next week Thursday, January 25th, the island will have lots of festivities that honor the late pro-autonomy political leader Gilberto Francois (Betico) Croes. He helped the island attain the Status Aparte. Aruba was allowed to function as a commonwealth within the Dutch Kingdom and Betico is honored for this outcome since 1989 by celebrating the Dia di Betico. The official holiday features performances, sporting events and games throughout the island.
Aruba Today will keep you informed in the coming editions of the newspaper about the events that you can expect at this festive day. Croes himself was not able to enjoy the results of his ongoing struggle; he was involved in an accident on December 31, 1985, and got into a coma. He passed away on November 26, 1986. For the Aruban people, his words will never be forgotten. He told his people: “Si mi cainacaminda, gara e bandera y sigue cu e lucha’ which means ‘If I fall along the way, grab the flag and continue the struggle’.
Active Man
The father of the Aruban nation, as he is called often, was an active man in Caribbean organizations while he studied in the Netherlands. Betico was a social man, participated in sports and the social and cultural community. He worked as a teacher and instituted the official seal, flag and hymn for the island. During the Round table Conference of 1981, he was responsible for formally setting the date for Aruba’s independency. Betico also became leader of the political party Movimiento Electoral di Pueblo (MEP), now the main party that forms the current government that was elected in September 2017. There were two stages in which the Independence was formed: the first one was set for 1986, the second was set for ten years later and enhanced the independence from the Netherlands. However, it never came to a total independence of Aruba in 1996; it was dropped in 1990. The Status Aparte within the Kingdom of the Netherlands was to be a permanent one
