"Fredric L. Rice" <frice@skeptictank.org> wrote in message news:3AD1FA9B.C8533A92@skeptictank.org...

Sorry if an answer is going to be quite long, but I want you to at least have some kind of impression what we were up against taking Curacao on about the Freewinds. It's been a long and 'cunning' case to get _anybody_ at all to even take a glance at the asbestos-problem.

>Why would the Port Authority cooperate with keeping the allegedly
>dangerous ship from docking? Was it to keep citizens safe from the
>asbestos or was it to keep the ship from being seized and/or
>investigated and cleaned up by Dutch health officials?
Well that is kind of complex, but not spectacular of Caribbean Islands. Nobody wants to take responsibility if she/he can have someone else take it. Politically the Netherlands Antilles is in a mesh, has always been, and financially corrupt as hell. The police of Curacao do not even dare to inspect certain areas, which the Colombian drug-mafia has taken over, lots of criminals and drug-users there and the youth with little schooling and language problems is fleeing to the Netherlands to collect Social Security. Sometimes they even have their suitcases packed in prison and are taken straight to Hato Airport.

The Antilles are also rather known for money laundering.

It is not the Dutch health officials, but the Antillean health officials who are involved. So that is a hell of a difference.

Get the picture to why these authorities are not all that concerned and maybe you can think of a possible answers yourself to your above questions?

My guess is that Gijs de Vries had no idea that the Freewinds had sneaked in and out of the harbour the night before he was to visit the ports, 'cause Curacao did not want him to interfere or ask questions like how and when they were going to investigate.

In fact, they do not want anybody coming from The Netherlands to tell them how to run their business. All they want from The Netherlands is money without to many obligations.

Probably Gijs de Vries also did not even know that it had been in the newspaper as it was written _only_ in Papiamentu and NOBODY was going to tell him as they had about $12 millions at stake for a project, which he still had to agree upon. (Which he turned down anyway because of the Antillean inefficiency to put up proper projects without somebody filling his own pockets at the same time).

Also my guess is that NOBODY except the CPA (port-authority) knew about the Freewinds coming in and hoped it would go unnoticed, while the Dutch Delegation and other authorities were there.

I wrote to several port-authorities, docks, health-departments, 'The Gouvernment' and newspapers. I also took care to cc everybody I wrote preventing them being able to say that they had received nothing and therefore had not acted. Most of these people meet on a daily/weekly base socially and it became unavoidable for them not to answer, when La Prensa (newspaper) who had seen everybody cc'd in their own letter, asked them for comments.

Several other people have written as well, but what triggered the whole story was when I and somebody else well-known in these newsgroups participated in an Antillean newsgroup and spilled the story and got the people interested enough to also send letters to several terminals.

>I am curious why the Port Authority would collaborate to keep the
>ship from being cleaned up. Perhaps they just denied access to the
>ship knowing that it was a major health risk and there was otherwise
>no collusion.
The Port Authority told the newspaper, that it would be a problem to deal with it as most of the ships coming into the port were from before 1970. As to why the Freewinds could sneak in and out almost unnoticed (except for a few spies:-)) during the night, I can only guess that there was a bargain of some kind. Also economically Curacao is as always in a bad shape because of mismanagements and corruption and they need the cruise- ships bringing in tourists as it is a main income on the islands.

Little do the people know that the slaves of the Freewinds spend nothing what so ever to ad to their economy.

But one thing for sure, they did not want anybody from The Netherlands to breathe down their necks while trying to cover up whatever they wanted covered in their dubious deals in the harbour concerning unhealthy ships.

>I am also curious whether the deadly ship is allowed to dock in
>United States' ports. Do you know?
I think they would not even dare for several reasons with what they have to hide besides asbestos. I know of a well-known world- organisation, which is curious about what goes on in the bulks below:-) Maybe Arnie knows more about the reasons why the ship never comes into neither US nor EU waters.

Icee. (not here:-))

>I wrote to several port-authorities, docks, health-departments, 'The
>Gouvernment' and newspapers. I also took care to cc everybody I
>wrote preventing them being able to say that they had received
>nothing and therefore had not acted. Most of these people meet on a
>daily/weekly base socially and it became unavoidable for them not to
>answer, when La Prensa (newspaper) who had seen everybody
>cc'd in their own letter, asked them for comments.
>Several other people have written as well, but what triggered the
>whole story was when I and somebody else well-known in these
>newsgroups participated in an Antillean newsgroup and spilled the
>story and got the people interested enough to also send letters
>to several terminals.
The general impression prior to this was that some bribe money would change hands and it would be over. This is probably true throughout the Dutch Antilles. What is also true is that the cult must now forevermore fear the possibility of even one honest official (like Lot), with the heart of a lion and wit of a fox, to swoop down on them unawares and find possible other legal problems with the ship, which are not so easily disposed of.

There are many reasons to want to sweep the asbestos problem under the rug, the primary being, as the port authorities themselves complained, that most ships before 1970 also have this asbestos, and that most ships docking there are from prior to 1970. I imagine, though, that if this were the case, the cult ship would simply brazenly sail into port and then begin kicking up a huge storm about them being singled out for examination while pointing out all the other ships in the very same dock which no doubt also contain asbestos. They could also, if they had done so, claim to have fully and properly sealed the asbestos to make it safe. They didn't do this. They instead snuck in and out of port by night. This is good. This reminds them that they are criminals who need to sneak in and out of places because of their crimes. This forces them to watch their backs. This may disillusion members who believe their cult has the full support of society. This may cause them to break fewer laws and be more sneaky about the laws they do break.

In short, whether or not it "works" in the sense of forcing them to clean up this asbestos and probable other criminal violations of sea safety rules, or else spend the rest of their tenure above the waves sneaking from port to port like thieves or pirates.

All other ports on the death-ship's itinerary should be similarly informed, especially if there are ports less corrupt at islands known for better ethics.

Many port authorities in these little governments are quite corrupt, however, and it is probably difficult to find an honest port authority.

Nevertheless, they should spend their days in fear of an honest harbormaster who will inspect the death-ship both for asbestos and for other possible criminal activities. Scientology is a crime cult, and it is unlikely that asbestos is the sole crime they commit aboard the Deathwinds. Indeed, they are reputed to run a special super-secret RPF aboard the Deathwinds, where they keep people prisoner who otherwise might spill knowledge too dangerous. Marty Rathbun, for example, was imprisoned aboard the Deathwinds to re-brainwash him back into the crime cult.

ptsc

Go Back