Boycott Watch
                 
December 20, 2007
Updated December 25, 2007
 
BREAKING NEWS (UPDATED):
Aruba Reacts to Boycott Watch on Cavuto by Re-opening
the Case and New Questions About
Natalee Holloway's disappearance.
 
Summary:Boycott Watch called Aruba's bluff, and Aruba blinked. Now: more truth revealed.
 
Revised 12-25-07 due to news reports.

    Boycott Watch has been monitoring and reporting the status of the boycott of Aruba inspired by the disappearance of Natalee Holloway since the boycott has been declared. As a recognized expert in boycotts including the tourism boycott inspired by the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba, Boycott Watch president Fred Taub was made two appearances on Your World with Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel (FNC) on this topic (see below).

    In the second appearance, Fred Taub made several points about Araba's mistakes in announcing the closing of the case again the "Aruba Three". Aruba reacted to all but one point Fred Taub made within 24 hours, then the last point in less than 12 hours later.

    Let's examine the record:

    In an interview by Neil Cavuto on December 18, 2007, Fred Taub made the following points:
  • Boycott Watch made the observation that soon after Aruba announced a case closing timeline, Aruba announced it expects higher revenue in 2008. This resulted in Boycott Watch concluding that Aruba feels getting the case out of the news will relieve the financial pressure of the boycott against them.
  • Boycott Watch made the observation that Aruban tourism is hurt every time the Natalee Holloway case is in the news and that Americans are upset at the announcement of the closing of the case as evidenced by consumer comments in the blogosphere.
  • Boycott Watch made the observation that Aruba would have been better off leaving the case open. Dropping the case was PR campaign gone bad. In response, Aruba suddenly claimed they never intended to close the case.
  • Boycott Watch made the observation that Law enforcement officials never close a potential murder case until a conviction is made.
  • Boycott Watch stated, based on US law, that there is no statute of limitations on murder. Aruba emphatically responded, and for the first time ever, that there is a 6 year statute of limitations on manslaughter a 12 years for murder under Aruban law.
  • Boycott Watch made the observation that Aruba tourism is down and stores in Aruba are lacking customers.
  • Boycott Watch made the observation that the new evidence could not have been anything really new or significant since it is the prosecutors who present the evidence to the judge and the judge said nothing was really new. When Aruba released the evidence, it was discovered that it was a comment on an Internet chat where one of the Aruba Three said Natalee is dead - courts consider this as opinion and not actual evidence. Fred Taub was right again in that the new and then undisclosed "evidence" was irrelevant.

    Within 24 hours of the airing of the live interview, Aruba reversed the case closure they openly said they would close for two weeks, now claiming they never intended to close the case, and that the case could go on for another 6 years. Aruba clearly reacted to the interview.

    Aruban officials did not reverse their public case-closing declaration for weeks, and only did so after confronted with bad PR, upset consumers and most significantly the comments by Boycott Watch president Fred Taub on Your World with Neil Cavuto. Since only Fred Taub made these observations, Boycott Watch must conclude Aruba reacted to the interview and that the re-opening, therefore, is meaningless. All other commentators reacted to Aruba's PR failures after Aruba announced the re-opening of the case.

    The recent comments by Fred Taub and Aruba's reactions conclusively prove once again that Fred Taub of Boycott Watch is the foremost expert in boycotts, consumer reactions and how businesses should to respond to boycotts; or as in the case of Aruba, how not to respond.

    The news from Aruba did not end there. On December 14, 2007 Hardbeat News reported that Aruba was warning by the International Monetary Fund that having their entire economy based on tourism makes them "vulnerable to external shocks." To this, Boycott Watch responds with one word - Duh!!!!! The IMF report echoes the Boycott Watch reports and statements by Fred Taub on Your World with Neil Cavuto (FNC) on November 29, 2007.

    The external shock is clearly the two and a half year old boycott against Aruba. The warning only came after Fred Taub of Boycott Watch reported the Aruban boycott status on Your World with Neil Cavuto. In fact, it was Fred Taub who stated the boycott is still hurting Aruba.

    The IMF warning is, however, not only another indication that the boycott of Aruba is working, but also that the IMF is worried it may have to bailout Aruba's economy if the boycott persists. As such, Aruba needs to take heed that they need to actively pursue the Holloway case and not just give Americans lip-service.

    Boycott Watch has been on the cutting edge of reporting on the Aruba boycotts, and has reported all along that the Aruban economy is hurting because of the boycott. In fact, Boycott Watch broke the story of an Aruban cover-up of the results of the boycott against them. (Here )

    Today, Boycott Watch reports activity which may have led to the disappearance of Natalee Holloway:

    Boycott Watch has received several reports regarding activity within Aruba that is so commonplace that it is simply ignored by the locals. First, it should be no surprise that local Aruban men regularly try to pickup American women, but what is surprising is that is allowed to happens in hotel lobbies and other privately owned businesses. If this were to happen in hotel lobbies in the USA, such people would be thrown out and told never to return again, but it is tolerated in Aruba.

    This activity is so common that Arubans commonly call these people "pimps." We understand that there may be several groups of "pimps" and we believe this activity may explain why Natalee Holloway was simply not noticed while she was with the Aruba Three. "Pimping" tourists in Aruba is not only common, but accepted. Some of the pick-up lines the "pimps" have used are "common, this is Aruba, it's paradise" and "this is paradise, what can go wrong here?"

    One thing which has been shown on TV is the bars in Aruba where in conga-lines, alcoholic beverages are poured directly into the mouths of tourists as they dance. What has not been reported is that no ID's for age are checked in these conga-lines, so the "pimps" as they are called by locals, use these to get girls drunk and take advantage of them. Once drunk, the "pimps" can take the tourist anywhere while Arubans simply look the other way.

    Meanwhile, the website Scared Monkey's reported another girl missing in Aruba and the active search for her. The girl who was last seen with local Aruban men was later found "heavily sleeping" and "smelled of drugs" whatever that means, in her mothers bed. While this illustrates the level of fear of personal safety in Aruba, some people are questioning if the deep sleep is drug related. We checked the CIA Factbook which reports Aruba as a "transit point for US- and Europe-bound narcotics with some accompanying money-laundering activity; relatively high percentage of population consumes cocaine." As such, the drug related questions in such cases have merit.

    Boycott Watch is not making any assertions, but we do wonder if any of the Aruba Three were tested for drugs after Natalee's disappearance and if Natalee was seen by any Arubans the night she disappeared but was perhaps simply ignored because of the commonality of the reported "pimping" activity.
 
See Fred Taub interviewed live on Your World with Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel speaking about Aruba's decision to close the Natalee Holloway case on December 18, 2007:
 
See the previous interview of Fred Taub live on Your World with Neil Cavuto on the Fox News Channel speaking about the Aruba boycott on November 29, 2007:
 
 
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