Bonaire goes first and will have talks with Dutch Minister of Administrative Reform and Kingdom Relations Atzo Nicolaï and his delegation this afternoon. Saba and St. Eustatius will talk with him on Tuesday. A plenary session is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

Nicolaï arrived in Curaçao on Sunday and met with Governor of the Netherlands Antilles Frits Goedgedrag and Prime Minister Emily de Jongh-Elhage.

Bonaire’s Commissioner Reginald “Yonchi” Dortalina, who heads the five-member delegation from his island, said he was very much looking forward to coming to a “clear understanding” with the Dutch Government.

Dortalina said he considered it an “honour” that the meetings were taking place in Bonaire, which he said had been playing an instrumental role in securing a better future for the three smaller islands through realising direct ties with the Netherlands.

Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius want the Dutch Government to take over the guarantee function and help out with the tasks and responsibilities that should be assumed by the Central Government.

The three islands have big financial problems and Willemstad is not helping, Dortalina said. “They don’t want to help and we suffer,” he said. His colleagues Will Johnson of Saba and Roy Hooker of St. Eustatius agree with that position.

Johnson even took his criticism of the Central Government where it comes to neglect a step further. “They spend more per month on photocopying at certain departments than they spend on Saba,” he said.

The Windward Islands are ending up with the short end of the stick because Willemstad is pulling more money out than it puts in, said Johnson. He said it was about time the people of the Windward Islands demanded clarity about what they contribute and what the Central Government actually spends. He mentioned the amounts of NAf. 200 million versus 50 million.

Johnson said he had discussed Saba’s financial problems with Goedgedrag on Thursday and with De Jongh-Elhage on Friday. He gave them copies of documents to substantiate Saba’s suffering caused by Willemstad’s neglect.

Johnson also had a loud and clear message for the Netherlands at the start of the bilateral talks. “There is no way that we are accepting that the Netherlands takes us on as orphans and then has Curaçao and St. Maarten adopt us,” he said, reminding The Hague that decolonisation was its responsibility.

Johnson further said he wouldn’t allow the Netherlands to use the smaller islands as a whip with which to punish Curaçao and St. Maarten. Curaçao and St. Maarten want country status within the Kingdom, but talks with the Netherlands are on hold pending a number of issues that The Hague wants these two islands to work out.

Saba is attending the talks in Bonaire with a delegation of three. Besides Johnson, there will be Island Council member Lucia Woods of the SUDP and advisor Xavier Blackman.

St. Eustatius is coming with a delegation of at least seven, possibly nine, said Hooker on Sunday. At least three members of the Island Council are coming along: Hooker, Julian Woodley (also DP) and Clyde van Putten of PLP. Then there are advisors Ralph Berkel, Nora Sneek, Monique James and Louis Brown.

Hooker said the delegation was preparing. He said he had received the draft document that would be discussed at the meeting. He anticipated that the advice prepared by the Council of State would play a vital role at the talks.

During a meeting in St. Eustatius early this month the three islands set the agenda for the mini-summit that will take place in the Netherlands October 10-11. The meetings in Bonaire serve as preparation for that summit. (Suzanne Koelega)