LDG·WRITING·335 ENTRIES

Writing

Every column and essay in the register, newest first. Articles run from 2007; the wider record of published work runs from 1998.

Topic

Language

Year

Showing 1–10 of 335

A customs officer in a Douane vest studies a USD 3,200 invoice beside a parcel, while a screen shows the same motorcycle at USD 6,000 and USD 3,200; Black Friday sale signs, the Aruba port behind, and a plaque reading Vrije mededinging / Free competition beneath a set of scales.

COR·2026·335

Black Friday Is Coming. Customs, Take Note.

24 October 2026

An Aruba court restored a USD 3,200 customs value that Customs had raised to USD 6,000. Before Black Friday: a bargain is not fraud, and the law sets the test.

GOV·2026·334

Let Owners Register, but Under Whose Authority?

17 October 2026

The government has announced a registration plan for vacation rentals. Before owners are asked to comply, the government should publish the legal basis, name the responsible authorities and build a system people can actually use.

Portret van mr. Lincoln D. Gomez in een zwart T-shirt, met op de achtergrond een plaquette met een blauwe vliegtuigstaart.

GOV·2026·333

Open brief aan de Gouverneur, de Staten en de regering van Aruba: wie is volgens de wet bevoegd?

13 oktober 2026

De Iberosol-uitspraak legt een bevoegdheidsprobleem bloot: een portefeuille kan politiek worden verplaatst, maar een wettelijke bevoegdheid verhuist niet automatisch mee. Waar is het landsbesluit van artikel 2a, derde lid?

A desk at golden hour: a stack of official papers with a pen on the left, a cut-out of Aruba in the centre, and on the right a dense network of office cards linked by threads. A red line runs between them. Title: Tell us the rule

JUS·2026·332

Tell Us the Rule: When Does a Political Appointment Become a Crime?

10 October 2026

A court may condemn fraud. But before it decides that political actors deceived a system, it must understand how that system actually worked. What, exactly, was the rule?

JUS·2026·331

The Government May Have a Point. But Does It Have the Power?

7 October 2026

The Court of First Instance did not approve a hotel. It told the government that if it wants to say no, it must do so under the law.

From complaining to acting. Timeline: 0, submit; 12 weeks; 8 weeks

JUS·2026·330

From Complaining to Acting: The Handhavingsverzoek

4 October 2026

Aruba's handhavingsverzoek lets citizens and organisations formally ask government to enforce the law — and the deadlines that make it work.

JUS·2026·329

Aruba Hospital, AWG. 29M and the Courage to Go to Court

27 September 2026

Horacio Oduber Hospital is taking the Government of Aruba to court over Afl. 29 million in care for the uninsured. Good governance means letting a judge decide.

A sunny Oranjestad street lined with pastel Dutch-Caribbean colonial buildings and palms, with a row of electric rental scooters and e-bikes parked at a docking point in the foreground

JUS·2026·328

Enforcing the Rules: Aruba Court Rules on E-Step and E-Bike Rentals

16 September 2026

An Aruba court ruling on e-step and e-bike rentals shows that commercial labels do not determine legal obligations.

Aruba's arid interior at golden hour: a wind-bent divi-divi tree and tall cactus among red-brown rock and dry scrub, with deep off-road tyre tracks gouged through the foreground leading toward a distant turquoise coastline

ENV·2026·327

Aruba Had a Plan for Nature. What Happened to It?

13 September 2026

In October 2024 the Council of Ministers approved Aruba's biodiversity strategy through 2030. It phases out UTVs and puts nature first. So what changed?

A banner split on a diagonal: on the pale left half a contour map of Aruba under the word ROPV in aloe, on the dark right half the word POLICE over the blue light bar of a police vehicle at night.

GOV·2026·326

The Police and Our Nature: Looking Away Is Not a Free Choice

9 September 2026

Driving a quad or UTV through a nature area is an offense, and the police already hold the power to stop it. Criminal enforcement waits for no minister.