ORANJESTAD, Aruba (14 June 2005) -- Travel agents in America, Canada and Europe tell CDNN that thousands of tourists and scuba diving travelers are canceling plannned holidays to Aruba. The cancellations follow reports that police and government officials in Aruba have deliberately concealed evidence related to the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway to protect the island's tourism industry. The young American blonde vanished after leaving an Oranjestad nightclub on May 30 with three men - brothers Satish Kalpoe, 18, and Depak Kalpoe, 21, and their friend, Joran Van Der Sloot, 17, the son of an Aruban judge - who have all been arrested. Two hotel security guards were also arrested and later released. Four of the five men police have arrested so far in the case are non-white, however, officials were quick to emphasize that race was not an issue in the arrests. "Our institution doesn't look at your color," Prime Minister Nelson Oduber, who is of European and Arawak extraction, said in a radio broadcast Sunday night. "Our constitution, our laws, our government, and our people will not permit in any form or any way, discrimination against any class." But travel agents around the world remained unconvinced that Aruba is a safe travel destination. | | Natalee Holloway "We are advising tourists not to travel to Aruba," one major US-based travel agency told CDNN. "It's not just the fact that a beautiful young girl disappeared--it's the sloppy police work that followed." © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
