Isolated
Reports of detentions over the weekend in the alleged gay bashing incident, while not yet confirmed, offer some hope that the bad publicity the island has been getting as a result will soon end. As was the case with the Natalee Holloway disappearance in Aruba, where a new arrest has been made as well, it seemed like the entire island was being blamed for an incident in which only a few people were involved.
The only victim of the beating in St. Maarten able to speak denied doing so, of course, yet flew back with a news crew and said he planned to discourage gay cruises from coming to the island and might still call for a boycott “if St. Maarten does not help itself and stop protecting the criminals.”
The latter suggests some sort of concerted effort to sweep the matter under the rug and is uncalled for. Even if there is someone who knows who did it, but won’t tell, creating the impression that the entire society is somehow behind it is ludicrous and downright insulting.
Sure, mistakes may have been made, such as the manner in which the alleged gay-bashing follow-up investigation was carried out, once the police arrived at the crime scene too late to get a statement from the victim still able to speak. There is every reason to believe, however, that since the incident became major news, local authorities have been doing what they can to solve the case.
While it is true that the crime might not have been given the same priority had the victim not made the noise he did, statements made by local authorities since make it abundantly clear that the matter is being taken very seriously. More boycott threats and blaming the entire island for the actions of a few at this point would be unreasonable and considered in bad faith.
Luckily, the visit of the US air craft carrier with 6,000 on board went without major incident, which has not always been the case in the past. Any problems in which Americans are perceived as victims at this point could have serious consequences for the tourism economy.
The islands to a great extent depend on Americans visitors for their survival, but that does not mean they should be blackmailed. What happened to the two badly beaten visitors is horrible, but it’s obviously an isolated incident involving a handful of people and presenting it any other way simply misleading the public.
Certainly a senior producer at a major US network, no matter how personally involved, should be able to appreciate that.
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