Van Huffelen surprised by Aruba's minister accusing her of "colonial behavior"

The State Secretary for Relations with the Kingdom, Alexandra van Huffelen (D66), is surprised by the harsh criticism of her policy from Aruba. The Caribbean country's Minister of Finance, Xiomara Maduro, recently accused Van Huffelen of colonial behavior and insensitivity towards Dutch slavery history in the Caribbean.

In addition, Aruba's Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes said on Thursday that she fully supported Maduro. Van Huffelen said in a response to the ANP on Friday night that colonialism and slavery "do not fit into the way I work with the countries in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom."

The Secretary of State said she speaks "with great regularity" with the Aruban government about financial monitoring and the interpretation of projects within the framework of the commemorative year on the history of slavery. According to the State Secretary, this cooperation is based on equality and respect. "I demand the same from my partners in the Kingdom," she said.

Minister Maduro recently said during a lecture for the Society of the Netherlands Aruba in The Hague that Aruba had indefinitely suspended consultations with the Netherlands on the further implementation of the Slavery Memorial Year.

According to Maduro, the reason for this is the decision by Secretary of State Van Huffelen to charge Aruba a high-interest rate (6.9 percent) for the Covid-19 loan. "This modern 'colonial' attitude implies that the apologies no longer have any value or meaning for us. It seems that after 160 years, the Netherlands has not learned enough from its colonial and slave past. That is a great disappointment," said Maduro.

The Netherlands and Aruba have been negotiating the refinancing of the so-called Covid-19 loans for several months. At the same time, the Netherlands wants to reach an agreement on the establishment of financial supervision, which the government in Oranjestad describes as "colonial behavior".

Van Huffelen said that she had "not yet received any news from Aruba that they actually want to suspend cooperation and what that means in concrete terms".