St. Maarten Private Eye

"St Maarten is part of the Netherlands Antilles – an artificial nation without much future, created by the Dutch to release their West Indian colonies into something resembling semi-independence. The administrative center is in Curacao – an island only a few miles off the coast of Venezuela and without deep cultural ties to St Maarten. While St Maarten is performing well fiscally, Curacao's finances are in disarray, depleting St Maarten's financial resources as well. There has been a referendum a few years ago where a vast majority of voters on St Maarten decided to secede from the Netherlands Antilles in order to have a more direct relationship with Holland. The break-up of the Netherlands Antilles has been scheduled for 2007, but there is doubt that these dramatic changes can be implemented within this ambitious time frame."

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