St. Maarten Private Eye

Emilio replies to Henry Brookson

A rather long letter appears in both newspapers today from Henri Brookson in which he claims that Emilio Wilson always wanted to sell his estate and really didn't care if it got subdivided and developed, he just wanted "Boter bij de vis".(c.o.d.) Henri also claims the ExCo had passed up an opportunity to buy the estate last year, before he made his plans.

Mr. Brookson's letter is extremely interesting and I will delve into it below of course, after which, in a SXM Private Eye Online Video Exclusive, Mr. Emilio Wilson will respond personally about his estate.

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The only way i can do this is to go through the letter bit by bit, so here goes.....

In his first paragraphs Henri appears to be taking aim at his DP party 'friends' in the ExCo, the ones that have backed off from their orignal enthusiastic support of his project due to public opinion pressure. Perhaps Henri doesn't realise that that is what a politician is supposed to do, represent the people and respect their wishes. OK, so this doesn't happen often in St. Maarten, but in this case it did.

Well, Henri, I don't know if you realise, but your DP Party government isn't really that good at keeping the public informed of what they are doing, examples being the Dolphinarium, Dawn Beach, Cupecoy, the Airport, need I go on or back further to the crane at the port? There is 40 years of history to this fact Mr. Brookson. But we look forwards to all the documents you wish to share with the public, in fact we would be happy to put them online for you right here on SXM PE.

There were many people over the years who "took care" of Emilio, many of them with hidden hopes and dreams about his estate. That's not to say they didn't care about him, just that they had hopes and dreams about his estate. Mr. Emilio Wilson was quite outspoken about his intentions with his estate, as we will shortly witness from the man himself.

Henri is quite right in stating that Emilio wanted to sell his estate entire, not subdivided, and I suspect quite right about the c.o.d. requirement too. Emilio was often beset by people trying to find some way to gain his estate as he mentions in this 1988 interview. I am informed by those that knew him well that when Hurricane Luis severely damaged the Philips house, he did not seek government help to restore it, he felt they would try to find some way to take it off him. He was a typical old island man who was wary and distrustful and rightly so it would seem..

He did want to sell the land so he could leave 'trifles and cash, he will explain himself who he wanted to sell it to and why.

At the end of that section Henri mentions that Granville had to sell the estate to pay off people mentioned in the will and then when he died he left the property to his sister in law. Make sense to you? Me neither.

Offered to him by the executors of Emilio's will in which it apparently states that the property goes to his brother. Hmmmm.

VROM could find no reasons to deny such a development because there are no reasons, there is no zoning and the EWE is not on the monument list, although there was talk about 10 months ago. Did the National Alliance ever table it's 'draft motion'?

That the ExCo expressed enthusiasm is not surprising and no secret, they wanted a new governors house, link 7 and probably a few other little 'trifles' and the deal looked sweet. They underestimated public feeling about it though.

Unfortunately the developers plans show a different story, Link 7 runs over suspected and known grave sites, but I guess that would have been Govt's problem eh?

So, they were Henri's plans from the beginning and he found some investors, who left 'most of it intact' and promised him a job. All of this while working as Deputy Minister Plenipotentiary, for the island government. Was this part of his job description? I hope he wasn't using government services such as phones and mail to do his own little private business deals.

You weren't here at the time Henri, but Mr. Patrick understood that until the plans were announced publicly he had to keep quiet about them. He has been against the project from the moment he first heard about it, however it is his job to provide the services and information you or commissioners request, which is what he did.

Henri should perhaps browse back through the EWE Thread to catch up on what he missed. No one has ever claimed Emilio "left' the estate to St. Maarten, just that he wanted it to become a historical park for the people of the island. He's going to tell you so himself.

I will let someone else fill us all in on the details on Belevedere in comments below, it is my understanding that the offer was not as sweet as Henri implies. There's no outcry because no one is planning to chop it up and develop it Henri, at least as far anyone knows. You know those DP guys, they like to keep secrets.

Here you go Henri, there's more in the EWE Thread.

Why the secrecy indeed, he is not the only one waiting to see this report. By the way, Roy, doesn't need permission, that's just a frivolous detail. Why the secrecy Roy? Why are you holding back historical information from the public?

I have to agree with Henri here, from the IC resolution to now their actions, or lack of them, have been bizzare, I think it's already been mentioned here that they might not have been sincere when they made the resolution, it appears to be a correct conclusion.

Ownership appears to be up in the air at the moment, if EWE Bv bought the estate on conditions of permits, then they must have had an escape option in case they were not approved. I rather think it's their own fault if they didn't. Perhaps They and Henri did not realise how sensitive this project might be, or perhaps he didn't tell them. He is from here right?

If it can be proved that the ExCo has acted improperly then perhaps they themselves should be held accountable. One can see clearly why the Dutch are so concerned about proper governance and transparency.

Yes, let his will be done.

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Mr. Emilio Wilson's Reply
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