St. Maarten Private Eye

(Documents will be added as links as soon as SXM PE receives them - Flipper)

Well I am glad you asked SAM who ever you are, but I am sorry to say there is not much to say. Please read the following letters and judge for your self.

On the 3rd of April 2006 a letter was sent to the Minister of Public Health and Social Development in Curacao, followed by a reminder on the 2nd of May. A reply was received on the 6th of June, 2006 from the Minister Sandra Smith. See here.

On the 3rd of April 2006 also 2 other letters were sent, one was addressed to the Lt. Governor and the other was addressed to the commissioner Mr. Marlin responsible for V.R.O.M. See both letters here and here.

General Affairs replied for the Lt. Governor on the 7th of April (see here and here,)
but from the commissioner I have received nothing up till today (26 July 2006), not even after General Affairs reminded V.R.O.M. nothing, nada, niente, rien, niets. I tried calling which was suggested in the letter of General Affairs. I spoke to several persons but they all referred me to Mr. Dollison, Mr. Mussin or Mr. Kwidama. (Sorry if the names are spelled wrong) The problem was I never could seem to get a hold of these three men. Not in, not available, in a meeting, with lunch, off island, not available again. I left messages but no body called me yet you’ll be the first to know as soon as I receive that call. General Affairs fully agreed with me that this was a classic example of giving someone the run around. That is when General Affairs sent the reminder but that was a waist of time as well. Am I right to say that in a way General Affairs receives the same disrespectful treatment from this commissioner as I received?

On the 27th of January 2006, Mexico implemented legislation to ban import, re-import, export and re-exportations on certain primates and marine mammals, so now, we thought the dolphins were safe. WRONG !

Suddenly a copy of a Mexican export permit shows up with the names and chip numbers of 13 dolphins to be shipped to Juancho Irausquin Blvd. in St. Maarten. Guess when that permit was approved? Yes you better believe it; it was stamped and approved on the 26th of January 2006 exactly one day before the new law was implemented. Now there is a criminal case going on against the director of Wildlife of the Environmental Office in Mexico, because many more export permits were stamped and signed on that particular day (including dolphins). Smells fishy!

Tomorrow the 27th this export permit is expired. So no more dolphins can be shipped to St. Maarten right? WRONG !

Okay let’s think out loud, the following is just a possible scenario.
Nothing has been built on St. Maarten so where should these 13 dolphins go if they do arrive? But that has nothing to do with Mexico's export permit. They can export the dolphins from Mexico to another island for a transit period of 3 months or maybe even 3 years before the dolphins reach their final destination at the Juancho Irausquin Blvd. That is why we need to find out if these dolphins were already shipped out of Mexico between the 26th of January and today the 26th of July 2006. We simply need to know where they are now. But that is easier said then done if governments do not cooperate, are not transparent or are corrupt like in St. Mexico.

That does not mean that the dolphinarium plan has been dropped. And even if we are told that this dolphinarium plan would be dropped today then there is always a tomorrow full of other similar plans. Just to say we need to stay awake. This was not the first plan remember? The first plan was about six or seven years ago. That was a whole different plan and petition. By the way already 4000 signatories were collected for this current petition against this dolphinarium plan and this petition still continues. If you did not sign yet you can go to the Animal Hospital at Union Road, Colebay

We always need to stay alert and on top of things to prevent such outdated plans like a dolphinarium to become a reality. St. Maarten should focus on quality for all and not quantity for a few. It is only fair to let the politicians really know what we really want and need from them. Only then they can do the job that we expect them to do.
Let them know.

Regards
Mercedes

Links to letters have now been added to the Dolpinarium update above.

Flipper

Sam,
your sister's neighbor is working on the dolphins, which is some type of name for the construction of the new pier.
People have been getting confused by the word "dolphins", a new pier is under construction in that location.

The big solid bollards that are used by cruise ships are also called 'Dolphins'. New ones have been added to the cruise pier recently.

A new photo of the property can be found here.