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LOCAL Wednesday 24 January 2024

We celebrate our National Hero Betico Croes

ORANJESTAD – The island mances, sporting events
of Aruba has a special and games throughout the
day coming up Tomorrow, island.
January 25th. The island will
explode with lots of festivi- Croes himself was not able
ties that honor the late pro- to enjoy the results of his
autonomy political leader ongoing struggle; he was
Gilberto Francois (Betico) involved in an accident
Croes. He helped the island on December 31, 1985,
attain the Status Aparte – and went into a coma.
the status of autonomous He passed away on No-
country within the kingdom vember 26, 1986. For the
of the Netherlands, sepa- Aruban people, his words
rate from the other islands will never be forgotten. He
of the Antilles. told his people: “Si mi cay
na caminda, gara e ban- ertador) as he is called of-
Aruba was allowed to func- dera y sigui cu e lucha” ten, was an active man in
tion as a commonwealth which means “If I fall along Caribbean organizations
within the Dutch Kingdom the way, grab the flag and while he studied in the Neth-
and Betico is honored for continue the struggle.” erlands. Betico was a social
this outcome since 1989 man, participated in sports
by celebrating the Dia di Active man and the social and cultural
Betico. The official holiday Betico was born on Janu- community. He worked as a
normally features perfor- ary 25, 1938. Croes had four teacher and instituted the
children: two sons—Glen- official seal, flag and hymn
bert Croes and Gilberto Ju- for the island. During the
nior Croes and two daugh- Round table Conference
ters— Glendeline Croes of 1981, he was responsible
and Guisette Croes. Both of for formally setting the date
Croes’ sons served as Min- for Aruba’s independency.
isters and Glenbert is cur- Betico also became leader
rently in office as Minister of of the political party Mov-
Labor. Betico was also the imiento Electoral di Pueblo
uncle of Aruba’s current (MEP), now the main party
Prime Minister, Mrs. Evelyn that forms the current gov-
Wever-Croes. ernment that was elected
in September 2021. There
The father of the Aruban were two stages in which
nation or the Liberator (Lib- the Independence was
formed: the first one was
set for 1986, the second
was set for ten years later
and enhanced the inde-
pendence from the Neth-
erlands. However, it never
came to a total indepen-
dence of Aruba in 1996; it
was dropped in 1990. The
Status Aparte within the
Kingdom of the Nether-
lands was to be a perma-
nent one.