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LOCAL Saturday 9 March 2024
Visit the natural bridges of Aruba!

(Oranjestad)—After you’ve a tourist attraction, with While the natural bridge
visited the Alto Vista many visitors walking along no longer is functional,
Church, the Bushiribana the coral cliffs of the bridge there is now a smaller nat-
Gold Mill Ruins and the to see the spectacular view ural bridge very close. This
mini natural pool that is lo- of the northern coastline bridge is often called the
cated right next to it, you’re and the Caribbean Sea. “Baby Bridge” or “Daugh-
next up around the north- Visitors can also still visit the ter Bridge”.
ern coast line must be the souvenir shop on the left of
Natural Bridge. Once the the bridge entrance.
largest natural bridge in the
Caribbean, this bridge has The bridge was formed dur- For many years, this site was
been a tourist attraction for ing thousands of years, cut also a frequently visited
many years. and crafted by the wild beach, as the bridge had
waves that crash into the a small opening through
coral stone walls of the which the water would flow
coast. Before its collapse, into the tiny beach.
this bridge measured 30
meters in length and 7 me- Unfortunately in 2005, the
ters in height, making it the bridge collapsed, and the
biggest natural bridge in little beach dried up. De-
the Caribbean at the time. spite this, this site remained

On march 18th we celebrate our Aruban heroes:

Meet the iconic figures of Aruban independence

ernment that was elected ous article on the Status
in September 2021. Aparte, Henny Eman was
the first to lead the separat-
Croes himself was not able ist movement on the island.
to enjoy the results of his He was also the founder of
ongoing struggle; he was one of Aruba’s biggest po-
involved in an accident litical party today, the Aru-
on December 31, 1985, ban People Party (AVP).
and went into a coma. During his career, he ad-
He passed away on No- vocated strongly for the
vember 26, 1986. For the separation from the central
Aruban people, his words power of Curacao, and
will never be forgotten. He for equal representation of
told his people: “Si mi cay Aruba. He was member of
na caminda, gara e ban- the Aruban Court of Policy,
(Oranjestad)—For the sec- mally setting the date for dera y sigui cu e lucha” and was later elected to
ond part of our National Aruba’s independency. which means “If I fall along the Council of State.
Hymn and Flag Day, Aruba Betico also became leader the way, grab the flag and
Today would like to dedi- of the political party Mov- continue the fight.” During his tenure, he was old melody of the song but
cate this article to our lo- imiento Electoral di Pueblo enacted projects like the add more verses. The last
cal heroes; our founding (MEP), now the main party J.H.A “Henny” Eman Oranjestad Harbour and verse of the song, which
fathers and creative minds that forms the current gov- As mentioned in our previ- the Queen Beatrix Airport later was approved as Aru-
that brought us our Anthem (then Princess Beatrix Air- ba’s national anthem on
and Flag. port). March 18th, 1976, was writ-
ten by Hubert Booi.
Betico Croes Juan Chabaya “Padu”
The father of the Aruban Lampe and Rufo Wever
nation or the Liberator (Lib- Padu Lampe and Rufo
ertador) as he is called of- Wever were both musical
ten, was an active man in giants on the island, having
Caribbean organizations learned and played music
while he studied in the from a very early age. In
Netherlands. Betico was a 1976, the Executive Coun-
social man, participated cil of Aruba appointed a
in sports and the social committee to create an
and cultural community. anthem for the island. “Aru-
He worked as a teacher ba Dushi Tera” was written
and instituted the official initially by Lampe and Wev-
seal, flag and hymn for the er, (Aruba Sweet Land) was
island. During the Round already well-known two
table Conference of 1981, decades before. The com-
he was responsible for for- mittee decided to keep the