Page 20 - ATA

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Saturday 20 January 2018

Celebration Day of a National Hero

ORANJESTAD - The island vember 26, 1986. For the
of Aruba has a special day Aruban people, his words
coming up. Next week will never be forgotten. He
Thursday, January 25th, the told his people: “Si mi cain-
island will have lots of festiv- acaminda, gara e ban-
ities that honor the late pro- dera y sigue cu e lucha’
autonomy political leader which means ‘If I fall along
Gilberto Francois (Betico) the way, grab the flag and
Croes. He helped the island continue the struggle’.
attain the Status Aparte.
Aruba was allowed to func- Active Man
tion as a commonwealth The father of the Aruban ment that was elected in
within the Dutch Kingdom nation, as he is called often, September 2017. There
and Betico is honored for was an active man in Ca- were two stages in which
this outcome since 1989 ribbean organizations while the Independence was
by celebrating the Dia di he studied in the Nether- formed: the first one was
Betico. The official holiday lands. Betico was a social set for 1986, the second erlands. However, it never Status Aparte within the
features performances, man, participated in sports was set for ten years later came to a total indepen- Kingdom of the Nether-
sporting events and games and the social and cultural and enhanced the inde- dence of Aruba in 1996; it lands was to be a perma-
throughout the island. community. He worked as pendence from the Neth- was dropped in 1990. The nent one.q
a teacher and instituted
Aruba Today will keep you the official seal, flag and
informed in the coming hymn for the island.
editions of the newspaper During the Round table
about the events that you Conference of 1981, he
can expect at this festive was responsible for formally
day. Croes himself was not setting the date for Aruba’s
able to enjoy the results independency. Betico also
of his ongoing struggle; became leader of the po-
he was involved in an ac- litical party Movimiento
cident on December 31, Electoral di Pueblo (MEP),
1985, and got into a coma. now the main party that
He passed away on No- forms the current govern-