Published On: Mon, Oct 23rd, 2017

Control in Curaçao

Arthur DonkerI just read in the papers that they want to start checking all illegal businesses that advertise on Facebook, the Vraag en Aanbod page, E Bay and all other car trunk businesses, these are people that sell everything out of their car trunk, like pastechis, cake, eggrolls, paintings of Elvis on velvet, DVD copies of the latest Wonder Woman movie, Colombian dishes, Arepitas with cheese, Dominican Viagra, Chinese Bibles, cookbooks, stolen plants, Haitian souvenirs, and not to forget ladies that advertise "erotic" massages in Via Via like a Happy Hour with a Happy Ending.

You even have real estate agents that have a Facebook page advertising everything they rent, sell or trade that use a chique name and when you check if they are registered at the Chamber of Commerce you can find president Maduro's off shore sites faster than any information about them.

Nada nada! Not even an address or a crib number, no reference nada nada and usually it is guaranteed till the door because as soon as something goes wrong you won't be able to find them not even with a tracking dag because they have a disappearing act better than David Copperfield who can make a whole plane disappear.

No sales tax, no revenue or profit tax no headaches nada nada!

Now the question arises if they are also going to do that with all the bed and breakfast projects and bungalows that also advertise on Facebook, Instagram and Wassup.

The registered Real Estate Agencies, Hotels, registered Bed and Breakfasts can't compete with them and are stuck with their employees, taxes, social security premiums, rent, water, electricity and advertising, trying to offer a product in an honest and guaranteed way.

Well they say they are going to start that in a vigorous manner so everybody is warned that they are coming and you better watch out because you know it that when you put a Curaçaoan in a uniform he thinks he's God and will enter your place like the SS Stormtroopers and will chase all your customers out to ask you afterwards for your papers like they did at De Heeren and at Goisco.

Or even worse, all of a sudden they discovered that there are 10.000 buildings here that were built without a building permit and they went out and destroyed a house under construction just to show that they are doing their job well but don't DARE to destroy an apartment complex in the middle of Pietermaai that never had a permit despite a sentence that proved it was built illegally.

Why not that building?

Oh you have to hear the reasons why not!

But that poor soul with his minimum wage that scraped together his little house has to pay for all the rest and have his dream destroyed.

I have to laugh because they behave like animals just to prove that they are doing their job like they're supposed to do and when I ask why now and not the years prior to today I am the critic caster.

I am very curious how they will handle this problem or maybe it will be another law that can't be executed like the Compulsory Education law, something they invent without checking how they are going to execute that and what the consequences or sanctions will be.

I keep laughing on this rock because then you'll have to pursue all the lottery sellers, the fish sellers along the road, the guy that sells peanuts on Brionplein and the owners of all the Venezuelan fruit boats because they are also supposed to be registered at the Chamber of Commerce, pay sales tax but,  Oh Gee we never thought of that!

By Arthur Donker

Click Tag(s) for Related Articles: