Aruban baseball player Bogaers boycotts Trump

Posted on May 6, 2019 by petrel41

This 14 July 2018 Major League Baseball video from the USA says about itself:

Watch Bogaerts’ walk-off grand slam, Red Sox comeback

Xander Bogaerts caps off the Red Sox amazing comeback over the Blue Jays with a grand slam.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

Dutch national team baseball player Bogaerts says no to Trump after grandslam home run

A month after Xander Bogaerts became the best-earning athlete in the Kingdom of the Netherlands with his new mega contract at Boston Red Sox, he hit a grand slam home run in Major League Baseball for the fifth time in his career.

The Aruban did so on Sunday night in the eighth inning of the game against the Chicago White Sox, thereby leading his team to a 9-2 victory. Bogaerts hit the ball over the fence with all three bases occupied.

Bogaerts will not go to White House

After the game, Bogaerts again made a statement by stating that he will not go to the White House on Thursday, where his team will be honoured by President Donald Trump for winning the World Series last year. …

A number of other players and coach Alex Cora are not going either. Cora protests against Trump’s statements about hurricane Maria in his native Puerto Rico. The American president denied that thousands of people had died in that natural disaster.

In recent years, nearly half of the invited sports teams – such as [American football] Super Bowl winner Philadelphia Eagles – boycotted the White House out of discontent with Trump and his policies. National Basketball Association champions Golden State Warriors were also critical of Trump and were not even invited in advance.

The cherry on top of a wonderful inning. pic.twitter.com/O03cIvP8gP

— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 5, 2019

KENNY STILLS CALLS OUT DOLPHINS OWNER FOR TRUMP FUNDRAISER Miami Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills has publicly criticized Stephen M. Ross, the team’s chairman of the board and managing general partner, for his decision to host a fundraiser for President Trump’s reelection campaign. [HuffPost]

Save Aruba island wildlife, petition

Posted on September 21, 2016 by petrel41

This video says about itself:

24 December 2013

Arikok National Park on Aruba comprises of almost 20% of the island and contains some of Aruba’s unique cultural, historical and geological sites as well as diverse local flora and fauna. Come discover Aruba’s National Park, Arikok!

From Aruba Birdlife Conservation:

Stop the destruction of nature areas in Aruba

A call for support to stop the destruction of nature areas in Aruba

To:

1. The Prime Minister of Aruba, the Honorable Mike Eman
2. Parliament of Aruba
3. The Governor of Aruba, the Honorable Fredis Refunjol

A. On February 6th, 2013, all twenty-one members of the Parliament of Aruba, the highest institution of our democratic system, voted in a unanimous fashion in favor of a motion to protect 16 areas and to have them declared as nature areas of national importance and to incorporate these areas into the Arikok National Park. These areas are of local and international importance to resident and migratory birds.

B. Four of these areas have been designated Important Bird Areas by Birdlife International and one is a RAMSAR wetland area.

C. So far the government has failed to implement the decision of the democratically elected parliament and this inaction will further endanger these habitats and the species within the 16 proposed protected areas. The government has compounded its non-action by granting building permits at the Bubali bird sanctuary where habitat destruction has and will continue to take place. The government’s in-action, against the will of the island’s elected representatives, will further degrade, fragment, and destroy, important habitat at multiple locations throughout the island.

D. Moreover, the Government is taking action to break open the Spatial Development Plan (R.O.P. or Ruimtelijke Ontwikkelings Plan) with intentions to remove the protective status of green zones, wetlands and other areas to facilitate further building and development of hotels and condominiums.

E. The signers of this petition are herewith calling on you:

To stop the destruction of nature taking place at the Bubali Bird Sanctuary;
To implement, secure and enforce appropriate regulatory actions by the Government, leading to the full protection of these sixteen areas already recognised by the Parliament of Aruba;
To incorporate these 16 areas into the Arikok National Park as determined by the highest institution of our democratic system, the Parliament of Aruba;
To not remove the protective status of any and all green zones of Aruba as designated in the existing Spatial Development Plan (R.O.P. or Ruimtelijke Ontwikkelings Plan).

This petition has been developed by Foundation Aruba Birdlife Conservation.

Dutch policemen prosecuted for killing Aruban Mitch Henriquez

Posted on September 19, 2016 by petrel41

People in The Hague mourn Mitch Henriquez

Translated from Dutch NOS TV:

Two policemen prosecuted for death of Mitch Henriquez [in The Hague in the Netherlands]

Today, 12:01

Two of the five police officers involved in the arrest of Mitch Henriquez will be prosecuted. The public prosecutor announced that this morning.

The two policemen are suspected of abuse causing a person’s death. They are also charged with manslaughter. The public prosecutor says the policemen did not intend to kill Mitch Henriquez, but they have used too much violence.

One of them did a chokehold, while the other one hit Henriquez on the nose and used pepper spray. The 42-year-old Aruban died by suffocation. …

The prosecution service concluded earlier that Henriquez was killed by police brutality. He had not been using drugs and did not drink too much. The police have suspended the five officers involved after the incident. The internal investigation about these police officers is still ongoing.

Surviving relatives of Henriquez called this summer for clarity. They thought that the prosecution decision took far too long to materialize.

How Mitch Henriquez' relatives see his death

This Dutch language infographic shows how Mitch Henriquez’ relatives see his death.

Aruban Mitch Henriquez’s violent death by Dutch police

Posted on November 6, 2015 by petrel41

This video, recorded on Aruba, says about itself (translated):

Burial of Mitch Henriquez

9 July 2015

“All policemen involved in this, not just the five who jumped on top of Mitch, should be punished.” This said cousin Astrid Everon-Jacopucci just after the burial of Mitch Henriquez on Thursday.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Mitch Henriquez was ‘abused enormously’ by police

5 November 2015, 23:53

The Aruban Mitch Henriquez, who died in June by police brutality, had suffered during his arrest inter alia a fractured larynx. This says, according to the lawyer of Henriquez‘ relatives, the investigation report by the National Police, which has been sent to the public prosecution. Lawyer Gerald Roethof has seen the report and told about it in the Pauw TV show.

Henriquez was ‘abused enormously’ according to him. Apart from a fractured larynx as a result of a chokehold the Aruban had hematomas on his temple, his nose and his genitals. He also had two broken ribs, but that may also have been caused, according to the lawyer, by attempts to resuscitate him.

…

The five officers who are suspected by the prosecution may await trial in freedom. That may take a very long time according to Roethof. “The prosecutor chooses not to sue the officers and to cross-examine them in a public hearing with witnesses. No, the lawyers of the policemen can first submit their investigation preferences to an investigating judge, and only if they are implemented, then we will be able to continue. ”

Roethof says there are so many witnesses that this approach will take two or three years before the case can be dealt with. “I do not understand that the public prosecutor leaves the family in uncertainty for so long. This I have never seen in a case of violent death.”

Violence monopoly

If the violence would not have been by police, but by private security guards, then the suspects would have been arrested long ago, Roethof says. They would have had to wait for their trial in detention, he said. They would also have been prosecuted at least for manslaughter. Now the officers are suspected of assault causing death. That is a less serious crime.

The lawyer acknowledges that police are treated differently because police have the monopoly of force in society. “But a monopoly on violence also creates extra responsibilities. You should be cautious practicing it. I can see no way why it had to happen this way.”

Will The Hague police abolish chokehold at last, after Aruban’s death?

Posted on July 8, 2015 by petrel41

This 18 July 2018 video from the USA is called Four Years After Eric Garner’s Killing in Police Chokehold, His Family Still Seeks Accountability.

Another video from New York City in the USA used to say about itself:

Staten Island Man [Eric Garner] KILLED after NYPD Cop Puts Him In CHOKEHOLD For Breaking Up a FIGHT!!

18 July 2014

New York City police officers killed a man Thursday after he had broken up a fight between two other men, insisting on placing him in a chokehold and slamming his head to the pavement, piling on top of him as he gasped for air and as he continually told the cops he couldn’t breathe.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Inspection examines use of controversial chokehold by police

Today, 19:40

The Inspectorate for Public Safety and Justice will study the use of the chokehold. The reason for the investigation is the death of the Aruban Mitch Henriquez.

The spokesman of Minister Van der Steur stressed that the study will be about the use of this practice in general. The Henriquez incident is being investigated by the National Police. The inspection will publish the results of the study next year.

Mayor Van Aartsen announced earlier this evening that there would soon be a communication on the “cursed chokehold”. He did so during a debate in the The Hague city council about the death of Henriquez.

The Aruban died after a brutal arrest of oxygen deficiency. That probably originated when a policeman got him in a chokehold to keep Henriquez in check.

Weeping

The chokehold is a controversial practice, which was banned in New York City, for example, years ago. Dutch police are still taught this practice.

After the death of the Aruban there was a couple of days of unrest in the Schilderswijk area. Local residents accuse the police of racism and discrimination.

Police Chief Paul van Musscher admitted in the council meeting that some police officers discriminate, but that officers guilty of that do not belong in the police. He had during his speech tears in his eyes and said the events also evoke emotion from him.

…

Annoying

The judicial investigation into the death of the Aruban according to deputy chief prosecutor Kitty Nooy will take months. In the council meeting, she said that a lot of information has been received and that all that should be examined.

There will also be examination how it is that the prosecution initially reported that Henriquez only became ill while being transported in the police van. Pictures emerged later, on which we can see that Henriquez was already unconscious before he was put into the van. Nooy called it “annoying” that at first there was a wrong press release.

Another Dutch police chokehold death? Here. And here.

Aruba march for Mitch Henriquez, killed by The Hague police

Posted on July 8, 2015 by petrel41

Aruba march for Mitch Henriquez, killed by The Hague police

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

‘Mitch Henriquez, bury him first, then justice’

Today, 03:36

By correspondent Dick Drayer

In Aruba a silent march has been held for Mitch Henriquez, the man who ten days ago was killed after a brutal arrest in The Hague. The march was held immediately after the arrival of the man’s body at the airport. …

Most people wear a T-shirt with a portrait of Mitch, a raised fist in the colours of the Aruban flag and the words “Rest in Peace” written above scales. The shirts were created by the action group #JusticeForMitchHenriquez. Which was founded by friends of the deceased detainee.

The procession is led by Mitch’s mother, Maria. She does not walk itself, but sits in a support car, says Tito Lacle of the news site NoticiaCla. The mother is visibly broken. In the chapel there are another thirty people in T-shirts. There, Maria bursts into tears. “Look at my mother: broken, broken,” said Lila, a sister of Mitch.

Lila took the floor and thanked those present for their attendance and for their support, here in Aruba and before that in the Netherlands. “For us now, the priority is the funeral. It’s time to bury my brother. Then we will seek justice. That will be a new stage. We now ask for support and also ask for respect to mourn the huge loss in the family. ”

Mitch Henriquez will be buried in Aruba tomorrow afternoon.

Aruban Mitch Henriquez killed, commemoration in The Hague

Posted on July 4, 2015 by petrel41

Silent march for Mitch Henriquez today

NOS TV writes that today in The Hague was the silent march to commemorate Aruban Mitch Henriquez, killed by police recently:

People participated in the march to support the surviving family and to protest against the violent arrest. Various participants said that police treats people of colour differently from whites, and that Mitch’ arrest is an example of that.

An estimated 200 people were arrested in the course of four nights of protests last week in The Hague. The disturbances began after the death a week ago of a tourist from the Caribbean, Mitch Henriquez, at the hands of police. Henriquez, the 42-year-old father of three children, had been visiting relatives in the Dutch capital and was assaulted by police after leaving a rock concert in the city’s Zuiderpark: here.

Mourning Aruban Mitch Henriquez, The Hague tomorrow

Posted on July 3, 2015 by petrel41

Mourning Mitch Henriquez

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Silent march for Mitch Henriquez

Today, 09:57

The family of the deceased detainee Mitch Henriquez are organizing a silent march tomorrow in The Hague. A cousin of the Aruban emphasized on Facebook that it should be a march of “respect and calm”. …

The march will start tomorrow at 17:30 at railway station The Hague Moerwijk and will end in the Zuiderpark. That’s where police officers harshly arrested Henriquez on Saturday, the most likely cause of his death a day later.

Arubans mourn Mitch Henriquez, killed by The Hague police

Posted on July 1, 2015 by petrel41

This video from Aruba island in the Caribbean, about the requiem mass for Mitch Henriquez, killed by police in The Hague, says about itself (translated):

1 July 2015

Aruba is outraged by the death of Henriquez following his arrest in The Hague this weekend, as one can see from the many responses in social and mainstream media. During the church service there was mainly grief and practical issues such as what about the three children now who are on their own in the Netherlands. Their mother is in fact in Aruba. She and Mitch had exchanged so he could be with his children in the Netherlands on Father’s Day.

Death of Aruban in The Hague not an ‘incident’

Posted on July 1, 2015 by petrel41

This is a video from the Zuiderpark in The Hague in the Netherlands, showing the lethal arrest of Aruban Mitch Henriquez at the hands of police.

Translated from an NOS TV interview today in the Netherlands with Glenn Helberg, chair of the organisation of Caribbean people in the Netherlands, about the death of Mitch Henriquez at the hands of the The Hague police (as the Dutch government admitted today):

Helberg is happy for the family [of Mr Henriquez] that clarity came so soon. “This helps them immensely in the handling of their grief.”

He also said that this death is not an isolated incident and should not be called so by the police. “There is something very wrong when people feel unprotected by the police. It is now time for soul searching by the police.” …

Furthermore Arubans [on Aruba island, interviewed by the local NOS correspondent] hope that for the officers involved, if they would be found to be actually guilty, there will be no impunity.