Worries on Black Friday

Worries on Black Friday

28 November 2025

Apparently, it’s Black Friday. I have nothing to do with it. I don’t like crowds, and I tend toward minimalism: as little as possible, only what is necessary and functional. Of all the celebrations we’ve imported over the years, the only one I relate to is Thanksgiving – there is always something to be grateful for. I connect least with Halloween: a mix of old Celtic and Christian traditions that mark the transition to winter and the remembrance of the dead. I don’t understand it.

But these days I shiver for very different reasons. Oversight of firearms is failing, legal weapons are disappearing into the criminal circuit, and successive Ministers of Justice are doing too little about it. A Member of Parliament is serving seven years behind bars for his role in drug trafficking. In another case, ten years has been requested, among others, for a member of a prominent political family. There is an ongoing case involving bribery at the port. A former minister, now an MP, has withdrawn and no longer communicates. The passionate private life of another minister is being fought out in public.

Meanwhile, Trump is building an unprecedented military presence in our Caribbean waters and airspace. He reportedly stated that it won’t be long before the major attack on the alleged narco-terrorists begins.

At the same time, the media reports that Curaçao is highly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Just to be sure, I checked whether my emergency kit accounts for that.

Next week is Sinterklaas. But it seems this good, holy man has received very few invitations. The Christmas decorations are already up. Now we need the atmosphere.

 Miguel Goede