Natalee Holloway - Case Discussion Extended Thread 16

March 26, 2001

The Chávez Factor

by Garry Leech

For the past two years, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been a thorn in the side of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. He has been instrumental in revitalizing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which has resulted in production cutbacks in order to raise the price of crude oil. The Venezuelan president's oil policies further aggravated Washington when he agreed to supply affordable oil to Cuba.

Also, Chávez has been an outspoken critic of last year's $1.3 billion U.S. aid package to Colombia, claiming it will result in a "Vietnamization" of the region. Tensions have also escalated between Venezuela and Colombia as a result of the U.S. intervention in Colombia, Chávez's sympathies for Colombia's guerrilla organizations and several recent diplomatic incidents.

Chávez, a former army paratrooper, was elected in 1998 as a populist alternative to Venezuela's traditional parties who finally collapsed under the weight of their corruption and failed policies. With overwhelming popular support, Chávez succeeded in introducing a new constitution and even changed the official name of the country to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The new name signifies Chávez's nationalist and regionalist tendencies. He has been outspoken about the need to redirect the benefits derived from Venezuela's vast oil fields away from the United States and multinationals towards the 80 percent of Venezuelans who live in poverty. Chávez has also revived South American liberator Simon Bolívar's dream of a more unified South America.

The Venezuelan president has called for Latin American countries to work together for their own economic benefit and to limit U.S. influence in the region. With the closing of the U.S. air base in Panama, U.S. military presence in the region actually increased with the creation of Forward Operating Locations (FOLs) in Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Aruba, Curacao and Ecuador.

But Chávez has refused to allow U.S. drug surveillance flights from the Aruba and Curacao FOLs to operate in Venezuelan air space. Consequently, they are forced to fly a circuitous route in order to reach Colombia and are unable to track any planes that fly over Venezuela. Normally, such a lack of cooperation with Washington's drug war would result in de-certification, but the United States is hesitant to impose economic sanctions on its primary supplier of crude oil.

Since coming to office, Chávez has revitalized OPEC and cooperation between member nations is at a level unseen since the oil crisis of the early 1970s. As a result, OPEC countries have agreed to increase or decrease production in order to maintain the price of oil between $22 and $28 a barrel. This decision raised the cost of oil dramatically from the $7 a barrel it was selling for when Chávez assumed office.

The Venezuelan president's oil policies further angered Washington when he reached an agreement with Fidel Castro to supply affordable oil to Cuba. The Caribbean island will receive 53,000 barrels of oil a day and will be allowed to pay for it in installments. Furthermore, Cuba can also provide Venezuela with medical and other services in exchange for the some of the oil.

The Venezuelan president has been a leading critic of Plan Colombia, which has allowed the U.S. to dramatically increase its military presence in the region. Chavez has claimed that Plan Colombia will only result in an escalation of the violence and will regionalize the conflict by forcing refugees, guerrillas and drug traffickers to seek haven in neighboring countries.

Chavez's criticism of Plan Colombia and other incidents have increased tensions between Venezuela and Colombia. There have been claims from Bogotá, although no evidence, that Chávez has been supplying arms to Colombian rebels. Furthermore, last year, Chávez allowed two Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla leaders to speak on the floor of the Venezuelan Congress, which resulted in Colombia recalling its ambassador in protest.

Tensions have also been heightened by the flow of Colombian refugees across the border. Venezuela has been criticized by Colombia and human rights organizations for its refusal to acknowledge asylum requests by refugees and its policy of forcibly repatriating them. Meanwhile, Venezuelan ranchers who live near the Colombian border have claimed that Caracas is doing nothing to protect them from cross-border raids and kidnapping by Colombian guerrillas.

Consequently, wealthy landowners are now creating armed paramilitary groups to protect themselves from the guerrillas. It has been reported that the Colombian paramilitary organization, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) is currently training 100 paramilitary fighters in Venezuela. Chávez has responded to these reports by declaring that the government will not tolerate the existence of private militias in Venezuela.

Colombian President Andrés Pastrana met Chávez in Venezuela last week for two days of talks that focused on the mounting tensions between the two nations. At the top of the agenda for the talks was the recent controversy regarding Venezuela's refusal to extradite Jose Maria Ballestas, a National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla accused of hijacking an Avianca airliner in Colombia in 1999. Caracas says that Ballestas must first stand trial in Venezuela for charges he falsified documents. But Bogotá claims that international treaties require Ballestas be extradited to Colombia before he stands trial for lesser crimes committed in Venezuela.

The two presidents failed to reach an agreement on the extradition of Ballestas. However, they did announce that the chiefs of both Colombia's and Venezuela's armed forces will meet to coordinate intelligence and security operations. They also agreed to cooperate on the Colombian refugee problem and called for the United States to open its markets to textiles and other products that could create jobs as an alternative to coca cultivation. Pastrana also acknowledged that Venezuela might play an important role in negotiations with the FARC and the ELN.

Chávez clearly has an anti-imperialist agenda for Venezuela and Latin America that is primarily directed against the United States. He has been an outspoken critic of the neoliberal economic model being imposed on Latin American nations by the multilateral lending institutions. And much to the chagrin of Washington, which views him as the second-coming of Castro because of his nationalistic rhetoric and support for Colombia's guerrilla organizations, it appears that Chávez is going to be an influential actor in the region in the years ahead.

As for the mounting tensions between Venezuela and Colombia, in spite of last week's agreements, it is unlikely that relations will improve significantly as long as Bogotá continues to allow the United States to escalate its military presence in the region. Perhaps Chávez believes Washington's real goal is to secure Colombia's vast untapped oil reserves as a means to help lessen its dependence on Venezuelan oil, which would then provide it with some economic leverage against Caracas. After all, the high level of popular support currently enjoyed by Chávez rules out the possibility of a U.S.-inspired coup in Venezuela.

This article originally appeared in Colombia Report, an online journal that was published by the Information Network of the Americas (INOTA).

http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia56.htm

Click here to visit the Socialist Alliance website
Online troops home poll

Chavez raises ire of Washington
By Neville Spencer

Over the last decade, neoliberal regimes compliant to the needs of Washington have been established in almost all the countries of Latin America with exception of Cuba. However, the election of left-populist Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, while not creating another Cuba, has created an independent, anti-imperialist regime which already has Washington thinking up schemes to bring about its downfall.

Chavez first became known to the world when, as an army lieutenant colonel, he led an unsuccessful coup against the government of President Carlos Andres Perez in 1992. After serving a jail term, he won a landslide victory in elections in December 1998 and again in July 2000 in elections he called after a radically revamped constitution was voted into force.

In both his coup attempt and his election campaign he opposed the government's neoliberal agenda and its submission to the needs of imperialist governments and corporations. The new constitution which he sponsored includes measures which cut the working week from 48 to 44 hours, provides guarantees for indigenous rights and women's rights, free health care and education to university level, and increases the minimum wage. One article forbids investors from seeking international arbitration in disputes with Venezuela, presumably through institutions such as the World Trade Organisation.

Chavez and Castro
Among the numerous actions which have disturbed Washington, it is probably Chavez's development of a close political and personal relationship with Cuban president Fidel Castro that has caused the most alarm.

Chavez has frequently held up Cuba as a model and his inclusion of free health care and education in the constitution illustrates his desire to follow the Cuban model, even though he hasn't indicated that he will do any more than reform rather than abolish Venezuelan capitalism.

Castro and Chavez have exchanged several visits, always displaying a relationship that goes beyond diplomatic formalities. During Castro's October visit to Venezuela they both participated in a baseball match between their national teams and jointly hosted Chavez's weekly talkback radio program. They ended the program by singing a duet of the popular ballad “Venezuela”.

Castro also backed Chavez's call to form an “axis of power”, using Venezuela's oil wealth to help form a bloc against the power of the wealthier nations. Venezuela is one of the world's largest oil producers and the US's largest supplier. “This country is in the best of conditions to fight for the unity of Latin America ... so that the giant from the north does not swallow us one by one,” he said.

The visit also produced some very significant concrete solidarity. A deal was signed with Cuba worth over US$500 million per year at current prices which would provide 53,000 barrels of oil per day with favourable financing conditions. Preventing Cuba obtaining significant quantities of oil has been one of the most economically damaging aspects of the US blockade of Cuba. The deal will punch a significant hole in the blockade.

Part of the arrangement will be by barter, in which Cuba will use its skilled human resources to provide medical treatment to Venezuelans, supplying doctors, medical equipment and help in producing medicines. It will also provide expertise in agriculture, tourism, sport, computer technology and scientific research.

Third World solidarity
Another issue in which Chavez takes something of a lead from Castro is his championing of Third World solidarity against imperialism. Castro has often been a lone voice among heads of state in his strident condemnations of the global economic system and the exploitation of Third World countries by imperialist countries and corporations. While he has had support from other heads of state, they have usually been too timid and their interests too compromised to genuinely oppose the international economic order and its institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

Chavez is now taking some of the running on these issues. Through the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which Venezuela is an important member, he has encouraged cut backs in oil production which have raised the price of oil from a low approaching the US$10 per barrel mark when he took the presidency to over US$30 per barrel. He has encouraged the, generally Third World, oil producing countries to face down cries from the oil consuming First World countries that their actions threaten to bring on an economic crisis.

In his 10-day tour of OPEC countries in August, he created international headlines by pointedly including Iraq and Libya on his itinerary. On his stop in Jakarta, two days after visiting Iraq, he denounced the economic sanctions against Iraq which have killed hundreds of thousands of children. “Who has the right to make an innocent child die there?” he asked.

He also encouraged Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid to back his stance. Wahid stated his intention to visit Iraq himself and said: “I share President Chavez's sentiments about the Iraqi people ... for this reason, Indonesia would wish for the blockade of Iraq to be lifted.”

Also in keeping with his stance on Third World solidarity, Chavez has been a champion of Latin American unity and in October signed an oil deal giving favourable terms to other Third World countries in the region.

Venezuela and the region
The US is very concerned about the role that Chavez will play in regional politics. Venezuela borders Colombia, where the US is sponsoring, with US$1.3 billion, a counterinsurgency operation against Colombia's strong leftist guerrilla movements. Although he has tried to remain diplomatically correct on the issue, he has been accused by US and Colombian officials of being supportive of the guerrillas.

When the US drafted plans to set up a military base on the Caribbean island of Aruba from which it could launch surveillance flights over Colombia, the plan was scuttled by Chavez's refusal to allow the US to use Venezuelan airspace.

More recently, in November, a diplomatic spat emerged between Colombia and Venezuela after Olga Marin, a leader of the Colombia's largest guerrilla army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP), spoke at a Latin American parliamentary conference hosted by the Venezuelan Congress. Both countries temporarily withdrew their ambassadors.

It is reasonable to speculate that the recent emergence of left-nationalist currents within Latin American military forces may owe something to the influence of Chavez. The most significant example was in Ecuador in January 2000, where the military backed indigenous demonstrations to oust the government and form a short-lived junta which included the leader of the indigenous movement. A smaller, leftist military rebellion also occurred in Peru in October less than three weeks before the downfall of President Fujimori.

Elements in the US are trying to play up Chavez's role as a conspirator in regional destabilisation, in order to justify moves against his government. An article in the Miami Herald on December 5 claimed that the Bolivian and Ecuadoran governments had privately complained to Chavez about his support for opposition movements in their countries.

The article quoted Peter Romero, US under-secretary of state for inter-American affairs: “There are indications of Chavez government support for violent indigenous movements in Bolivia <@133> In the case of Ecuador, it included support for rebellious army officers.” It said that Bolivia had complained about a meeting Chavez had with a leader of the Only Union Confederation of Bolivian Campesino Workers (CSUTCB) a month before it led some of the most serious nationwide protests Bolivia has seen. It also said that he had given US$500,000 to Colonel Lucio Gutierrez after his role in leading the Ecuadoran coup.

Chavez responded by denying the claims in the article, labeling the Miami Herald a part of the “Cuban-American mafia”.

Roger Noriega, a senior staffer at the US Senate foreign relations committee has said that the new Bush administration should make “a cold-blooded assessment of where Chavez is headed”. He suggested “It will have to take measures, such as buying oil elsewhere, to prevent any US oil crunch if Chavez decides to act irresponsibly.”

Foreign investment is already harder to come by for Venezuela as it is not considered investor-friendly anymore. The tactic of trying to destroy the Venezuelan economy by not buying its oil and discouraging investment would probably be the lowest political risk schema for getting rid of Chavez out of the range of options which have undoubtedly already been drawn up.

However, it is also well-known that sections of the military dislike Chavez and are agitating for a coup. This could provide Washington with the option it has traditionally exercised when faced with Latin American governments that it finds politically distasteful.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9923468/

'Rita Cosby Live & Direct' for November 3
Read the transcript to the Thursday show
Updated: 10:27 a.m. ET Nov. 4, 2005

Guest: Sigi Gonzalez, Duncan Hunter, William Slemaker, Pat Rutherford, Karen(?) (Helen) Lejuez, Jossy Mansur, Gil Davis, Robert Mintz, Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Ted Poe

RITA COSBY, HOST: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, a bombshell in the Natalee Holloway case. Wait until you hear what Dr. Phil says he believes happened to her. He says she's probably still alive. And we're going to get to that stunning claim in the Holloway investigation in just a moment.

Snip...
And why did Dr. Phil tell Jay Leno that he thinks Natalee Holloway could be alive? The shocking theory some say is possible is coming up.

Snip...
COSBY: Big-time shocker to report tonight in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. It's been five months since the Alabama teen vanished, but one talk show host isn't giving up. Dr. Phil now says he has evidence that Natalee could still be alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PHIL MCGRAW, TV PERSONALITY: We have a reasonable belief and some credible evidence that Natalee Holloway is alive.

JAY LENO, HOST, TONIGHT SHOW: Is alive?

MCGRAW: Is alive. We can't - we cannot prove that at this point, and we don't know where she is, but, you know, there is a huge sex slave underground in some of those countries down there. Young women have disappeared from that part of the world before. And we have reasonable cause to believe that she may well be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: Well, while many people hope Dr. Phil's comments are true, just how likely is it that Natalee Holloway is now part of some sort of sex trade? LIVE & DIRECT tonight is private investigators Pat Rutherford. He's the president of Worldwide Tracers.

Mr. Rutherford, is it possible that she's alive and involved in this sort of sex trade over there?

PAT RUTHERFORD, PRESIDENT, WORLDWIDE TRACERS: Well, we've had cases where exactly that happened. I was a little shocked when I heard Phil said that, but, yes, very definitely, it could be possible.

COSBY: You know, give us a sense of region. I want to show a comment that Dr. Phil said, talking about where his crews were out and about. Let's play that, and I want to get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGRAW: We've had to extract a few of them recently—I had to send a private jet in for a couple of them just recently in Mexico, because things were getting really hot. And, you know, maybe we're getting close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: Mr. Rutherford, is it possible she'll be in Mexico? Is it possible even Venezuela? That was one of the theories I was hearing while in Aruba, because it's so close, you know, to Aruba, Venezuela right there.

RUTHERFORD: We had one in Mexico. A 15-year-old that was down there with her missionary parents was kidnapped, taken to Mexico City, put on drugs. Next thing you know, she's in prostitution. And then she started doing pornographic films. That's the way we found her.

She was in a magazine. And the person I was working with down there happened to see the magazine. And next thing you know, we got the parents down there. And she had been so brainwashed in the year that she'd been missing that she wouldn't go home with them.

COSBY: Wow. So but she was so entranced by these people?

RUTHERFORD: So it does happen.

COSBY: In the case of Natalee Holloway, with the proximity, again, to Aruba, do you believe it's Venezuela? Would it be another country if, again, this is true?

RUTHERFORD: We had a kidnapping case in Venezuela, too. So, sure, it's true down there. It's like justice gone wild. Nobody's controlling anything.

You know, crime is running rampant. And I thank God that we only do after family members and such, because I can't imagine even you on that border. By the way, if you don't like your job, we've got an opening, because we only hire women.

COSBY: Thank you. I'm hired, after you saw me in the bullet-proof vest there, right?

RUTHERFORD: You're good. Boy, you got a lot of nerve.

COSBY: I've been told I had some guts. Thank you.

RUTHERFORD: You've done a good job. You bet.

COSBY: Thank you. Hey back to...

RUTHERFORD: So keep that in mind.

COSBY: Thank you. It's good to know. Good to know.

In terms of the Natalee Holloway case, how tough is it to track this down? You know, we talked about—we talked now—you may have heard this story of this father looking for his daughter in Mexico. You know, it's just overwhelming for him.

How tough is it—say Natalee Holloway is missing. Say she's in some sort of sex slave trade. How tough is it to track her down?

RUTHERFORD: Well, honestly, you've got to have a team. And you've got to involve the people that are on the ground there.

There is good Mexican people. There is good Venezuelan people. And there is good investigators. And we always study the case, put a team together, and that's the way we solved the one in Mexico.

If we hadn't had the person on the ground searching for the girl, we would have never found her. But we work as a team. We put it together. So that's what you got to do.

COSBY: Pat Rutherford, thank you.

RUTHERFORD: It's not an individual thing.

COSBY: No, it sounds like it's a case-by-case basis. And it's amazing work you guys are doing and really admirable. Thank you very much, Mr. Rutherford. We appreciate your insights.

(CROSSTALK)

RUTHERFORD: Hey, enjoy talking to you. The job is still open.

COSBY: Thank you. I will keep it in mind. I appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

And those explosive comments that you heard from Dr. Phil about Natalee maybe being in the sex trade come on the same day that Natalee's mom, Beth Holloway Twitty, meets with Aruban officials. On the phone tonight from Aruba is Helen LeJuez. She's the attorney who's representing Natalee Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty.

Helen, first of all, what do you make of these comments that Natalee may be alive and in some sex trade?

HELEN LEJUEZ, TWITTY FAMILY ATTORNEY: I hope they're not true.

COSBY: You do, but what about the fact that maybe this is a good sign that she may be alive?

LEJUEZ: Well, the fact that she is alive, I hope that. That could be true. But, well, people talk about this, but we have not heard about these things happening in Aruba.

COSBY: Does the family put any credence in this comment from Dr. Phil?

LEJUEZ: I didn't hear your question. Could you speak...

COSBY: Does the family put any credence—do they think that this could be possible, what Dr. Phil is saying?

LEJUEZ: Not to my knowledge.

COSBY: Not from your knowledge. I want to show a comment, if I could, Helen. This is from Chief Dompig. We had him on our show exclusively last night. And I want to get you to react. This is the chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEROLD DOMPIG, DEPUTY POLICY CHIEF OF ARUBA: I still believe that these boys have been lying. They're still lying. And everybody knows that by now. So there's no doubt in my mind that they know something, they're guilty of something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSBY: Helen, what's the reaction from the family? The chief even—

I asked him—he said to me on the phone, “They are guilty as hell. I just have to prove it.”

That's a pretty strong comment from the chief. Where do you see the investigation at this point?

LEJUEZ: Well, that is a strong comment. And if that is true, and if they can prove what the chief is saying, then these boys will be behind bars pretty soon. That's what I learn from what he said, and I hope that is true.

COSBY: Well, let's hope that's the case if, indeed, they are guilty.

Thank you very much, Helen. We appreciate it.

And meanwhile, some interesting developments. Protesters took to the streets of Aruba today. Their target, a surprising one: Natalee Holloway's mother, Beth Twitty.

LIVE & DIRECT tonight is Jossy Mansur. He's the managing editor of Aruba's “Diario” newspaper.

Jossy, tell us about this protest. Why against Beth Twitty?

JOSSY MANSUR, EDITOR, “DIARIO”: Not against her personally, but it was against whatever negative publicity the island has been receiving because of this case. And a small portion of the island—it's not widespread on the island—but a small portion of the people are a little disgusted with this negative aspect of the case.

COSBY: What is the mood there about, because Beth is there on the ground? How is she being received?

MANSUR: Well, I think good, because the majority of the people sympathize with her, sympathize with her cause. They know that she lost a daughter, that she is very interested in getting some answers as to where she is or what happened to her. But you always have—in any community, you have a small group of people that love to go to the streets and protest against anything.

COSBY: You know, we were just seeing some pictures—those are the new pictures of her coming there. Jossy, what do you—you know this case so well. Do you put any stock, any credence to the new words from Dr. Phil saying that there may be some sex trade, that Natalee may be alive? Have you heard anything?

MANSUR: No, I don't believe so. I don't know where Dr. Phil got this information from. He must have some basis to say that.

We cannot rule out the possibility that she is still alive or that she is no longer alive. We don't have any hard evidence to prove any one of the two. But I think it's highly improbable that that is the case.

COSBY: All right, Jossy, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9923476/

'Scarborough Country' for November 3
Read the transcript to the Thursday show
Updated: 10:31 a.m. ET Nov. 4, 2005

Guest: Peter Schweizer, Rebecca Voelkel, Frank Malloy, Dave Holloway,

James Cobb, Mort Zuckerman, Timothy Lickness

Also, I don't know if you caught this. I can't believe the guy said it on national TV, but Dr. Phil went on late-night TV, and he claimed that Natalee Holloway could still be alive and trapped in a sex ring. Well, Natalee's dad is in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY tonight. I am going to ask him about his reaction to what Dr. Phil said, and his reaction about news that Dr. Phil was breaking on a late-night entertainment show.

Snip...
Also, I don't know if you caught this. I can't believe the guy said it on national TV, but Dr. Phil went on late-night TV, and he claimed that Natalee Holloway could still be alive and trapped in a sex ring. Well, Natalee's dad is in SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY tonight. I am going to ask him about his reaction to what Dr. Phil said, and his reaction about news that Dr. Phil was breaking on a late-night entertainment show.

Snip...
Welcome back to SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY—those stories in just minutes.

But, first, for more than five months, Natalee Holloway's family has been desperately searching for the truth about what happened to her the night she vanished in Aruba on a senior high school trip. We are going to be talking to her father, Dave, in just a minute.

But first, a pretty remarkable suggestion last night from Dr. Phil on “The Tonight Show.” Watch what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, “THE TODAY SHOW”)

DR. PHIL MCGRAW, HOST, “DR. PHIL”: We have reasonable belief and some credible evidence that Natalee Holloway is alive.

JAY LENO, HOST: Is alive?

MCGRAW: Is alive. We can't—we cannot prove that at this point. And we don't know where she is, but, you know, there is a huge sex slave underground in some of those countries down there. Young women have disappeared from that part of the world before. And we have—we have reasonable cause to believe that she may well be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCARBOROUGH: Let me bring in Natalee's father, Dave Holloway. He joins us on the phone right now from Aruba.

Dave, thank you for being with us.

DAVE HOLLOWAY, FATHER OF NATALEE HOLLOWAY: Thank you.

SCARBOROUGH: You got Dr. Phil going on TV, saying he has reason to believe—or he says, we have reason to believe Natalee is still alive. Did that announcement on an entertainment show last night come as a shock to you and Beth?

HOLLOWAY: Well, no, not really.

I had a lengthy conversation, in fact, just yesterday morning with the FBI, and based on material they read from Aruba, the lady—or an individual is a homicide investigator, and she point-blank told us, this has been going on five months, since June the 10th. We have not changed our position. We are 99.9 percent sure that we are looking at a homicide, but, you know, you still have a 1 percent chance or one-tenth of 1 percent.

And, you know, I have heard those theories before, and I hope Dr. Phil is right.

SCARBOROUGH: Well, have you talked to Dr. Phil? Do you have any insight for us tonight? When he goes on national TV, and he keeps talking about we—we have reason to believe that Natalee Holloway may still be alive. Does Dr. Phil—what, does the guy have a gang of investigators following him around? What is he talking about?

HOLLOWAY: Well, he does.

There's a group of people that are investigating that aspect of it as well. So, without going into any further details, I have talked with an individual who has that same theory, and has had that for a long period of time. But, you know, we have checked some places and have come up empty-handed.

SCARBOROUGH: So, Dave, there's no new information out there right now that you know of that would suggest, as Dr. Phil suggested last night, that Natalee is in the middle of some sex trade in Central and South America?

HOLLOWAY: Well, based on the information that I know, at this point in time, it's a theory. But, you know, they have pulled rabbits out of the hats before, so, you know, maybe they know something that I don't know.

SCARBOROUGH: Can you give us a quick update on the investigation down there? Obviously, a lot of frustration. You have the chief of police down there, who sounded like he was going to be helpful before you all got there, but, since you have been there, it doesn't sound like he is willing to go the extra mile to uncover the truth of this case. What is the status tonight?

HOLLOWAY: Well, I am not sure what the exact status tonight is, but we delivered a letter there asking for the removal of all the investigators all the way up through the prosecuting attorney.

And we—Dompig knows. We had one last hope to resolve the case, that one last witness to possibly interview, and I really didn't want him to mess up on it. And I asked Mr. Dompig to handle it himself. You know, and that didn't happen. And I don't know whether they have lost the case now or not. So...

SCARBOROUGH: All right.

All right, Dave, well, thanks a lot for being with us, as always. And we are certainly thinking about you and your family tonight. Good luck with everything down there.

ET TU, HELEN???

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174599,00.html

Calling for a Shake-Up in the Holloway Case...
Friday, November 04, 2005

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," November 3, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Tonight, Natalee Holloway's (search) mother just left Aruba, but a blistering letter she and Natalee's father and their spouses delivered yesterday is creating major controversy on the island.

Joining us live on the phone from Aruba is the Twitty family attorney, Helen Lejuez. Welcome, Helen.

HELEN LEJUEZ, TWITTY FAMILY ATTORNEY: Thank you.

VAN SUSTEREN: Helen, what's the reaction? Since you're the lawyer for Beth Holloway Twitty (search), how is this letter that was sent by Beth, Dave, and the two spouses of both of them to the Aruban attorney general — how is it being received?

LEJUEZ: Well, it was well received by the Aruba hotel and tourism authorities. They heard a few facts that they had not heard before. They are very willing to cooperate and see what more can be done to get a solution to this case.

VAN SUSTEREN: Now, the letter calls for the attorney general to get rid of the present investigative staff, including the chief prosecutor. Do you know how they reacted to that call?

LEJUEZ: Not yet. I don't know that yet.

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you expect that there's going to be — that this letter is going to have any impact?

LEJUEZ: I do expect that. And I would like to see it from this view that they put new persons in, not because the other were not competent but because the others may have not looked at some evidence that when you — that into an investigation, sometimes you don't see it anymore. And that's the way I want to see it, that — the fresh look at the whole case.

VAN SUSTEREN: What's your view of this letter?

LEJUEZ: Beg your pardon?

VAN SUSTEREN: What is your view of sending this letter to the Aruban attorney general?

LEJUEZ: I did not hear that. Excuse me.

VAN SUSTEREN: What is your view of the four — the parents and stepparents sending this letter?

LEJUEZ: I think they want answers. They want results. And by not getting it — you know, the investigation is still there, and they are not giving out too much information. The parents are upset. I can understand that. They need and want answers. They see things not being solved according to their expectations. And of course, they want to move things. And from what I can see, that according to the parents, there was evidence — mind you, I was not on the case at the beginning — and maybe this evidence has not been looked at.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Today you went with your client, Beth Holloway, to the police station and she was asked to answer a lot of questions, is that right?

LEJUEZ: That's right.

VAN SUSTEREN: One of the questions that she was asked to answer by the police was how the family paid for certain things, like hotel, transportation, in terms of their search, is that right?

LEJUEZ: That's right.

VAN SUSTEREN: Why do you think that she was asked that question?

LEJUEZ: Because in the beginning, there was — a few things were paid, and they — we don't know where the money came from. And even Mrs. Twitty at that moment could not remember. So I requested her to go back into her files and check that out, how things were done. That is to clarify to our authorities how that happened, to make clear that there were no mistakes made on this part, on the other part.

VAN SUSTEREN: Here's what I don't get. This is supposed to be an investigation looking for Natalee. The series of questions that were posed to Beth Holloway Twitty today at the police station were how she may have spent money. Are they now trying to investigate her?

LEJUEZ: Not really. I did not get that impression. The impression I got, that there might be money involved in this case. Who had that money involved? And I cannot give more information at this time because I do not want to spoil this part of the investigation, but there might have been other forces besides the three boys. There might be something more to look at. That is the impression I got during the investigation. Remember, I have been part of investigation teams before, have been a prosecutor myself.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Here are some other questions. She was asked if she, Beth Holloway Twitty, has a business in Venezuela (search), in Colombia (search), and she was also asked about a trust fund that was put in place for Natalee, the money that was put into it, and who paid for Equusearch (search).

LEJUEZ: That is correct. Venezuela and Colombia, that's because if you have enemies and you have — because there have been rumors. So if you have business with these kind of countries, you might have — you might have enemies and they might have done something to Natalee because they were enemies of the family. That is why Venezuela and Colombia came into the picture or something may have happened to Natalee with regard to that.

With regard to the Natalee fund and who paid for some things, that's correct. I would say it's not of our business, anything what happens with the funds. But then on the other side, they want to exclude every possibility that something might go wrong. They really didn't go too deep in that. They asked questions, and I believe Mr. Twitty answered them very correctly.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right. One last question to you. I've actually talked to Beth Holloway. She switched planes tonight as she was headed back to the United States. And what she told me was that she wanted to talk to the chief deputy, Dompig, but that first that they required her to answer questions, and that once she answered these questions, if they were satisfied with her answers, then she would have a chance to talk to the chief deputy at some point. Is that your understanding?

LEJUEZ: My understanding is that they would not talk to Mrs. Twitty unless she would answer questions. These questions were related to the investigation. I believe myself that maybe some feelings have been hurt, you know, from this side. And I prefer to look at it, we need harmony. We need peace. We need to solve this. That is what Aruba has to do, and that is what I stand for. Get a resolution in this case.

VAN SUSTEREN: Helen, thank you very much.

LEJUEZ: You're welcome.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,174568,00.html

From Greta Wire:
Friday, November 04, 2005
By Greta Van Susteren

Snip...
E-mail No. 2:

Greta, I just read in your GreatWire about Joran van der Sloot (search) saying that Deepak buried Natalee Hollaway in a June statement. What an outrage for the Hollaway family. The Aruban government should be held responsible!!!!! What a pit from hell that Aruba is. The Netherlands should be embarrassed by their island.
Robin
Texas

E-mail No. 3:

I cannot believe what I am hearing tonight. Now they are trying to blame the family for their daughter’s death!!!!!!! I would not only never go to Aruba I would never go to the Netherlands! The authorities over there are corrupt, inept, and they are protecting the Van der Sloots! I think it is an outrage!!!!!
Nan
Beaufort, South Carolina

E-mail No. 4:

What a joke… the Aruban authorities are trying to divert attention away from their botched investigation with a bunch of ridiculous questions... maybe the FBI should proceed under the disguise of tourist agents as the Aruban authorities have never had a problem "partnering up" with them for the past 25 years....

E-mail No. 5:

Greta,
I can't believe the questions the Aruban government ask Natalee's mother. The source of her funds is none of their business and has NO bearing on the case. Aruba looks more and more like a corrupt "Banana Republic" every day. Americans should boycott Aruba. This outrage deserves a travel alert from our state department.
Bob
Lake Havasu City, Arizona

E-mail No. 6:

It is totally unbelievable to see how the investigation is and was handled by the Aruban authorities...
I for one will never vacation there, and I recommend that all Americans boycott their island... maybe some economic sanctions will affect the investigation there
Tom
North Catasauqua, Pennsylvania

E-mail No. 7:

Five months of “investigation” and nothing to show for it. Seems like Aruba is jerking our chain. Let’s play “hardball” and stop the tourist trade. Why are the networks and Mrs. Holloway afraid to ask for a boycott?
Susan
Washington CH, Ohio

E-mail No. 10:

Greta, Myself along with a friend (Libby) flew down to Aruba at the end of June and the first week of July. If you need verification you can ask Beth. Libby and I offered any help we could give.

We were there exactly one week; I was personally stopped by the police twice and questioned about what I was doing (which one time was just walking from our motel to Beth's). At one time I really felt uncomfortable!

You can never convince me if Americans would boycott Aruba for just ONE month, the officials would jump through fiery hoops to get this case solved. I was so shocked when I landed on the island, after seeing the story on the news I just figured there would be posters all over the island, the ONLY time I saw a poster was in the media room at the Holiday Inn.

Also we offered the Aruban government money to post as a reward with the stipulation they would have to say it was from their government. We were told they would get back with us, as of yet we have heard nothing.

Do you have a clue what happened to the arm found on the beach in Venezuela? Please keep up the good work following this case!
Priscilla
Jasper, Florida

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.