ORANJESTAD — You are back and we would like to portrait you! By inviting you to send us your favorite vacation picture while enjoying our Happy Island.

Complete the sentence: Aruba to me is ……. Send your picture with that text (including your name and where you are from) to: news@arubatoday.com and we will publish your vacation memory. Isn’t that a special way to keep your best moments alive? Please do note: By submitting photos, text or any other materials, you give permission to The Aruba Today Newspaper, Caribbean Speed Printers and any of its affiliated companies to use said materials, as well as names, likeness, etc. for promotional purposes without compensation.

Last but not least: check out our website, Instagram and Facebook page! Thank you for supporting our free newspaper, we strive to make you a happy reader every day again.

For today we received a lovely message from Clayton and Davida Castle from South Plainfield NJ, USA.

They wrote to us saying: “Aruba to me is…Serenity. Living in the Northeast part of the United States puts you in that high paced proverbial “rate race”. From the time my wife Davida and I wake up until our heads hit the pillow each week, our schedules are filled with work, errands, repair projects at our house, helping aging relatives, doctors visits resulting from the challenges us getting older brings, and the like…each summer around our anniversary, we get the opportunity to pretend that none of those stresses exist when we come to Eagle Beach in Aruba. The sun warming your face and making its way down to your toes as you watch it rise in the morning from your beach chair, the waves crashing providing the perfect background to read that book you started but haven’t finished, the delectable variety of international and local cuisine, taking a plunge in crystal clear waters, seeing the genuine joy in the faces of other vacationers, the hospitality of those local to the island, and of course those exceptional sunsets…Aruba is the highlight of the year!”

Thank you for sending us this wonderful message sharing what Aruba means to you with us and our readers!

By CHRIS MEGERIAN, DÁNICA COTO and ASTRID SUÁREZ

Associated Press

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The United States will slash assistance to Colombia because its leader, Gustavo Petro, “does nothing to stop” drug production, President Donald Trump said Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.

In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who is “low rated and very unpopular.” The Republican president warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest U.S. strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics.”

He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group — the National Liberation Army, or ELN — that has been in conflict with Petro’s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday.

Petro, who can be as vocal on social media as his American counterpart, rejected Trump’s accusations and defended his work to fight narcotics in Colombia, the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.

“Trying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker,” Petro wrote. He suggested that Trump was being deceived by his advisers, described himself as “the main enemy” of drugs in his country and said Trump was being “rude and ignorant toward Colombia.”

The Colombian Foreign Ministry described Trump’s statement as a “direct threat to national sovereignty by proposing an illegal intervention in Colombian territory.” Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters that the country “has used all its capability and also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking.”

Trump’s latest broadside against Petro raises the possibility of an expanding clash in Latin America, where the U.S. has already increased pressure on neighboring Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

American naval ships, fighter jets and drones are deployed in the region for what the administration has described as an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Trump also authorized covert operations inside Venezuela.

Unlike Venezuela, Colombia is a longtime U.S. ally and the top recipient of American assistance in the region. But coca cultivation reached an all-time high last year, according to the United Nations, and there has been fresh violence in rural areas where the government spent years battling insurgents before reaching a peace deal a decade ago.

In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of failing to cooperate in the drug war, although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts.

Colombia received an estimated $230 million in the U.S. budget year that ended Sept. 30, a drop from recent years that exceeded $700 million, according to U.S. figures.

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president has repeatedly feuded with Trump this year. Petro initially rejected U.S. military flights of deported migrants, leading Trump to threaten tariffs. The State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa when he attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York because he told American soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.

Petro and Trump have also been at odds over American strikes on boats in the Caribbean. On Sunday, Petro accused the U.S. government of assassination, pointing to a Sept. 16 strike that he said killed a Colombian man named Alejandro Carranza. Petro said Carranza was a fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking, and his boat was malfunctioning when it was hit.

“The United States has invaded our national territory, fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children. This is Bolívar’s homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs,” Petro wrote on social media. He said that he asked his country’s attorney general’s office to initiate legal proceedings internationally and in U.S. courts.

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Petro’s accusations.

Despite Petro’s criticism, his government plans to prosecute the Colombian survivor of a more recent U.S. strike on a submersible that was allegedly carrying drugs.

Another survivor was repatriated to Ecuador, where the Ministry of the Interior said he would not face charges after prosecutors met with him and determined that he had not committed any crimes within the country’s borders.

The ELN, which Hegseth said was the target of Friday’s strike, has long denied any role in drug trafficking and offered to submit to the scrutiny of an international commission. It did not respond to Hegseth’s announcement. Colombian authorities regularly report the dismantling of cocaine laboratories and the seizure of drugs believed to belong to the guerrillas.

There have been seven U.S. strikes in the region since early September that the administration says are targeting alleged drug traffickers. At least 32 people have been killed.

Trump said Sunday that Petro had “a fresh mouth toward America.” He complained that drug smuggling continues “despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”

“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” he added.

Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst for the Andes region at International Crisis Group, said “it is befuddling and profoundly unwise of the United States to alienate its strongest military partner in Latin America at a moment when tension between Washington and Venezuela are at its highest point in recent years.”

She said Washington and Bogota have long treated their relationship as foundational, but “that wisdom is being thrown out the window, with really catastrophic effects.”

Colombia lost significant U.S. funding when Trump slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year. More cuts could affect military cooperation and undermine efforts to fight rebel groups.

“If that is cut, we will see a strategic loss of capability for the Colombian military and police at precisely the moment when they’re confronting the greatest security crisis in Colombia for over a decade,” she said.

By MARK THIESSEN and GENE JOHNSON

Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Damage to remote Alaska villages hammered by flooding last weekend is so extreme that many of the more than 2,000 people displaced won’t be able to return to their homes for at least 18 months, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a request to the White House for a major disaster declaration.

In one of the hardest hit villages, Kipnuk, an initial assessment showed that 121 homes — or 90% of the total — have been destroyed, Dunleavy wrote. In Kwigillingok, where three dozen homes floated away, slightly more than one-third of the residences are uninhabitable.

The remnants of Typhoon Halong struck the area with the ferocity of a Category 2 hurricane, Dunleavy said, sending a surge of high surf into the low-lying region. One person was killed, two remain missing, and rescue crews plucked dozens of people from their homes as they floated away.

Officials have been scrambling to airlift people from the inundated Alaska Native villages. More than 2,000 people across the region have taken shelter — in schools in their villages, in larger communities in southwest Alaska or have been evacuated by military planes to Anchorage, the state’s largest city.

Anchorage leaders said Friday they expect as many as 1,600 evacuees to arrive. So far about 575 have been airlifted to the city by the Alaska National Guard, and have been staying at a sports arena or a convention center. Additional flights were expected Friday and Saturday.

Officials are working on figuring out how to move people out of shelters and into short-term accommodations, such as hotels, and then longer-term housing.

“Due to the time, space, distance, geography, and weather in the affected areas, it is likely that many survivors will be unable to return to their communities this winter,” Dunleavy said. “Agencies are prioritizing rapid repairs … but it is likely that some damaged communities will not be viable to support winter occupancy, in America’s harshest climate in the U.S. Arctic.”

The federal government already has been assisting with search and rescue, damage assessments, environmental response and evacuation support. A major disaster declaration by President Donald Trump could provide federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including money for emergency and permanent work.

The three members of Alaska’s congressional delegation on Friday sent a letter to Trump, urging swift approval.

The storm surge pummeled a sparsely populated region off the state’s main road system where communities are reachable only by air or water this time of year. The villages typically have just a few hundred residents, who hunt and fish for much of their food, and relocating to the state’s major cities will bring a vastly different lifestyle.

Alexie Stone, of Kipnuk, arrived in Anchorage in a military jet with his brothers, children and mom, after his home was struck by the flooding. They’ve been staying at the Alaska Airlines Center at the University of Alaska, where the Red Cross provided evacuees with cots, blankets and hygiene supplies.

At least for the foreseeable future, he thinks he might try to find a job at a grocery store; he used to work in one in Bethel.

“It’s going to be, try to look for a place and find a job,” Stone said Friday. “We’re starting a new life here in Anchorage.”

Anchorage officials and business leaders said Friday they were eager to help the evacuees.

“Our neighbors in western Alaska have experienced tremendous loss, devastation and grief,” Mayor Suzanne LaFrance said at a meeting of the Anchorage Assembly. “We will do everything we can here in Anchorage to welcome our neighbors and help them through these difficult times.”

State Rep. Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, of Toksook Bay, on an island northwest of Kipnuk, described for the assembly how she rode out the storm’s 100 mph (161 kmh) winds with her daughter and niece.

“We had no choice but to sit in our home and wait to see if our house is going to come off the foundation or if debris is going to bust open our windows,” she said.

It didn’t, but others weren’t as fortunate. She thanked Anchorage for welcoming the evacuees.

“You are showing my people, my relatives, my constituents, even if they are far from home, this is still Alaska land and they’re amongst families,” Jimmie said.

(Oranjestad)—In October, Aruba Conservation Foundation (ACF) received a team of experts from The Toledo Zoo & Aquarium for a survey of the Rattlesnake population on our island. This visit was unique, as for the first time, a new method was introduced to observe the Rattlesnake in the wild — the use of a thermal drone, which provides a better indication and understanding of where the Rattlesnake lives and how it moves around during the day.

The Toledo Zoo is a zoological park and conservation foundation based in Ohio, USA, with more than 125 years of operation. The park houses over 10,000 individual animals from 720 species and participates in nearly 80 species survival programs. The collaboration between the Toledo Zoo and Arikok Park began back in the 1980s, as the experts explained. This year, ACF and the Toledo Zoo are strengthening their partnership and continuing the work already in progress.

Nick Gordon, Manager of Herpetology at The Toledo Zoo, was among several experts—including Dr. Jeff Goessling, who has 15 years of experience conducting research on Aruba’s reptiles—who visited for the rattlesnake survey. Gordon oversees a massive and diverse collection of venomous reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, including certain insects and desert or dry-climate species like scorpions, at The Toledo Zoo. He is also the coordinator of the species survival plan for Aruba’s Rattlesnake. As he explained, during the 2000s, Rattlesnakes were found outside the limits of the park in areas not considered part of their natural habitat. Since those locations were not suitable habitats, to prevent their death, the snakes were taken to Toledo, where experts could keep them in captivity and breed them for genetic diversity.

He explained that there are several reasons for this. The main reason is to maintain a Rattlesnake population that can function as a “safety net” in case the wild population in Aruba were to go extinct. In such an extreme case, they could technically reintroduce the species to Aruba, although he emphasized that this also comes with challenges. This conservation method is not unique to ACF, as the organization is also working with other partners in the Netherlands to assist in breeding the Lora (Aruban parrot), part of a reintroduction program for the species that was once extinct on the island. However, for the Rattlesnake, the main goal is to preserve the existing population in Aruba. And this has its benefits, as Dr. Matt Cross, conservation biologist at The Toledo Zoo, emphasized: “Conservation actions influence everything,” he said, “because what’s good for the Rattlesnake tends to be good for all organisms living on the island.”

Another aspect of the project is to provide education about the Rattlesnake, both for Aruba’s visitors and for biologists. According to Park Ranger Roger Solognier—who is a terrestrial biodiversity conservation ranger with ACF—there is still a lot that science doesn’t know, especially about the Rattlesnake. Collecting and tagging them helps experts study the species continuously, as the data gathered each year may change. With this project, ACF and The Toledo Zoo are studying the Rattlesnake’s ecology. According to them, the animals are crepuscular, meaning they are most observable early in the morning or late in the afternoon when the sun is lower. Another part of their research focuses on the endemic snake’s feeding habits, daytime movements, hiding spots during dry and hot seasons, the challenges they face in the wild, and their breeding patterns.

To support this, the experts from The Toledo Zoo will begin taking blood samples from Rattlesnakes to check for traces of inbreeding, considering the small population concentrated in one part of the island. Gordon explained that what they learn about Rattlesnakes in captivity can help apply conservation techniques in the wild. As he mentioned, the goal is to keep the population stable.

This particular visit was unique because it introduced a new method in Aruba for surveying Rattlesnakes: the use of a special drone that helps detect the snakes and their movements. Dr. Paul Keenlance from the Department of Biology at Grand Valley State University explained that he has been working for several years on different ways to use drones to study wildlife. The drone used in the recent Rattlesnake survey was equipped with two cameras—a normal one and a thermal one. The thermal camera was more effective during the day because, when it gets hot, the Rattlesnakes remain hidden until the sun goes down. The thermal camera detects them through sensors that can distinguish temperature levels. As Keenlance explained, many times the Rattlesnake is cooler than the ground, making it appear as a lighter color on the camera. Keenlance predicted that this type of technology will become increasingly common in conservation work.

Although new technologies can provide a deeper view of our ecosystems, the experts emphasized that the human aspect remains important. As Cross said, “Conservation is a human issue. We need to influence our own behavior, and we’ve seen that humans have a major impact on conservation, for better or worse.”

That’s why awareness remains a major mission in the world of conservation—because people need to understand what kinds of actions they should take, as Solognier emphasized. And these can be simple actions, such as watching your step or avoiding damage to habitats. It’s also important to change the narrative about human intervention. It’s known that humans can pose the biggest threat to nature, but they can also be its greatest guardians and defenders. We should be proud and celebrate the fact that we have a unique species like the Rattlesnake on our island, instead of seeking ways to capture or take their rattles. Appreciate the rare experience of seeing a Rattlesnake, as they are very uncommon, especially in populated areas. The experts encourage people to cherish these moments and take care not to disturb the animal or its habitat.

People can also help protect the Rattlesnake and other wildlife on our island by using ACF’s Wildlife Hotline. The organization urges people to contact them via the hotline when spotting a rattlesnake, especially in areas where they are not typically seen. All such data can be useful for further research.

You can contact ACF through the hotline at 592-4476. The organization explained that they do not take calls via WhatsApp because the ranger in contact may be occupied with park duties or may not have connection inside the park. In emergency cases, it is advised to call the ACF department directly.

Photos courtesy of ACF.

ORANJESTAD — You are back and we would like to portrait you! By inviting you to send us your favorite vacation picture while enjoying our Happy Island.

Complete the sentence: Aruba to me is ……. Send your picture with that text (including your name and where you are from) to: news@arubatoday.com and we will publish your vacation memory. Isn’t that a special way to keep your best moments alive? Please do note: By submitting photos, text or any other materials, you give permission to The Aruba Today Newspaper, Caribbean Speed Printers and any of its affiliated companies to use said materials, as well as names, likeness, etc. for promotional purposes without compensation.

Last but not least: check out our website, Instagram and Facebook page! Thank you for supporting our free newspaper, we strive to make you a happy reader every day again.

For today we received a lovely message from Ron and Kathy Chase and Kathy’s sister, Maureen Moroney from Massachusetts, USA.

They wrote to us saying: Aruba to us is beautiful people and beaches. We have visited Aruba 46 times and have enjoyed every moment of it. We appreciate the hard working and honest people of Aruba and offer our kudos to the staff at our hotel who have made us feel like home away from home.”

Thank you for sending us this wonderful message sharing what Aruba means to you with us and our readers!