On January 25, Aruba celebrates the birth date of Gilberto François ‘Betico’ Croes.
Each year, the Government of Aruba, through the Ministry of Culture and the National Days Celebration Committee, organize multiple activities to celebrate this national Betico Day. These celebrations serve as a reminder of his achievements like the Status Aparte. Due to the pandemic, the organizers will broadcast these events on tv and virtual media.
The Crisis Team has approved the formal ceremony but with limited guests, and all guests must comply with the safety protocols. The Ministry of Culture invites our community to celebrate this at home together with relatives.
Virtual Cultural Manifest
On Monday, January 24, the Cultural Manifest will be held virtually and air at 8:00 pm on local TV channels and virtual media. The manifest includes musical presentation, dance, and speech by the Minister of Culture. The entire community is invited to tune in.
Formal Ceremony
The formal ceremony will take place on Tuesday, January 25 at 9:00 am with limited guests as agreed with the Crisis Team. The official ceremony begins with the arrival of the Ministers, and at 9:00 am, the presentations will start. The ceremony includes musical performances with songs by children, reflection, poetry, speech by the Prime Minister of Aruba Evelyn Wever Croes, and tribute to the late G.F. Betico Croes. Due to the safety protocols, the ceremony will not be open for public attendance. The streets Vondellaan and Rumbastraat will be blocked for traffic and pedestrians.
Virtual Competition “Kibra Coco”
This year, the organizers are introducing a new event; a televised competition ‘Kibra Coco’, where children of primary school can participate with their parents from the comfort of their homes. There will be prizes for the participant, their family, and school class. There will also be the Betico Challenge. In this challenge, the children participating in the Kibra Coco competition must send a selfie with relatives playing Kibra Coco via WhatsApp to 597-2323 to participate for prizes. Kibra Coco will be held on Tuesday, January 25 at 5:00 pm and live on all local TV channels.
‘Kibra Coco’ is a game in the format of a quiz and consists of different levels of questions, interviews, and interactions and is presented by Jeancarlo Espinal.
School Material
This year, a short video was created in cooperation with the Aruba National Archive about the history of Betico Croes. This video contains information about a young Betico, his relatives, his fight, and his achievement of the Status Aparte. This educational video is relevant to the Kibra Coco quiz on Betico Day.
In addition to these events, there will also be a coloring competition for elementary school kids. The drawing will be available online and in the upcoming days in the local newspapers. Both the video and coloring drawing will be available on the Facebook page of Gabinete Wever Croes, Department of Culture, and YouTube of Minister Maduro. Participants must submit the coloring drawing no later than Monday, January 31, 2022, at school. The National Days Celebration Committee members will select three winners. The announcement of the winners is in February, and they will receive their prizes.
The Minister of Culture is very grateful to the state companies SETAR, Utilities Group ( WEB, ELMAR, and Utilities Aruba ), and the Refinery of Aruba for their support in making the Betico Day celebration a big celebration.
