Source: Houston Chronicle Author: Michelle Faul, Associated Press Contact: Pubdate: Sat, 13 Dec 1997 Website: http://www.chron.com/ Arubans Vote On New Government DRUG TRADE, EXTRADITION LEGISLATION CONTRIBUTED TO COALITION'S COLLAPSE ORANJESTAD, Aruba Cocaine, heroin and their illicit profits brought down the government in this small Caribbean island and drew Arubans to the polls Friday to vote for a new one. Among the major players in the election is a wealthy Aruban family that is fighting the extradition to the United States of two members charged with laundering profits from Colombian drug lords. President Clinton cited the Mansur dynasty when he placed Aruba, just an hour's ride by speedboat from Columbia and Venezuela, on a list of major drug transit and money laundering countries last year. In Aruba's free trade zone, Clinton said, the Mansurs own and operate many firms, and cocaine is smuggled in cargo containers that never are inspected. Aruban legislators, mindful of U.S. interests that include 400,000 of the 700,000 tourists who visit the island annually, acted to combat the narcotics trade. But when they passed a law allowing extradition to the United States, the governing coalition collapsed in October. The next day, a deal was made between Liberal Party leader Glenbert Croes, the minority partner who broke ties with the governing Aruba People's Party, main opposition leader Nelson Oduber of the Electoral People's Movement and banker Carlo Mansur. They agreed to form an interim government that excluded the People's Party and made Mansur finance minister. News of the deal created an uproar because of the moneylaundering charges against two of Mansur's cousins, so elections were called six months early. Opposition politicians have accused Prime Minister Jan Hendryk Eman of pandering to foreign pressure, a charge he denies. "We have no doubt in our minds that what we did was the right thing to stand strong against the threat of international crime in our area," Eman said. Meanwhile, the Mansurs called in a yearsold debt of $2.3 million that Eman owed the family's Interbank. That would have bankrupted Eman, and persons declaring bankruptcy are not allowed to run for office. But a court suspended the Mansurs' lawsuit indefinitely. Winning just one seat would give the Liberal Party the balance of power if none of the other parties wins the 11 seats needed to form a government. Croes' Liberals won two seats in the 1994 elections, Eman's party 10 seats and Oduber's nine. Aruba, which broke away from the Netherlands Antilles, is a separate member of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, equal in political stature to the Caribbean island group and Holland.