Jossy Mansur
Encyclopedia
Jossy Mehsen Mansur is a descendant from an originally Lebanese family, which settled on the island of Aruba
. He is the editor of the Papiamento
-language newspaper Diario in Aruba. Jossy Mansur has written two dictionaries for the Papiamento
language and has written a history of Aruba among other numerous other books.
, they were the major suppliers of Marlboro in the Caribbean basin for many years (the licence has been withdrawn). The Mansurs sponsored the best baseball team – Aruba's national sport – the Marlboro Red Tigers as well as the Aruban People's Party (Arubaanse Volkspartij, AVP) of former Prime Minister Henny Eman
. They owned their own bank, the Interbank, and the biggest hotel and time-sharing complex, La Cabana, and the Royal Cabana casino. And they have a couple of import-export businesses in the Free Trade Zone
.
US President Bill Clinton
in 1996 publicly identified Aruba "as a major drug-transit country" and noted that "a substantial portion of the free-zone's businesses in Aruba are owned and operated by members of the Mansur family, who have been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to launder trafficking proceeds." In the late 1980s, an investigator for Senator John Kerry
's committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair
, interviewing drug traffickers in a West Miami prison kept hearing about the Mansurs. "Who are the Mansurs?" he would ask. Answer: "The big family in Aruba we used for laundering money and moving cocaine."
' main distributor in Latin America was the Mansur Free Zone Trading Company, NV. Cigarettes were shipped to Aruba or Panamanian free trade zones operated by the Mansurs and then into Colombia's special customs zone, Maicao, just across the border from Venezuela. One of Philip Morris main distributors within Colombia was Samuel Santander Lopesierra, at one time a senator in the Liberal Party. Dubbed "the Marlboro Man" by the Colombian media, in reference to his alleged cigarette smuggling activities, Lopesierra is named in a U.S. federal court affidavit filed in conjunction with the Mansur money-laundering indictment.
According to a report of the Venezuelan intelligence agency, the DISIP, "in Venezuela the Mansurs are implicated in money laundering with Lopesierra. Every month Lopesierra 're-invested' 20 million dollar 'with the help of a well-known entrepreneur called Mansur'."See: Javier Ignacio Mayorca, 'Santa' Lopesierra encabeza brazo político del Cartel Maicao', "El Nacional" (Caracas), 5 June 1995. Quoted in The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba, by Tom Blickman, Transnational Organized Crime, Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer 1997 Lopesierra is named in a U.S. federal court affidavit filed in conjunction with the Mansur money-laundering indictment. In that affidavit, an FBI agent working undercover says he was told by Jaime Tovar, one of the original defendants in the Mansur indictment, that Lopesierra was part of a scheme to convert narco dollars into shipments of goods bound for Colombia. Lopesierra was arrested for drug trafficking in October 2002 and extradited to the US in August 2003. He was convicted for conspiring to unlawfully import cocaine into the United States. Lopesierra and his group were responsible for smuggling shipments of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the United States, and for laundering the proceeds so they could be repatriated through Puerto Rico, New York, and Miami back to Colombia.
The Mansur family has gained international prominence for alleged money laundering. Two family members, the cousins Eric and Alex Mansur, have been indicted by the U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico
. They reportedly funneled US$500,000 in campaign cash to Colombian President Ernesto Samper
through the wife of a jailed Cali cartel boss during the 1994 election campaign. Mr. Samper denied it. The Mansurs subsequently were awarded a monopoly for Colombian gambling, which was canceled in 1997 by a government watchdog agency that smelled impropriety.
Philip Morris International broke its contract with the Mansurs at the end of 1998 "for business reasons." A source close to the family said the two sides agreed to a $422 million settlement and that the Mansurs continue to work with Philip Morris' non-tobacco product lines.
government before the United Nations
Human Rights Committee
for disseminating what the Aruban government termed a top secret report that claimed that the Mansurs were involved in organized crime.
The report by the Dutch Internal Security Service draws a picture of security in Aruba and mentions that foreign services fighting crime in the region are almost unanimous in their opinion that the predominant image of the Aruban business community is one of joint services towards (laundering specialists of) regional drug cartels.
The report mentions the Mansurs by name and portrays them as criminals who were associated with criminal organizations involved in drugs trafficking, gun trafficking and laundering money obtained from criminal activities. Despite the fact that the report was classified as top secret it was leaked to the press and its contents became public. The suit was dismissed on procedural grounds for failure to exhaust Mansur's civil remedies in the Netherlands courts.
Mansur has strongly advocated a point of view in the cases of Eduardo Mathew
and Natalee Holloway
. He appeared regularly on Fox News and Nancy Grace
's CNN
Headline News show commenting on the disappearance of Natalee Holloway on Aruba in 2005. Mansur formed his own "investigative team" and his newspaper repeatedly published new leads. According to some observers, Mansur latched onto the bandwagon as part of his own feud with the Aruban government.
See also this Library Catalog list for further description of works
Aruba
Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
. He is the editor of the Papiamento
Papiamento
Papiamento is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands, having the official status on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The language is also recognized on Bonaire by the Dutch government....
-language newspaper Diario in Aruba. Jossy Mansur has written two dictionaries for the Papiamento
Papiamento
Papiamento is the most widely spoken language on the Caribbean ABC islands, having the official status on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao. The language is also recognized on Bonaire by the Dutch government....
language and has written a history of Aruba among other numerous other books.
Powerful Aruban business family
The Mansur family made its fortune as cigarette manufacturers and in the import-export business. With a licence of Philip MorrisPhilip Morris International
Philip Morris International is an international tobacco company, with products sold in over 160 countries. In 2007, it held a 15.6% share of the international cigarette market outside of the USA and reported revenues net of excise taxes of $22.8 billion and operating income of $8.9 billion.Until...
, they were the major suppliers of Marlboro in the Caribbean basin for many years (the licence has been withdrawn). The Mansurs sponsored the best baseball team – Aruba's national sport – the Marlboro Red Tigers as well as the Aruban People's Party (Arubaanse Volkspartij, AVP) of former Prime Minister Henny Eman
Henny Eman
Jan Hendrik Albert "Henny" Eman was the first Prime Minister of Aruba from 1 January 1986 to 9 February 1989 and again from 29 July 1994 to 30 October 2001.- Introduction :thumb|left| Memorial stone at Leiden cafe "Het Keizertje"...
. They owned their own bank, the Interbank, and the biggest hotel and time-sharing complex, La Cabana, and the Royal Cabana casino. And they have a couple of import-export businesses in the Free Trade Zone
Free trade zone
A free trade zone or export processing zone , also called foreign-trade zone, formerly free port is an area within which goods may be landed, handled, manufactured or reconfigured, and reexported without the intervention of the customs authorities...
.
US President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1996 publicly identified Aruba "as a major drug-transit country" and noted that "a substantial portion of the free-zone's businesses in Aruba are owned and operated by members of the Mansur family, who have been indicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to launder trafficking proceeds." In the late 1980s, an investigator for Senator John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
's committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair
Iran-Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair , also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or Iran-Contra-Gate, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials and President Reagan secretly facilitated the sale of...
, interviewing drug traffickers in a West Miami prison kept hearing about the Mansurs. "Who are the Mansurs?" he would ask. Answer: "The big family in Aruba we used for laundering money and moving cocaine."
Alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling and money laundering
The Mansur family was involved in cigarette smuggling from Aruba to Colombia. For over 50 years, Philip MorrisPhilip Morris International
Philip Morris International is an international tobacco company, with products sold in over 160 countries. In 2007, it held a 15.6% share of the international cigarette market outside of the USA and reported revenues net of excise taxes of $22.8 billion and operating income of $8.9 billion.Until...
' main distributor in Latin America was the Mansur Free Zone Trading Company, NV. Cigarettes were shipped to Aruba or Panamanian free trade zones operated by the Mansurs and then into Colombia's special customs zone, Maicao, just across the border from Venezuela. One of Philip Morris main distributors within Colombia was Samuel Santander Lopesierra, at one time a senator in the Liberal Party. Dubbed "the Marlboro Man" by the Colombian media, in reference to his alleged cigarette smuggling activities, Lopesierra is named in a U.S. federal court affidavit filed in conjunction with the Mansur money-laundering indictment.
According to a report of the Venezuelan intelligence agency, the DISIP, "in Venezuela the Mansurs are implicated in money laundering with Lopesierra. Every month Lopesierra 're-invested' 20 million dollar 'with the help of a well-known entrepreneur called Mansur'."See: Javier Ignacio Mayorca, 'Santa' Lopesierra encabeza brazo político del Cartel Maicao', "El Nacional" (Caracas), 5 June 1995. Quoted in The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba, by Tom Blickman, Transnational Organized Crime, Vol. 3, No. 2, Summer 1997 Lopesierra is named in a U.S. federal court affidavit filed in conjunction with the Mansur money-laundering indictment. In that affidavit, an FBI agent working undercover says he was told by Jaime Tovar, one of the original defendants in the Mansur indictment, that Lopesierra was part of a scheme to convert narco dollars into shipments of goods bound for Colombia. Lopesierra was arrested for drug trafficking in October 2002 and extradited to the US in August 2003. He was convicted for conspiring to unlawfully import cocaine into the United States. Lopesierra and his group were responsible for smuggling shipments of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into the United States, and for laundering the proceeds so they could be repatriated through Puerto Rico, New York, and Miami back to Colombia.
The Mansur family has gained international prominence for alleged money laundering. Two family members, the cousins Eric and Alex Mansur, have been indicted by the U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. They reportedly funneled US$500,000 in campaign cash to Colombian President Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper
Ernesto Samper Pizano is a Colombian politician. He served as the President of Colombia from August 7, 1994 to August 7, 1998, representing the Liberal Party. He was involved in the 8000 process scandal, which takes its name from the folio number assigned to it by the chief prosecutor's office...
through the wife of a jailed Cali cartel boss during the 1994 election campaign. Mr. Samper denied it. The Mansurs subsequently were awarded a monopoly for Colombian gambling, which was canceled in 1997 by a government watchdog agency that smelled impropriety.
Philip Morris International broke its contract with the Mansurs at the end of 1998 "for business reasons." A source close to the family said the two sides agreed to a $422 million settlement and that the Mansurs continue to work with Philip Morris' non-tobacco product lines.
Suing the Netherlands
In 1999 Jossy Mansur and his brother Luis Mansur and sister Lisa Thomson Mansur sued the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
government before the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Human Rights Committee
Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a United Nations body of 18 experts that meets three times a year for four-week sessions to consider the five-yearly reports submitted by 162 UN member states on their compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,...
for disseminating what the Aruban government termed a top secret report that claimed that the Mansurs were involved in organized crime.
The report by the Dutch Internal Security Service draws a picture of security in Aruba and mentions that foreign services fighting crime in the region are almost unanimous in their opinion that the predominant image of the Aruban business community is one of joint services towards (laundering specialists of) regional drug cartels.
The report mentions the Mansurs by name and portrays them as criminals who were associated with criminal organizations involved in drugs trafficking, gun trafficking and laundering money obtained from criminal activities. Despite the fact that the report was classified as top secret it was leaked to the press and its contents became public. The suit was dismissed on procedural grounds for failure to exhaust Mansur's civil remedies in the Netherlands courts.
Newspaper editor
Mansur is known for his weekly editorials which are often critical of the local government of Prime Minister Nelson Oduber. The ongoing disagreement between Mansur and Oduber dates back many years. During the election campaign in 2001 Oduber's party even had stickers made stating "Don’t believe Diario."Mansur has strongly advocated a point of view in the cases of Eduardo Mathew
Eduardo Mathew
Eduardo Alexander Antonio Mathew is a Dutch national now in administrative detention in the Buffalo Federal Detention Center, Batavia, New York facing deportation from the United States...
and Natalee Holloway
Natalee Holloway
Natalee Ann Holloway disappeared on May 30, 2005, during a high school graduation trip to Aruba, a Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. An American student from Mountain Brook, Alabama, Holloway graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, shortly before the trip...
. He appeared regularly on Fox News and Nancy Grace
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace is an American legal commentator, television host, television journalist, and former prosecutor. She frequently discusses issues from what she describes as a victims' rights standpoint, with an outspoken style that has won her both praise and condemnation...
's CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Headline News show commenting on the disappearance of Natalee Holloway on Aruba in 2005. Mansur formed his own "investigative team" and his newspaper repeatedly published new leads. According to some observers, Mansur latched onto the bandwagon as part of his own feud with the Aruban government.
Publications
As a writer, editor and translator Mansur has been variously involved in a number of publications over a 35 year period ranging from an English–Papiamentu dictionary to a History of Aruba to fascinating psychological historical romance and fiction to Aruban republications and Papiamento translations of classics of English and world literature such as Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe, Hans Chrisstian Andersen and Alexandre Dumas. While the quality of work varies publication to publication here, Mansur's eclectic interest provide another window of perhaps more psychological insight into the man. Rumored to make past liberal use of ghost writers and editors, Mansur's literary aspirations are undeniable but also a testament to both documenting both Aruban social and cultural history and keeping the linguistic aspirations of Papiemento alive through both linguistic editorial and translation work.- Mansur, Jossy M. (1991). Dictionary English-Papiamento Papiamento-English, Oranjestad (Aruba): Edicionnan Clasico Diario, 510 pages.
- Mansur, Jossy M. (?). Diccionario di 5 idioma, Oranjestad (Aruba): Edicionnan Clasico Diario, 934 pages
- Mansur, Jossy M. (1993). Historia di Aruba 1499–1824, Miami: Hallmark Press Inc.
- Mansur, Jossy M. (2001). Corazon de Amor, Caracas Venezuela: Diario, 2001. (English version first published as The Awakening Heart. Miami: Hallmark Press Inc, 1999 (Fictional Spanish telenovela style historical romance, interesting for further psychological insight into Mansur'. Also apparently published under the title Corazon maestro Cali, Colombia, 2000, ISBN 9583320242)
See also this Library Catalog list for further description of works
Litigation
Mansur has been involved in several lawsuits related to advocacy of Papiamento politics and culture.- L. E. y J. Mansur v. Netherlands, Comunicación No. 883/1999, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/67/D/883/1999 (1999) in Spanish
- Messrs. L. E. and J. Mansur (represented by Dr. Jan M. Sjöcrona and Mr. John H. van der Kuyp) v. the Netherlands, Communication No. 883/1999, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/67/D/883/1999 (9 November 1999) in English
- Lawsuit by ArubaArubaAruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...
n Prime Minister Nelson O. OduberNelson O. OduberNelson Orlando Oduber was the Prime Minister of Aruba. He is a member of the Movimiento Electoral di Pueblo . He was prime minister for the first time from 1989 until 1994, when his party lost parliamentary elections, and has been prime minister again from 2001 until 2009...
vs. Jossy Mansur