Even though when the decision was made last year to postpone the carnival period from the beginning of the year to somewhere in the middle, there are currently no concrete plans to suggest there will even be a carnival at all. In the government’s latest press conference, the minister of culture, Xiomara Maduro spoke on the issue along with the meeting she had with SMAC, the carnival’s organizers.
During this meeting, SMAC wanted the government’s opinion, and it was stated once more that the government is not going to promote the formation of a large gathering of people. “For this reason, we no longer regard carnival as feasible, in its traditional sense. I have asked SMAC to present alternative manners in which to celebrate carnival other than the traditional manner”, minister Maduro expressed.
SMAC deliberated with its members, which are the carnival groups, surrounding the possibility of still having some sort of carnival celebration this year. It must be taken into account that many things have been taking place virtually.
The representative also met with the MUSICA (music) group, who already had a plan ready and asked for it to be amplified by being discussed officially by the government.
It should be noted that the planning for carnival takes a lot of time and that usually the information and planning for carnival would already be finished by September of the preceding year. And now with the uncertainty of the pandemic, planning the situation has become extremely difficult to do. Especially when surrounding an event that would usually involve a large gathering of people.
The government gave no indication of changing the existing rules. With regards to planning, the government could not give SMAC the green light to start planning for next year either. Carnival is commercially supported, which is also experiencing difficulty. The government had to intervene and subsidize both salaries and the Emergency Social Assistance Fund (FASE) for up to 60% of the labor force, because commerce could not do it alone. “Funding the carnival groups is becoming more difficult”.
This is the opportunity for SMAC to think of innovative ways to see how else we could celebrate carnival. This all depends on whether there will be a celebration next year or not. “For our part, we are unable to confirm that there will be a parade next year”.
Minister Maduro does not think that SMAC will be able to finish a plan to be able to celebrate halfway through this year. To be able to do so, the preparations should have been handled by September of last year, when Aruba was experiencing its second wave of COVID-19 resulting in uncertainty for the future. It was not possible to plan for this year’s carnival.
