WILLEMSTAD — The Bombazo Latino event at the Kleine Werf ended in a total chaos Saturday evening. The call for stricter rules for organizing concerts is increasing.
In a nutshell, it appeared that license-holder Kleinmoedig had not arranged for the finances in order to pay for the bands of Fernandito Villalona and Frank Reyes from the Dominican Republic and Binomio de Oro from Columbia. Kleinmoedig has currently disappeared into thin air. The singers and band members did not even leave SuperClubs Breezes. They filed a report on Kleinmoedig.
The concertgoers only saw the local band of Nino Meyer and then all was silent. For the time being, they have lost 65 guilders for the general section or 275 guilders for the VIP-section. Companies that had arranged for the catering, illumination and acoustics, have made a loss.
Caterer René van Espelo: "I was expecting an advance payment during that whole week, but it remained forthcoming. Kleinmoedig said it would be arranged on Saturday morning. I had already made the purchases. During the afternoon, organizer Giscard Felida was honest enough to mention that there was an attachment on Kleinmoedig’s bank accounts. They could pay me from the bar sales, as they did not want to or could not take over the food at cost price. That’s when I decided not to do this. Overall, Van Espelo estimates the damage at approx. 3000 guilders. He had good experiences with Felida in the past, who had also organized the gala concert of Marc Antonio Solis. Felida was not available for comment.
During the course of the evening, the police got involved to calm down the people once it was obvious that the concert would not take place. Angry and disappointed visitors ran to the bar to grab alcohol and soft drinks to make up for their loss.
To make matters worse, the return flight of Villalona and Bionomio de Oro could not be paid in first instance. The Curaçao Tourism Bureau then advanced 15,000 dollars with an IOU from the promoters, Deputy David Dick confirms, "in order to prevent further loss of face of the island". Dick is of the opinion that this kind of practices should be tackled seriously.
The outrage is substantial, witnessing the reactions on the radio yesterday. Many wonder why the financial status of an organizer is not verified before issuing a permit. Angelo Pichardo, project leader catering industry of Tax Accountants Bureau (BAB) "We view the relevant transfer". According to Pichardo, BAB had already sounded the alarm with Kleinmoedig a month ago, that he still had outstanding debts of previous years. Pichardo is not allowed to elaborate on the amount. In any case, BAB decided to attach the ticket sales at several outlets at four o’clock in the afternoon on Friday. The attachment was granted replevin the day afterwards. It appears that the island collector could also sing for the outstanding amounts. "We had made an arrangement for the repayment and this event could have realized such. People should be given that chance."