Between 1947 and 1962, the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) was eradicated from an area of no less than 11 million square kilometres in South America. This mosquito is now again transmitting various diseases in large numbers, including dengue virus, yellow fever virus, chikungunya and Zika virus. The success achieved in the past with mosquito eradication, through a rigorous approach of removing breeding sites or treating them with insecticides, was the starting point for this project. By systematically scouring garden after garden for stagnant water with military precision, we would be able to do a much better job now, with fantastic new techniques. The costs of dengue on Aruba are high and many agreed on the necessity of these actions. A meeting at the Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam in early 2011 with the then Minister of Health of Aruba, Dr. Richard Visser, who fully supported the plan, as well as a financial injection from the Aruba Bank to prepare an operational plan, heralded the start of this adventure.

In the Netherlands, we set up a company called Soper Strategies. Under this banner, a former Dutch military officer and I set to work on Aruba. We met with many parties in March 2011 and explored the entire area (190 km2). Then, in the Netherlands, we worked on a comprehensive plan and a budget (EUR 5.4 million) for the operation. The government saw this as a perfect opportunity for a public-private partnership and the island could lead the way in the entire Caribbean region. Success would inevitably lead to more success...a snowball effect. We were to train 135 men in mosquito control, especially larvae in breeding sites, and work in teams of 10. We made agreements with the port and airport management about the extra attention needed to prevent reintroduction after elimination. The script was ready and waiting, how could anyone not support it?

It was not possible to raise the intended amount of money; more than half was promised, but that was all. There were also parties, such as the RIVM, that did not believe that the eradication of a mosquito was at all possible. A presentation at the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in The Hague, in which we talked about a process that would be carried out with military precision, was interpreted as if we wanted to carry out a military operation. The tourist industry, which everyone was convinced would jump on board jubilantly, was largely sceptical: 'We already pay more than enough tax and now this too? Those who would be the first to benefit from a dengue-free island opposed it. In fact, it was not so much the project itself as the government's perceived shortcomings that were important. In the end, the project died a quiet death. While Aruba was afflicted by dengue in 2012 and people thought it would stop there, two new viral diseases have since emerged that threaten the residents of the island and its main source of income, tourism.