Marinekazerne Suffisant is a Dutch armed forces base located on

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. Until 2009, it was used by the infantry company 31 INFCIE of the

Netherlands Marine Corps The Netherlands Marine Corps ( nl, Korps Mariniers) is the elite naval infantry corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The marines trace their origins back to the establishment of the on 10 December 1665, by the then grand pensionary of the Dut ...

. Currently the base is used for the

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

of Curaçaoan youths. However, rather than being purely military in nature, the conscription also serves a social purpose: conscripts can get an education and receive diplomas on the base. During the first six months the conscripts receive military training and in the remaining six months they study to obtain a diploma. The conscripts are called miliciens. Currently the

Royal Marechaussee The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee ( nl, Koninklijke Marechaussee, abbreviated to KMar) is the national gendarmerie force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, performing military and civilian police duties. It is also one of the two national pol ...

has a brigade stationed on the base as well.

History

The history of the

on Marinekazerne Suffisant began in 1929 after

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Rafael Simón Urbina Rafael Simón Urbina López (Puerto Cumarebo, 1897 - Caracas, 13 November 1950) was a Venezuelan rebel who fought against the dictatorship of Juan Vicente Gómez. Biography Early battles Implicated in a 1919 conspiracy to overthrow President Góm ...

together with a group of followers tried to take over

Fort Amsterdam Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the ...

on Curaçao. The Netherlands sent the Marine Corps to provide external security for the Dutch ABC islands. Another reason was to provide resistance against internal riots, strikes and protests. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

local conscripts from the

Dutch Caribbean The Dutch Caribbean (historically known as the Dutch West Indies) are the territories, colonies, and countries, former and current, of the Dutch Empire and the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Sea. They are in the north and south-wes ...

were trained by Dutch marines. Many of these conscripts served from Marinekazerne Suffisant. The base was at that time the largest on Curaçao. Local and Dutch forces worked together closely with forces from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for the defence of all Dutch Caribbean islands. On 16 June 2009, after a presence of 80 years on the island, the 31 INFCIE of the Netherlands Marine Corps on Curaçao was disbanded. Since that date only a small number of marines have remained, mainly to train the Curaçaoan conscripts. In March 2013, the

Kingdom of the Netherlands , national_anthem = ) , image_map = Kingdom of the Netherlands (orthographic projection).svg , map_width = 250px , image_map2 = File:KonDerNed-10-10-10.png , map_caption2 = Map of the four constituent countries shown to scale , capital = ...

Minister of Defence,

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert (born 7 April 1973) is a Dutch politician and diplomat serving as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq since 1 November 2018. She is a member of t ...

, and the Chief of Defence,

Tom Middendorp Thomas Antonius Middendorp (born 6 September 1960) is a retired general of the Royal Netherlands Army. He served as Chief of Defence of the Armed forces of the Netherlands from 28 June 2012 until 3 October 2017. He previously served as the C ...

, visited Marinekazerne Suffisant to inspect the miliciens. The base had earlier received a royal visit when Queen

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "bles ...

visited in November 2006. From June until September 2013, one of the suspects involved in the murder of politician

Helmin Wiels Helmin Magno Wiels (9 December 1958 – 5 May 2013) was a leftist politician, anti-corruption activist and social worker from Curaçao. He served as a chairman of Sovereign People (the largest political party in the Estates after the October 2012 ...

was locked up in the Royal Marechaussee building on the base. The base was barricaded during the detention of the suspect.

References

{{reflist Installations of the Royal Netherlands Navy Barracks in the Netherlands Buildings and structures in Willemstad 1929 establishments in the Netherlands