Early History
Up to 1929, there were hardly any military forces present on the Dutch Antilles including Aruba. On the 28th of June 1929 the Venezuelan rebel leader Rafael Simon Urbina attacked Curaçao and took several hostages amongst whom was the governor L.A. Fruytier and the garrisoncommander Borren. They were all taken to Venezuela where Urbina had hoped to overthrow the Government. His attempt failed and Urbina was taken prisoner. All hostages were returned to Curaçao. Three Dutch soldiers were killed in action during this attack. After Urbina's attack, the Dutch government decided to station one naval ship ("stationsschip") in the Antilles permanently. It also decided to raise a volunteer defence corps on both Curaçao and Aruba (vrijwilligerskorps Curaçao (VKC) and Vrijwilligerskorps Aruba (VKA)). After World War II, the VKA and VKC were redesignated Antiliaanse Militie (ANTMIL) which still exists on Curaçao. When Aruba obtained its independence within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986, the ANTMIL on Aruba was redesignated Arubaanse militie or ARUMIL.
Read more about this topic: Military Of Aruba
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