WILLEMSTAD - What is virtually unthinkable in peacetime in the European Netherlands, Curaçao makes no point of it: soldiers checking civilians on the street.

At the request of the local authorities, military personnel in the Caribbean provide assistance to the Curaçao police force in enforcing the corona measures. There is a curfew on the island and people are only allowed to use the car a few days a week. Members of the Curaçao militia were already called in to enforce this, and now also Dutch soldiers.

Curaçao has been hit by a corona outbreak under which the healthcare sector is in danger of collapsing. Defense provides assistance in more ways. For example, a vaccination street has been opened at Naval Base Parera.

At the level of the Kingdom, it has been arranged that the governments of Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten can call on the assistance of the Ministry of Defense. This happens more often, but usually not as visible in the streets as it is now. This week, for example, military officers are bringing 1,600 kilos of construction materials to the difficult-to-access north coast of Saba for a KNMI seismological monitoring station.