Resentment Growing In Aruba

Anger At Suggestions Island's Not Doing Enough To Find Missing Teen

(CBS/AP)  A latent but growing resentment here became evident for the first time when more than 200 people, some wrapped in Aruban flags, said they were incensed by statements made by the mother of a missing American teen.

Those assembled outside the colonial courthouse in this Caribbean capital Tuesday night said they fear their tiny island nation is falsely being portrayed as not doing enough to find Natalee Holloway, the Alabama girl who vanished May 30 on a graduation trip with her high school class.

Two brothers, Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18, who had been held as suspects were released Monday for lack of evidence.

In a brief and tearful statement Tuesday, Beth Holloway Twitty, Natalee's mother, accused Aruba of letting guilty people free.

"Two suspects were released yesterday who were involved in a violent crime against my daughter," she said.

"These criminals are not only being allowed to walk around among the tourists and citizens of Aruba," she said, but there were no limits on where they could go.

The protesters took umbrage with those statements.

"Respect our Dutch laws or go home," read one sign. "Innocent until proven guilty," read another. One suggested the missing girl might not be dead but partying in Brazil or nearby Venezuela.

Holloway Twitty clarified her remarks Wednesday on CBS News' The Early Show.

"There's definitely been a crime committed against Natalee. We all know that. When I say involvement, I don't know to what degree" the Kalpoe brothers were involved, she said.

"But I do have information and I know this. Those individuals have information. And I don't think until we find Natalee, we won't know the full extent of their involvement in that crime," Holloway Twitty said.

"There is information that Jug [her husband] and I have that we cannot disclose. But I do know that they have involvement," she said.

Holloway Twitty added that she and her husband "have tried to remain, so respectful and the citizens here have been nothing but respectful and courteous to Jug and I since we've been on the island. And I hope that that is not something that is growing. And we never meant for this to happen."

The protesters also complained that some American television coverage unfairly depicted the island, which depends overwhelmingly on tourism, and as being crime- and drug-ridden.