Here's an article on the current state of Papiamento from the New York Times.
Papiamento thrives.
The article mentions some reasons for the strength of Papiamento.
- comparative weakness of Dutch as a colonial language
- symbol of autonomy and rebellion against Dutch colonial government
It doesn't mention (overtly) the simple fact that local official language Dutch is different enough from Papiamento's lexifying language (Spanish or Portuguese) that there's no trend toward decreolization.
The relative prosperity of the speakers is mentioned and is also probably important. The fates of languages are decided by the middle class (broadly defined) not governments or the poor, no matter how well organized. The local middle class is behind the language and that makes a big difference.
I do wonder why English is an official language there. It doesn't seem to fill any need beyond that of a handy foreign language for tourists and is not used for domestic governmental purposes (the whole idea of 'official'). In short, unless I'm missing something, any use they could get from English could be gotten without giving it official status.
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