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A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 26 april 2023
Dutch leader pledges to repay debt to quake-hit region

By MIKE CORDER billion cubic meters.
Associated Press The parliamentary inquiry
THE HAGUE, Netherlands said the huge profits over
(AP) — Dutch Prime Minis- the years the Dutch state
ter Mark Rutte apologized earned 363 billion euros
Tuesday to residents of the from Groningen gas blind-
northern province of Gron- ed successive governments
ingen who have suffered to the plight of people in
for years from earthquakes the region.
caused by gas extraction “The interests of the people
that damaged thousands of Groningen have been
of homes and ruined lives. structurally ignored in natu-
Rutte’s apology and a ral gas extraction in Gronin-
pledge to fund a gener- gen, with disastrous conse-
ation-long program to re- quences for the people of
vitalize the remote region Groningen,” the commis-
came as his government sion responsible for the re-
published its official reac- port said in a statement in
tion to a damning parlia- February.
mentary commission report A court in The Hague on
issued in February that said Tuesday called a tempo-
the government owed the rary halt to plans by a Dutch
Groningen region a “debt company, ONE-Dyas, to
of honor” after putting gas Netherland’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks with the media as he arrives for an EU summit at the develop a new gas field
profits before people for European Council building in Brussels Brussels on Feb. 9, 2023. under Dutch and German
decades. Associated Press waters close to the Ger-
“We stand here, cap in man island of Borkum.
hand,” Rutte told residents The government pledged been a hotbed of discon- to repay the ‘debt of hon- German environmentalists
in the northern village of to end all gas extraction tent fueled by the earth- or’ that has arisen in de- welcomed the ruling by a

Garmerwolde. “We can’t which has already been quakes and faltering gov- cades of gas extraction,” judge in The Hague in chal-
take away all the suffer- scaled back to almost ernment attempts to com- they said. A consortium in- lenges to the Dutch gov-
ing from the past. We nothing by October, or by pensate residents. Local cluding energy giants Shell ernment’s decision to grant
can’t undo what has gone 2024 at the latest. It also authorities in the region and ExxonMobil extracted permission for the project.
wrong since gas extraction said it will spend at least called the package “a step gas from the huge Gronin- Sascha Mueller-Kraenner,
started. But we are deter- 22 billion euros ($24.25 bil- in the right direction,” but gen underground reserves chief executive of the Ger-
mined to do things differ- lion) on paying for repairs in a written statement said for decades before the man environmental group
ently, working closely with to homes and infrastructure they doubt if it would be government took a deci- DUH, that along with other
the people here. And that and to “invest in the long- enough to solve problems sion in 2018 to gradually groups filed the legal chal-
means a commitment of term economic perspec- with damage repair and stop pumping gas out of lenges, called it “an impor-
years, an approach for an tive” of the region. strengthening” of buildings. the Groningen field one of tant step for the protection
entire generation.” Groningen has for years “It is certainly not enough the world’s largest at 2,800 of the North Sea.” q

Venezuelan Guaidó denounces being expelled from Colombia

By REGINA GARCIA CANO Colombia hours after he country’s political crisis. to the U.S and that he would wegian diplomats and
Associated Press crossed the border from In a video posted on Twit- say more on Wednesday. hosted by Mexico stalled
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuela to try to meet ter, Guaidó said he entered After the re-election at the end of last year. “I
— Venezuelan opposi- with some participants at Colombia trying to escape of Maduro in 2018 was will be requesting meet-
tion leader Juan Guaidó an international confer- Venezuelan government deemed a sham by dozens ings with members of the
said he was expelled from ence Tuesday to discuss his persecution, but that now of countries, Guaidó de- international delegations,”
he also felt he was being clared himself Venezuela’s Guaidó had said in a state-
persecuted by President’s interim president in 2019. ment. He said he hoped
Nicolás Maduro in Colom- However, his popularity has the meeting would “ensure
bia. waned since then and op- that the Maduro regime
Colombia’s Foreign Ministry position lawmakers voted returns to the negotiating
said late Monday in a press in January to strip him of table in Mexico and agrees
release that Guaidó was that role and instead ap- to a credible timetable for
“irregularly” in the country point a committee to run free and fair elections to
so immigration authorities what they call their “interim solve the current situation.”
escorted him to the inter- government.” Tuesday’s Any of Guaidó’s meetings
national airport to take a international conference with delegates apparently
plane bound to the U.S. organized by Colombian would happen on the side-
“The persecution of the President Gustavo Petro lines of Tuesday’s confer-
dictatorship unfortunately is meant to jumpstart of- ence. Colombia’s Foreign
spread to Colombia to- ficial dialogue between Minister Álvaro Leyva issued
day,” Guaidó said on the the government of Maduro a statement saying that
Opposition leader Juan Guaido speaks during an interview with video from inside an air- and his adversaries. The for- Guaidó was not invited to
the Associated Press in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 10,
2022. plane. He added that he mal negotiations between the conference, and was
Associated Press was on a commercial flight both sides guided by Nor- not expected to attend.q