Page 2 - ARUBA TODAY

A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 6 March 2018

Judge, police temporarily oust Trump Hotels from Panama property

By JEFF HORWITZ tion considers binding.
MARK STEVENSON Fintiklis quickly changed
JUAN ZAMORANO course after the deal
PANAMA CITY (AP) — Work- closed in August, arguing
ers pried President Donald that alleged mismanage-
Trump's name from signs ment by Trump’s staff and
outside his family compa- the deterioration of the
ny's luxury hotel in Panama Trump brand rendered
on Monday, as Trump's ex- keeping the property in
ecutives were ousted from Trump hands impossible.
their management offices In late December, Trump’s
in a business dispute under management team ran off
orders from Panamanian a team of Marriott hotel ex-
officials. Trump's security ecutives visiting the prop-
guards also left. erty at Fintiklis’ invitation.
The end to a 12-day stand- “Our investment has no fu-
off over control of the prop- ture so long as the hotel is
erty came early in the day managed by an incompe-
when a Panamanian judi- tent operator whose brand
cial official and police of- has been tarnished be-
ficers backed the hotel's yond repair,” Orestes wrote
majority owner, Orestes Fin- to his fellow hotel owners in
tiklis, as he took possession a January email obtained
of the offices. The Trump- A man removes the word Trump, off a marquee outside the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel by the AP.
affiliated management and Tower in Panama City, Monday, March 5, 2018. Escorted by police officers and a Panama- The most recent and in-
nian judicial official, the owner of the Trump Panama City hotel has taken control of the property.
and security officials then A team of Trump security officials left the property. tense feuding began Feb.
left the 70-story, waterfront (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) 22, when Fintiklis came to
high-rise. the property with termi-
"This was purely a commer- nesses, and it was unclear Press a statement would sought to take physical nation notices for Trump’s
cial dispute that just spun whether Trump might con- come later in the day. control of the property on management team. Trump
out of control," said Fintik- sider retaliating diplomati- The Trump Hotel's website behalf of the hotel owners. hotel officials turned away
lis, a Miami-based private cally. The Panamanian had ceased offering direct Though the owners tried to Fintiklis and his entourage,
equity investor and head Embassy in Washington did bookings at the hotel by fire Trump’s company last refusing to let him check
of the hotel owners' as- not immediately respond early Monday afternoon. year, the Trump Organiza- into any of his private eq-
sociation. "And today this to a request for comment. "We apologize," the site tion had disputed the ter- uity fund’s 202 hotel rooms.
dispute has been settled U.S. government officials said. "There are no avail- mination as legally invalid. A legal complaint filed by
by the authorities and the referred questions to the able rooms for your re- As part of his fire sale pur- Fintiklis said that, late that
judges of this country." Trump Organization, which quested stay." chase of 202 of the hotel’s same evening, he and oth-
The episode was a rare did not respond to phone The judicial intervention 369 units, Fintiklis signed a ers in his party witnessed
occasion when a foreign messages and emails re- resolved the most conten- February 2017 agreement Trump’s management
government has stood up questing comment. tious part of the dispute not to challenge Trump’s team destroying hotel doc-
against the operations of A Panamanian judicial of- between Trump’s hotel management contract — uments, which Trump offi-
one of Trump's family busi- ficial told The Associated business and Fintiklis, who a deal the Trump Organiza- cials have denied.q

Seoul envoys meet North Korea's Kim during Pyongyang trip

By FOSTER KLUG South's Pyeongchang Win- tions and write a new histo-
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — ter Olympics last month to ry of national reunification
North Korean leader Kim ease a standoff over North by the concerted efforts
Jong Un held an "open- Korea's nuclear ambitions of our nation to be proud
hearted talk" with envoys and restart talks between of in the world." The role
for South Korean President Pyongyang and Wash- of a confident leader wel-
Moon Jae-in on Monday, ington. The North Korean coming visiting, and lower-
the North said Tuesday, dispatch sought to make ranking, officials from the ri-
the first time South Korean Kim look statesmanlike as val South is one Kim clearly
officials have met with the he welcomed the visiting relishes. He took photos
young North Korean lead- South Koreans, with Kim of- with the South Koreans and
er in person since he took fering views on "activating held forth in what was de-
power after his dictator fa- the versatile dialogue, con- scribed as a "co-patriotic
ther's death in late 2011. tact, cooperation and ex- and sincere atmosphere."
North Korea's state me- change." He was also said But many in the South
dia said in a dispatch that South Korea's national security director Chung Eui-yong, center, to have given "important and in the United States
Kim expressed his desire to National Intelligence Service Chief Suh Hoon, second left, and instruction to the relevant will want to know what he
"write a new history of na- other delegators pose before boarding an aircraft as they leave field to rapidly take prac- plans do about the bar-
for Pyongyang at a military airport in Seongnam, south of Seoul,
tional reunification" during Monday, March 5, 2018. tical steps for" a summit rage of weapons tests over
a dinner the night before. (Jung Yeon-je/Pool Photo via AP) with Moon. Kim was said the last year that has raised
Given past bloodshed, to have "repeatedly clari- fears of war. Chung’s trip
North Korean weapons over the Koreas' appar- rivals can use the momen- fied that it is our consistent is the first known high-level
tests and threats of war ent warming ties. But each tum from the good feel- and principled stand and visit by South Korean offi-
over the past year, there new development also ings created during North his firm will to vigorously ad- cials to the North in about
is considerable skepticism raises the possibility that the Korea's participation in the vance the north-south rela- a decade.q