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local Wednesday 1 February 2023

First day of Royal visit ends with beautiful art and dance performances

(Oranjestad)—Yesterday,
Aruba welcomed King
Willem-Alexander, Queen
Maxima and Heir to the
crown, Princess Amalia.
After a morning sched-
ule filled with protocol ac-
tivities, meetings with the
Aruban government, Par-
liament and Ministers, the
Royal Family arrived at san
Nicolas and ended their first
day visit at Nicolaas Store,
where they were seen en-
joying beautiful dance per-
formances and poetry. some attention to these is- nation that this facility is
sues. causing the environment
During their visit to San “I wanted to bring this mes- and the effects this have
Nicolaas, the Royal Fam- sage to the King: After Aru- on the public’s health, was
ily swung by the Filomena ba was colonized in 1636, also present to express her
College elementary school we have suffered many un- message to King Willem-
and high school, where favorable consequences. Alexander:
they witness an exposition Today we are in the year
about the Aruban hero of 2023, and we would like to “During his coronation, the
the Second World War, Boy meet with you again. We King promised to maintain
Ecury. Afterwards, they vis- are on our land; this is all the constitution, and the
ited the mural paintings in to the Heir Princess Amalia. The festivities ended with of ours. We welcome the constitution says that when-
the city center. Lastly, they The fun continued with a surprise flash mob, with King, not as a colonizer, ever our fundamental right
enjoyed various perfor- more dance performances people from the audiences because he must recog- is not being respected by
mances at Nicolaas Store. from 3 other dance groups: getting up on stage and nize that we are the legiti- the national government, it
The dance performances Kids & Youth in Action, performing their last dance mate occupants of Aruba, is their duty to assure us our
included a variety of dif- NTG Dancers and Dazzling for the Royals. and everything that they safety and security,” Bal-
ferent dance groups and Dancers, kids who all daz- Besides the festive parties, have taken away from us entina indicated, referring
different genres of dance, zled the Royals with a com- there were notable a few must be returned,” Helena to the current fight against
starting off with contem- pilation of Carnaval danc- groups with banners, who Croes from Aruban Warriors the waste facility and how
porary dance by the Pop- es—and not without festive were there to express a stated to Bon Dia Aruba. this violates the fundamen-
corn Dancers. Then, Kay Carnaval clothing—so that message to the King about Anouk Balentina, who is tal right for life and health
Quandus took the stage to the Royal Family can have pressing matters that they known for her fight against of the public, especially
perform her spoken word a taste of how Carnaval is do not agree with in hopes the waste facility at Parki- those who live in the region
piece, a poetry dedicated celebrated on the island. that the King may pay etenbos and the contami- of the facility.q