Page 17 - UTILITIES 1 MAART 2016
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WORLD NEWSTuesday 1 March 2016
Mexico will defer oil projects to slash spending Top Puerto Rico
hotel targeted in
MARK STEVENSON An oil employee works on the Centenario deep-water drilling platform off the coast of Veracruz, tax evasion case
Associated Press Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico’s state-run oil company said Monday,Feb. 29, 2016, that it is
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The halting some of its exploration and production projects in an attempt to counter the effects of the DANICA COTO
state-run oil company, drop in international oil prices. Associated Press
Petroleos Mexicanos, said SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)
Monday it will slash spend- (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills) — The administrators of a
ing 22 percent and cut top luxury hotel in Puerto
unprofitable production solvency,” said company the current level of 2.23 mil- mix is selling for about half Rico have been arrested
about 100,000 barrels a general director Jose An- lion barrels a day to about as much — $25 a barrel — and charged in a tax eva-
day as it struggles with li- tonio Gonzalez, who esti- 2.13 million by the end of as the $50 estimate includ- sion case as the U.S. terri-
quidity problems and past- mated daily production will the year. ed in last year’s 2016 bud- tory cracks down on cor-
due payments to suppliers. fall about 4.5 percent from He said Mexico’s crude oil get plan.q ruption amid a worsening
The company, known as economic crisis, officials
Pemex, said it will cut $5.5 said Monday.
billion from its 2016 budget, The island’s Justice Depart-
delay deep-water explora- ment said Wilhelm Sack
tion and decrease produc- and Harold Davies Mayne
tion of super-heavy crude of the Horned Dorset Pri-
because of low world oil mavera are accused of
prices. withholding more than
Delaying production and $600,000 in room occu-
exploration projects will ac- pancy tax over the past six
count for about two-thirds years.
of the $5.5 billion spending The announcement comes
cut. nearly a year after the ho-
Pemex still faces a serious tel filed for Chapter 11
issue: It owes suppliers al- bankruptcy as it struggled
most $7 billion, a debt the with nearly $1.7 million in
company acknowledges is debts, including more than
a problem. $800,000 owed to Puerto Ri-
“Pemex is facing liquidity co’s Treasury Department
problems, but not one of and more than $320,000
owed to the island’s strug-
Colombia: gling power company.
Sack is being held on
Uribe’s brother arrested in death squad case $29,000 bond and Mayne
on $232,000 bond. They
LIBARDO CARDONA lombian President Alvaro appearances while help- Carlos Meneses said in a are scheduled to appear
Associated Press Uribe has been arrested on ing form a far-right death 2010 interview with The As- in court March 14 for a pre-
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — allegations he was involved squad in the 1990s. sociated Press that as the liminary hearing.
The brother of former Co- in murders and forced dis- Santiago Uribe was ar- head of police in the town Adrian Santiago, the ho-
rested Monday in Medellin of Yarumal starting in 1994, tel’s reservation manager,
on charges of murder and he received monthly pay- said he had no comment.
conspiracy. ments from the group to Melanie Matos, an attor-
He has long denied any in- look the other way as it ney for Sack, told The Asso-
volvement in the murders murdered around 50 drug ciated Press that negotia-
attributed by a former po- addicts, thieves and cattle tions were underway and
lice captain to the group rustlers in the area. the case is tied to an old
known as the “12 Apostles.” He said Santiago Uribe ran debt being disputed in a
It allegedly plotted scores the death squad from the local court and bankrupt-
of murders from an Uribe La Carolina ranch using cy court.
family cattle ranch in north- short-wave radios and that “We hope that this can be
ern Antioquia state. he once saw 15 uniformed rapidly resolved and are
Former President Uribe is paramilitaries with R-15 and looking forward to giving
traveling in the U.S. and AK-47 rifles at the ranch do- the best service to the ho-
has not yet commented. ing physical training on an tel guests,” she said.
But he has long asserted obstacle course. It is one of the most high-
his brother’s innocence Around the same time, Al- profile cases to date since
and accused his succes- varo Uribe became gover- authorities began pursuing
sor, Juan Manuel Santos, of nor of Antioquia state. suspected tax evaders late
wielding the threat of pros- As president between 2002 last year in an attempt to
ecution against his brother and 2010, he leveraged recover millions of dollars.
to stymie the rise of his con- some $700 million in an- The island government’s li-
servative Democratic Cen- nual aid from Washington quidity has dwindled amid
ter movement. to decimate leftist rebels, a nearly decade-long eco-
Unlike his brother, Santiago winning domestic popular- nomic slump and it faces
Uribe has largely eschewed ity but drawing complaints $72 billion in public debt
politics, dedicating himself from human rights groups that the governor has said
instead to cattle ranching about tactics and the mili- is unpayable and needs
and raising fighting bulls. tary’s behavior.q restructuring.q
Retired police Maj. Juan
