The United States continued its policy of suspending visas for Colombian citizens involved in corruption cases. The State Department announced this Thursday, October 22, that it had canceled the visas of seven former officials and former members of Congress.
The three cases that draw the most attention are those of Ricardo Roa, former president of Ecopetrol; Yahir Acuña, mayor of Sincelejo; and Wadith Manzur, a former senator who is being held in detention in connection with the corruption case at the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD).
Roa was formally charged by the Attorney General’s Office on March 11 of this year with the crime of influence peddling by a public official, in an investigation into the purchase of an apartment in Bogota and its possible connection to contracts awarded by Ecopetrol.
However, the Attorney General’s Office also charged him with another crime: since Roa served as campaign manager for Gustavo Petro’s presidential campaign, it accuses him of violating electoral spending limits.
As for Manzur, he has been in prison since March by order of the Supreme Court of Justice, which considered that documents, recordings, and testimonies link him to the UNGRD corruption scheme. In Acuña’s case, it is worth recalling that a few weeks ago, President Abelardo de la Espriella accused him of corruption during a security council meeting in Sucre.
Decisions Respond to Commitments Made
The list of Colombians whose visas to enter the United States were canceled includes Karen Astrith Manrique Olarte, an elected representative; former senators Julio Elias Chagui Florez and Liliana Esther Bitar Castilla; and Jose Ignacio Mesa Betancur, a former member of Congress and former mayor of Envigado. The measure will also extend to the families of these seven people.
The State Department explained that the decisions respond to commitments made by its partners during the Doral Summit, held in March, and reaffirmed in the declaration by the leaders of the Shield of the Americas on September 22, which included Colombia.
“Today, the State Department is expanding its campaign against corruption and drug trafficking in our region,” the State Department said in a statement. “These actions follow up on the commitments made by our partners at the Doral Summit in March and in the declaration by the leaders of the Shield of the Americas on September 22.”
The US government justifies the decision and asserts that “this policy targets foreign nationals who, through acts of corruption or drug trafficking, undermine democratically elected governments in our hemisphere, regardless of their political affiliation.”
As soon as the State Department’s decision became known, the president of Colombia spoke out. Addressing those affected, he wrote on the social network X: “Welcome to the Miracle Homeland. Stand firm for the homeland! Long live Christ the King!”
The seven Colombians whose visas were canceled join left-wing Senator Martha Peralta Epieyu, who is also involved in the UNGRD corruption case, and businessman Euclides Antonio Torres Romero, owner of a conglomerate that operates mainly in the energy, road signage, and public lighting sectors, and one of Petro’s main financial backers.
Other high-profile visa revocation cases in Colombia include those of former President Petro, his ex-wife Veronica Alcocer, Nicolas Petro, and former Interior Minister Armando Benedetti.
In its statement this Thursday, the State Department emphasizes that Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows the Secretary of State to deny a visa to any foreign national if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the foreign national’s entry or proposed activities could have potentially serious adverse consequences for US foreign policy.