The United States State Department has apparently canceled the visas of persons that have been indicted in the Odebrecht bribery scandal, as reported in El Nacional. The case file on Odebrecht says that these 14 persons are accused of having received or of having distributed US$92 million among officials, legislators and lobbyists in order to obtain government contracts in several administrations.
Two senators and a deputy, who in spite of possessing official government passports, would have had their B1-B2 visas suspended.
Those affected by the State Department’s decision are said to be Victor Diaz Rua, Conrado Pittaluga, Ruddy Gonzales, Andres Bautista, Temistocles Montas, Cesar Sanchez, Maximo De Oleo, Radhames Segura, Roberto Rodriguez Hernandez, and Bernardo Castellanos. Businessman Angel Rondon had already had his visa revoked. The legislators affected are said to be the senator from San Cristobal, Tommy Galan as well as the senator from Santiago, Julio Cesar Valentin and the deputy Alfredo Pacheco. It is known that senator Tommy Galán is also a US citizen.
This information was confirmed on 7 March to the El Nacional newspaper by a high level official at the United States Embassy.
The newspaper has also learned that a special prosecutor in New York is following the case that is being heard in the Supreme Court of Justice in the Dominican Republic.
According to the protocol followed by the United States Embassy, it is possible that some of the persons affected by this measure are not aware their visa has been revoked and would not find out about this until they tried to leave the country for travel to the United States.
When the US Embassy confirmed in December 2017 the cancellation of Angel Rondon’s visa it did so indicating that the government of the United States would continue to apply significant measures against those persons who commit abuse in the area of human rights or corruption.
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El Nacional
8 March 2018
