President Hipolito Mejia tossed away as unimportant the linking of presidential legal advisor to drug trafficking by a US government officer in Puerto Rico. Mejia said the statement was a “disparate” or rubbish. Commenting on the cancellation of the B1/B2 visa of his close aid, President Mejia said: “That is rubbish, rubbish. There are many people who have lost their visa for two or three months and then get it back. I know of hundreds of those cases, that is normal.”
Gomez Mazara’s visa was removed in December, but only now has the US mission confirmed this. He retains his visa as a government officer.
So far, the Dominican government has not requested an explanation of the statement from the US government official.
Meanwhile, the Matias y Berroa cartoon in El Caribe newspaper today shows a government officer commenting after being told that a call from the US consulate had been received to inform him that his visa had been suspended? “It does not matter? I still have my master-card?!”