Bombshell: US yanks visa of Dominican Republic elections chief

Santo Domingo.- The US State Dept. has canceled the diplomaticvisa of Central Electoral Board (JCE) president Roberto Rosario, which was issuedin his capacity as a government official and was valid until 2017, as well as ordinaryvisa stamped on his passport.

Rosario said US Consul General in the country Silvia D.Johnson had requested an appointment, and received her Thursday morning, when thediplomat notified him that his visa had been canceled.

A statement issued by the Electoral Board says the USConsul General was received in Rosario’s JCE office at 2pm today, with anotherperson who identified himself as a US embassy official.

The head of the Electoral Board then presented thediplomatic passport he was carrying at the time to proceed to implement themeasure and in the coming hours will do the same with the visa on his ordinarypassport.

Rosario said his capacity as a public official obliged himto inform the public of the situation.

Controversial

Rosario’s nationalistic stance before pressure by USambassador James W. Brewster over the issue of Haitian immigration likelyearned him adversaries here and abroad, in addition to broad critique by thelocal political opposition to his handling of the process that culminated inthe May 15 general elections.

US Embassy statement

“The USEmbassy confirmed that the visas of Dr. Roberto Rosario, president of theCentral Electoral Board, have been revoked. The State Department has broadauthority and reserves the right, under Section 221 (i) of the Immigration andNationality Act, to revoke US visas on the basis of information that comes tolight, at any time, influencing a person to be eligible for a visa and travelto the United States,” the US Embassy said in a statement emailed shortly afterlocal media reported the cancelation.

“Decisions on individual visas do not affect thestrong bilateral relationship