James Loses Visa

Minister believes US punishing him; embassy backed tactic in 2005

While Energy and Mining Minister James Robertson has yet to learn why his American visa has been cancelled, documents obtained by The Gleaner indicate the United States has long accepted that its right to issue visas could be a powerful tool to keep Jamaicans in line.

In a release last night, Robertson said that last Friday the US government cancelled his visa as well as that of his wife, Charlene.

"We readily acknowledge that as a sovereign nation it is the prerogative of the US government to issue and revoke visas," Robertson said.

"However, no details have been provided as to the basis for the cancellations, although we are of the view that this could have resulted from the uncorroborated statements forwarded to various departments of the US government in support of a failed application for political asylum. The allegations made in those statements have been, and remain, wholly rejected."

Robertson said that he and his wife have dispatched their US- based attorney to Washington, DC, to "seek audience" with the relevant officials in an effort to ascertain the basis for the cancellations.

Diplomatic cables accessed byThe Gleaner, through the international whistle-blowing non-profit media entity WikiLeaks, show that the US Embassy in Kingston is convinced that an American visa is a major prize for Jamaicans and one which many would do anything to get their hands on - and keep.

"The ability to travel to the US for familial, educational, recreational and other reasons is extremely important and/or desirable to most Jamaicans, making the potential loss of this privilege a source of considerable leverage," embassy officials said in an October 2005 cable sent to several American agencies.

The confidential cable from the Kingston embassy to Washington suggested at the time that the American government needed to pressure the then P.J. Patterson administration for more visible support on crime-fighting initiatives, particularly those targeting narcotics trafficking, that directly or indirectly affect the US.

Lip service

According to the cable, the Patterson administration was failing to act decisively against corrupt officials and the US needed to ostracise Jamaicans engaged in corruption by cancelling their visas.

The cable listed police, business persons and politicians among those who should be targeted.

"Because (then) PM Patterson has for so long failed to act decisively against corrupt subordinates or associates, his public utterances on the issue are often dismissed as lip service, and temporary public outrage at each new scandal is quickly replaced by resigned acceptance of the reality and inevitability of corruption," said the cable.

While there was no indication in the cable of whether the proposal was undertaken by Washington, subsequent cables suggested that the embassy in Kingston was adamant that this was the way forward.

In fact, numerous cables show several cases where Jamaicans, some in well-off jobs, used fraudulent means to get the much-coveted US visa.

In listing instances of fraud, a May 2008 cable pointed to the annual athletics competition, the Penn Relays in the US, and charged that in many instances persons who were not athletes were attempting to get visas on the claim that they were going to compete at the meet.