The United States (US) Ambassador to Guyana, Nicole Theriot, has explained the differences between visa revocations, cancellations, and sanctions imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury.
On Monday, while speaking to media workers, Ambassador Theriot said that the two actions differ and seek to dispel concerns about associations with sanctioned individuals.
While she added that a person is not punished simply for being friends or affiliated with a person or entity sanctioned by OFAC, she said visas would be revoked or canceled worldwide if violated.
According to the diplomat, this is just a standard practice done periodically. “Everywhere in the world, we would revoke or cancel a visa if someone violates that visa in some way. That is just a standard practice. I think we do it here, just periodically, if we get that information.”
Ambassador Theriot has no information regarding the number of Guyanese whose visas have been revoked or canceled. Still, she said there have been no “wholesale cancelations of visas” involving Guyanese nationals.
She disclosed that visa revocations or cancellations are treated with confidentiality at the US Embassy.
“Typically, visas are confidential, so we would only inform the individual who held that visa. But as far as I know, there has been no wholesale cancellation or revocation of visas. It is a case-by-case basis based on that individual person’s action,” the Ambassador told reporters.
Popular comedian Odessa Primus, a close friend of Azruddin Mohamed, returned to Guyana last Friday, hours after she left the shores for the US. Her US visa was cancelled, and her application was withdrawn.
Azruddin, his father, Nazar Mohamed, their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, and a government official, Mae Thomas, were sanctioned for their alleged roles in public corruption in Guyana.
While news of Primus’s visa cancellation spread, it was alleged that it was canceled because of her affiliations with the sanctioned businessman Azruddin.
However, the ambassador further told media workers that visa cancellations and revocations, which the U.S. Department of State manages, are separate from OFAC sanctions, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury administers.
“Those two things are not related. If you associated yourself with an OFAC-sanctioned individual, if you did so in the ways that are laid out in the OFAC sanction, so, just knowing them, being friends with them, that’s very, very different than doing business with them. So, what you would be liable for is Treasury sanctions and OFAC sanctions.
Visas are very different because the Department of State handles visas. The Department of the Treasury handles OFAC sanctions, so they are very different things. So, if you do business with them or have invested in one of their businesses that is sanctioned, then you could be liable to treasury sanctions,” the Ambassador said.
Meanwhile, a June 11, 2024, press release from the U.S. Department of the Treasury noted that financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action.
The prohibitions include making any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or receiving any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.
