U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida asked President Joe Biden on Wednesday to deny visas to the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua and their respective delegations so they cannot travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting next month.
In the Wednesday letter obtained by the Miami Herald, the Florida Republican called on the president “to stand up for freedom and democracy in Latin America and do the right thing to protect the security interests of the United States by denying entry to these three thugs and their cronies.”
Scott said that “these oppressive dictators and their regimes engage in activity that continues to threaten the stability of Latin America and the national security of the United States.”
The senator highlighted that Cuba is on the list of countries that sponsor terrorism and continues to harbor fugitives wanted by the United States. He also mentioned that Nicaragua’s leader, Daniel Ortega, remains in power after elections deemed fraudulent and “spent most of last year imprisoning his political opponents.”
He also had harsh words for Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s strongman, whom the Department of Justice wants on charges of drug trafficking.
“Unless the administration intends on arresting Maduro, he should not be allowed to enter the United States,” Scott said.
The U.N. General Assembly is the largest gathering of heads of state worldwide and takes place every year in September.
While rare, the United States has sometimes invoked national security to deny visas to foreign leaders and diplomats to travel to the U.N. headquarters in New York.
Under the 1947’s “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. government is expected to provide visas to foreign dignitaries to access the U.N. “promptly” and without charge. But Congress added a note to the 1947 joint resolution stating that “Nothing in the agreement shall be construed as in any way diminishing, abridging, or weakening the right of the United States to safeguard its own security,” which has provided legal cover to past visa denials.
A State Department spokesperson told the Miami Herald that the United States “takes seriously its obligations as host country of the U.N. under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement.”
The spokesperson said the agency provided guidance to all U.N. member states on recommended timelines for visa applications ahead of the General Assembly session.
“All visa applications are adjudicated on a case-by-case basis,” the official added.
In the past, State Department officials have stated that Washington can deny visas for “security, terrorism and foreign policy” reasons.
For example, in 1988, the United States denied a visa to Yasser Arafat, the late chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to attend a General Assembly meeting, citing the PLO’s involvement in terrorism.
More recently, the Trump administration denied a visa to then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who wanted to attend a U.N. Security Council meeting following the killing of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq. And the Obama administration refused to issue a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi — who had been nominated to become Iran’s ambassador to the U.N. — because of his involvement in the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.
Historically, autocratic leaders have valued the U.N. General Assembly meeting as an opportunity to rail against U.S. policies in a preeminent international forum. So far, the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua have not signaled they are planning to attend. In recent years, the three countries have been represented by their respective foreign ministers.
Cuba’s handpicked president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, attended the assembly in 2018, shortly after succeeding Raúl Castro in the presidency. Since then, his government has been mired in economic troubles, failed policies and increased political repression. And relations with the United States have soured, making it less likely that he would travel this year to New York, where he could also face demonstrations by a more politically mobilized Cuban exile community.
When the Biden administration did not invite the government of Nicaragua to participate in the Summit of the Americas in June, Ortega said he had not been interested in traveling to the U.S. anyway.
Despite recent dialogue attempts between Biden administration officials and Maduro, the Venezuelan leader is also unlikely to attend because the U.S. Department of Justice has a $15 million reward for information that could lead to his arrest.
“The U.S. must send a clear message of zero tolerance for these dictators’ oppression and human rights abuses,” Scott wrote. “Allowing Díaz-Canel, Ortega, or Maduro — or their representatives — into the United States would afford them a legitimacy they have neither earned nor deserve.”
___
© 2022 Miami Herald
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
