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Crackdown costs officials U.S. visas
By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin America Correspondent
After decades of being accused of turning a blind eye to foreign corruption, the State Department is cracking down on U.S. visa holders suspected of crooked financial dealings in their home countries. The new policy, which is an unexpected spinoff of the global war on terrorism, has serious implications for corrupt foreign government officials who have previously enjoyed U.S. hospitality. Its effect is already being felt in Latin America, where a handful of former government officials and well-connected bankers have been stripped of their visas. The new policy is being applauded by many pro-democracy activists in the region frustrated by the impunity often afforded to corrupt local politicians. "Anything that raises the threshold for dipping in the till is good," said Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto, one of Latin America's top experts on public administration. However, some analysts caution that the policy is largely discretionary and is used only selectively. It can be used as a political tool to pursue other U.S. policy goals unrelated -- and sometimes in sharp contradiction -- to the anti-corruption fight. "The only corrupt ones tend to be the ones we don't like," said Eduardo Gamarra, head of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University. U.S. entry visas have been revoked in about 10 Latin American countries this year, said Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. In an interview, Reich said his office is also working with federal and local law enforcement agencies to seize bank accounts and property in the United States belonging to corrupt Latin Americans. "We are trying to promote honesty and it is pretty evident in Latin America who has benefited illicitly," said Reich. He said that applied to public officials as well as private businessmen. "I think it's particularly egregious to steal money from the public treasury, especially from these poor countries, but we have (also) revoked the visas of bankers who have been involved in embezzlement." Reich described corruption as "the biggest impediment to development in the Western Hemisphere," accounting for billions in lost revenue. Any ill-gotten gains seized in the United States would be returned to the "rightful owners," he said, meaning the country from which they were stolen. He added that several confiscation cases are in the works. Reich said he was not at liberty to disclose specific details. The State Department does not discuss individual cases for legal issues of privacy. Officials can only confirm identities if they become "notorious," making privacy restrictions redundant. No countries have felt the brunt of the visa withdrawals more than Guatemala and Nicaragua. One of the first people Reich said he "had the pleasure of singling out," was former Nicaraguan federal tax collector Byron Jerez, who was once the right-hand man of Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman. Jerez and Aleman, whose term ended in January, are accused of siphoning off as much as $100-million in public funds, some of which may have made its way to Miami, where Jerez once lived and operated several businesses. The U.S. Embassy in Managua summoned Jerez early this year and informed him his visa had been revoked. "He couldn't believe it and went right to the airport to buy a ticket to Miami to show that he was beyond the law," said Reich. "This shows the mentality of impunity that has imbued some of these people," he added. "They think that because they have been able to violate the law in their country, the U.S. will treat them the same way. Well, to us they're money launderers." Jerez was denied a ticket on the grounds that his visa was no longer valid. Shortly afterward he was arrested by Nicaraguan authorities and remains in jail awaiting trial. Aleman, who is a member of congress, has so far used his parliamentary immunity from prosecution to avoid arrest. Reich would not comment about Aleman's visa status, although his case may be complicated by the fact that his wife is a U.S. citizen. Since May, at least nine people in Guatemala have had their visas revoked, U.S. officials confirmed. Those targeted include a former top general and presidential adviser linked to drug trafficking and organized crime, two former government ministers and several bankers. In most cases, the visa revocations were designed to prevent individuals suspected of crimes in Guatemala from seeking safe haven in the United States. One of those targeted, former Finance Minister Manuel Maza, is wanted by Guatemalan police on charges that he stole public money by issuing fake contracts. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Luis Rabbe was forced to resign because of accusations of public corruption involving $20-million. Despite the charges, he was recently appointed chief spokesman of the ruling party, the Guatemalan Republican Front. Guatemalan pro-democracy activists say the visa sanctions are the only effective weapon in a country where political influence has traditionally made a mockery of the justice system. "It helps us enormously," said Maria del Carmen Acena, director of the Center for Economic and Business Research in Guatemala. "When the U.S. Embassy takes away someone's visa it gives us a morale boost," she added. "It creates newspaper headlines, and it shames people." In the case of Guatemala, the United States has used the visa issue to mount a frontal assault on the government's poor record in fighting corruption. In Congressional hearings in Washington earlier this month, Reich blasted the Guatemalan government, accusing President Alfonso Portillo of maintaining "very close ties" to criminal figures. Guatemala's democracy remains weak after emerging from a bloody 36-year civil war that ended in 1996. U.S. officials say progress is being held back by the pervasive influence of organized crime, drugs and money laundering. The U.S. anti-corruption drive stems from the Bush administration's rethinking of its foreign aid policy earlier this year. Under pressure from global poverty activists, the administration pledged to increase its foreign aid budget by 50 percent. But the White House linked the new aid to an increased focus on government corruption. "It's our money," said Reich. "We don't want to give money to countries that follow the wrong policies or where there's corruption." U.S. officials say that in the future they want to see measurable political and economic reforms to strengthen democratic institutions, increase transparency and good government, and encourage foreign investment and free trade. The use of visas and asset seizures as an anti-corruption tool owes its origin to the Patriot Act passed by Congress shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. The act was principally designed to stop terrorists from entering the United States, but also allows federal authorities to confiscate the U.S. assets of foreign criminals, whether they might be used to finance terrorist acts or not. The new law extends the reach of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which previously only allowed U.S. officials to target the visas of persons known to be involved in drug trafficking, alien smuggling, terrorism and other acts of "moral turpitude," such as child molesters and war criminals. In the past, some of those clauses have been used to revoke the visas of at least two heads of state in Latin America. Colombian President Ernesto Samper lost his in the mid 1990s after he was accused of accepting drug money in his election campaign. Panama's former president, Ernesto Perez Balladares, had his taken away in 1999 for alleged involvement in a Chinese immigration racket. But the inclusion of money laundering for the first time provides a new catch-all for public officials and private citizens accused of financial crimes. While clearly enthusiastic about the new visa weapon, Reich recognized it had to be delicately handled. "I have told all the ambassadors, I want everybody to be very, very careful," he said. "First of all we don't want to harm innocent people, second this is a target-rich environment when it comes to crooked people. So we want to make sure we get the ones who deserve this punishment." But the visa weapon is a far from perfect tool, according to some experts. "It's a tough judgment call because you don't often have local convictions," said Dennis Jett, former ambassador to Peru during the government of Alberto Fujimori. Citing the case of Fujimori, Jett said it was often hard to find a smoking gun in corrupt regimes. Fujimori's administration "was known as a relatively honest government," he said. "There was a certain amount of suspicion" about drug ties and illegal kickbacks on public contracts. "But there was no intelligence to back that at the time." Jett also recognized that the United States had bigger fish to fry in Peru, which was battling drug traffickers as well as a major terrorist threat at the time. It was partly a question of how to dedicate U.S. intelligence resources. "Do you really want the agency (CIA) running around spending its efforts on bribery in a situation like that?" he asked. Other analysts question the application of the visa sanction. "Strategic interests get in the way," said FIU's Gamarra. He cited the recent case of former Bolivian President Jaime Paz Zamora, who was stripped of his U.S. visa in 1994 for ties to drug traffickers. Two other members of his political party -- including Oscar Eid, who was jailed for four years on drug-related charges, also had their visas canceled. Last year, after an intense lobbying effort, all three were given new visas. U.S. officials sought to rehabilitate their reputations in order to defeat an anti-American political movement led by coca growers in this summer's presidential elections, according to Gamarra. But that decision seriously undermined the credibility of U.S. anti-corruption efforts, he said. Eid is still banned from holding elected office in Bolivia, he pointed out. Despite that, Eid was able to attend a ground zero ceremony in New York honoring those who died on Sept. 11. "What kind of message does that send?" asked Gamarra. -- David Adams may be reached at dadams7308@aol.com.
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