The State Department revoked the visa of former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on Tuesday.
Arias is a Nobel Peace Prize winner who often traveled to the United States to receive further accolades for his work while he was president. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in 1987 during his first term, during which he negotiated peace for a brewing civil war in Latin America due to an uprising from Nicaraguan rebels.
This decision was announced via email, as Arias told the Associated Press the message said the loss of his visa “is based on the fact that subsequent to visa issuance, information has come to light that you may be ineligible for your visa.”
“The United States already gave me 93 honorary degrees,” Arias said. “They aren’t going to give me any more. The main reason for my trips [to the U.S.] was to receive those doctorates. I would have preferred this didn’t happen because I admire that country, I admire its people.”
President Donald Trump issued a 10% tariff against Costa Rica on Wednesday. Arias, a proponent of free trade who helped accomplish the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement, criticized the move. In 2022, the last year the investment summary was reported, U.S. goods and services totaled an estimated $108.5 billion within the region, with $58.3 billion in exports and $50.2 billion in imports.
Per Costa Rican law, Arias wasn’t allowed to serve consecutive terms, but he returned to office in 2006 for his second and final term. At the time, Costa Rica was one of two countries that held an embassy in Jerusalem, but Arias moved the Costa Rican Embassy to Tel-Aviv. Then, the president offered recognition to the “state of Palestine.”
“Visa records are confidential under U.S. law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases,” the State Department said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTESTER ON STUDENT VISA AMONG THE FIRST TO SELF-DEPORT
This comes as the State Department is in the middle of an effort to revoke the visas of pro-Palestinian student protesters. While some, such as Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, were detained under Trump’s executive order to combat semitism, others, such as Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, were allegedly “engaged in activities in support of Hamas,” per Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has committed to revoking the visas of those who “support terrorists” and of “foreign government officials responsible for facilitating the transit of illegal aliens into the United States.” However, Costa Rica is not in the top five countries with illegal immigrants in the U.S., per Customs and Border Protection data.
