Officials Push Back on Online Misinformation After U.S. Visa Reports
Government officials have moved to counter what they described as misinformation circulating online following reports about changes to United States visa processing affecting Antigua and Barbuda.
Addressing questions during Thursday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Director General of Communications in the Prime Minister’s Office Maurice Merchant said officials acted quickly to verify reports after they appeared in international media.
“Once we heard of the decision of the United States government, the Cabinet immediately made contacts to verify, because it was coming from news portals,” Merchant said.
He said Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders, was engaged immediately to seek clarification directly from U.S. officials.
“Sir Ronald was engaged being on the ground in Washington. He did his research, made his contacts, and he was able to advise the Cabinet of the situation,” Merchant said.
Merchant said the ambassador subsequently issued a statement reflecting the government’s position, as officials sought to correct public misunderstanding surrounding the scope of the reported measures.
He said the government has made repeated efforts to keep the public informed amid growing anxiety, including statements from senior officials and regular media appearances.
“There have been numerous statements from government, from government officials, social media postings,” Merchant said, adding that the ambassador “is seen now as a regular feature on national television as he is always anxious to update the public on work that is being done to address this issue.”
Merchant said some reports and commentary have mischaracterized the situation, particularly regarding the extent of visa restrictions.
“The message is that the government of Gaston Browne is working feverishly with the United States officials to rectify the current situation,” he said.
He said officials have emphasized that holders of valid U.S. visas are still able to travel.
“As it stands, persons with current visas, valid visas, can travel back and forth between Antigua and the United States and its territories,” Merchant said.
Merchant said the government will continue to use official channels to provide updates as discussions with U.S. authorities continue.
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…so the ambassador is “on the ground” and they still had to call him to ask him to do investigations?
Who ever said present Visa holders cannot still travel to the US. Everybody knows that, so stop pretending people are spreading false news
The Ambassador began by saying that news media in the USA , including FOX news were saying that all visas were canceled. He said he called on official white house who clarified that it only relates to the green card applications. So in my circle we all understood it to be Green cards applications.
My beef with the government is lack of transparency in the beginning. The length of time taken to inform the general public in the beginning of the Visa situation. We were a shocked that our PM said that over 90 days ago he signed off an agreement to allow the USA to send third party deportees to Antigua.; I am also appalled that something as important as this was not first addressed on national television and radio. As many Antiguans and Barbudans and Caribbean people both at home and the diaspora are in disagreement of allowing third party deportees to be sent on our countries.
The people of Antigua and Barbuda believe “ there were more in the matar than in the pot . That our government withheld and were deceptive about the entire situation.
As it stands without due consultation our government has made poor decisions- the CIP programs and the Antigua passports are becoming weaker and Weaker. We are being turned down by groves, almost like a freeze on regular visas- students have lost scholarships. In addition to that we now have to pay a bond of up to 15,000.00 USD. So it’s full time that we push back as a people by uniting as one Caribbean. We are all children of the enslaved and exploited. Guyana one of the world’s fastest growing economies, unlike crime riddled Trinidad is still a strong member of a united Caribbean. The Caribbean still has a thriving tourism industry. St. Lucia still exports containers of bananas to Europe, our seas are still rich in sea food, our universities are among the best in the world. We still dominate international track and field and so are the children that are representing the US like Ria Benjamin and the MVP 2025 NBA basketball player.
We don’t have military to fight wars and we don’t need any. War destroys. We do not want our young people to be fighting wars.
So our biggest failure are corruption by our politicians, our public officials and civil servants in Antigua and throughout the region. We need to manage our economies and stop the wasting. We can build a strong anc safe Caribbean for our future generations.
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