The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has initiated two further diplomatic representations to the Government of the United States following the publication by the United States Department of State of the Final Rule establishing a permanent Visa Bond Program.
Prime Minister the Hon. Gaston Browne has written to President Donald J. Trump requesting that he direct a review of the restrictions currently affecting nationals of Antigua and Barbuda under Presidential Proclamation 10998, the related visa measures, and the newly established Visa Bond Program.
At the same time, the Embassy of Antigua and Barbuda in Washington, D.C., has submitted a formal Diplomatic Note to the United States Department of State, for the attention of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, requesting an early review of Antigua and Barbuda’s continued inclusion in these measures.
The Government’s representations are based upon the Department of State’s own explanation of the objectives of the Visa Bond Program, published in the Final Rule in theFederal Register. In that document, the Department states that the Program is intended as “a tool of diplomacy” to encourage foreign governments to strengthen information sharing, identity verification, screening and vetting, document security, compliance with immigration requirements and related security measures.
The Government of Antigua and Barbuda has pointed out that it has responded positively and constructively to each of these objectives.
Among the measures highlighted in the Prime Minister’s letter and the Diplomatic Note are:
- the strengthening by legislation of the residency requirements under Antigua and Barbuda’s Citizenship by Investment Programme;
- the establishment of biometric cooperation with the United States Department of Homeland Security to enhance identity verification and screening;
- Antigua and Barbuda’s continuing full cooperation with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in accepting promptly the return of its nationals who are lawfully removed from the United States;
- Antigua and Barbuda’s willingness to cooperate with the United States regarding Third-Country Nationals within the limits of its national capacity.
The Government has also reminded the United States that Antigua and Barbuda has historically maintained a visa overstay rate of little more than one per cent, that no citizen of Antigua and Barbuda has sought refugee status in the United States, and that the country remains a stable parliamentary democracy recognised by the World Bank as an upper-middle-income economy.
Prime Minister Browne’s letter also recalls Antigua and Barbuda’s longstanding friendship with the United States and its consistent cooperation in matters of regional security, including the fight against illicit narcotics trafficking and transnational organised crime, intelligence sharing, immigration cooperation and other matters affecting the security interests of both countries.
The Prime Minister notes that Antigua and Barbuda has consistently responded constructively to concerns raised by successive United States Administrations and respectfully submits that the objectives identified by the Department of State have now been substantially achieved in relation to Antigua and Barbuda.
Accordingly, the Government has requested that the United States review Antigua and Barbuda’s continued inclusion in the visa restrictions and Visa Bond Program in light of the facts as they now stand.
“The Government’s objective is not confrontation,” the Prime Minister said. “It is to ensure that decisions affecting the people of Antigua and Barbuda are based upon accurate information and upon the substantial steps our country has taken in close cooperation with the United States to address every legitimate concern that has been raised. We believe the time is now right for a review.”
The Government of Antigua and Barbuda remains committed to strengthening its longstanding partnership with the United States and looks forward to continued engagement with the Administration on matters of mutual interest and shared security.
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I notice Gaston is trying to fix things but how you fix a problem when you’re the problem….part of the problem is that the USA believes that Antigua has a dictator leader Venezuela and Russia has election but when a party win 99% of the seats or votes the outside world question the true fairness, when a party win 8 elections out of 10 is that a fair democracy?
Absolutely nothing’s going to happen. We all know why the situation came upon Us. We must be held accountable and understand this is our own doing and not anybody else’s. Corruption.
Lol! That is for local consumption. If that ever make it to the white house, it would probably end up in file 13.
IS THAT THE LETTER,I SAW IN THE TRASH CAN THIS MORNING?
Ron Saunders has expired Sir!! The mission needs fresh legs.
Thank him for his service but time for Ron to move on. I dont sense the US even likes him at this moment. New blood!!
The Honourable Prime Minister would know that all of these initiatives and guidelines – Visas, Bonds, restrictions, placement of countries, originates from the State Department headed by Marco Rubio. The Secretary of State is very well aware of the PM heated rhetoric and continued characterization of the US as a BULLY. You can’t CUSS your friends and then expect favours from them. Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica are the two most vocal countries in the Caribbean in their continuous critique and characterization of the US and see where it has landed them both. You do not hear any other Caribbean Leader ridiculing the US. They know the consequences for so doing and even when they have plenty to say, they keep quiet. Trump will most likely refer the letter to Secretary Rubio who already have Antigua and Barbuda exactly where he wants.
Address the CIP cah dat ah wah dem concerned bout!!!
But no! Too much money ah mek from selling passports!
When Antigua and Barbuda gets from all other large/powerful nations, who go buy the passport then???
This country yah jus…
Well Mr Browne,it is clear that the US intelligence gathering is vastly different to your own research on these criminals who have bought your Antigua’s visa.
You keep missing the message here GB..you might as well stop fooling yourself thinking that the 30 day residency requirement is sufficient enough to please the US, when it’s clearly not.
That’s just one such thing,the other, is that Marco Rubio do not trust you.. they found some damaging things in the CEO of WIOC phone/laptop..some very incrementing things.
Only the CEO and the US know what they are, or not unless you got a clue when you fly to phone calling the CEO when you found out that he was detained and searched by the FBI?
What did the CEO told you GB? The US know a lot, so keep talking like you are an idiot, because you are no fool, you know what’s going down, so stop the smoke and mirrors tactics..
Trump, let him grovel, and do not ease up an inch. He and his Administration is who got us in this mess because of greed. The Administration cannot be trusted. Wurl Boss My ass. The only time you relent is with a change at the top
What a great opportunity for Gaston Browne to outsmart Trump. Here we have two narcissists whose rhetoric without doubt has got them to where they are today.
This is equivalent to a couple of stubborn people who won’t budge from their positions. However, anyone who has come across these type of egos in the past, will know the more you massage their egos, the MORE you’ll achieve.
Look into Trump’s current administration. There were many who couldn’t stand him from the outset; people like Ted Cruz, and the recently departed Lindsey Graham, are just two to mention; and It’s well documented that they couldn’t stand hlm at the beginning of his tenure. Fact!
Yet, they turned it around and managed to persuade the president to do things their way.
Change your stance with Trump and outplay him at his own game. You know he thrives on confrontation!
DON’T SUCK UP, BUT BUCKLE UP…
The UN General Assembly convenes next month, do your thing then
Many people who purchased 🇦🇬 passports live overseas, and have bought the passport to enable them to gain entry into countries which would normally refuse them entry, or a visa using their real nationality.Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Pakistan are some of the nationalities that have utilised the CIP program. All high risk countries on a counter-terrorism level. Would Antiguan CIP security checks be able to ascertain if the Lebanese applicant has links to Hezbollah or not? I would hazard a guess: no.
Terrorist networks that smuggle narcotics, humans, guns, cars etc. require passports.The USA has every right to protect its borders, as they are a target for many of today’s extremists. You make the decision to sell your passports, now don’t expect any other country, whether the USA or in Europe to play Russian roulette with you. The risks do not usually impact the small islands, such as Dominica or Antigua and Barbuda but pose a grave danger to countries such as the USA.
The Trump administration is correct in not entertaining a country that has a CIP program. Likewise, Antiguans and Barbudans deserve protection from those that seek to do them harm. The people expect robust border controls, and the fact that the USA is pressuring 🇦🇬 to take “refugees” in should alarm people too.
It’s a pity that to this day we still don’t get it. The man don’t want you in his country. Fist of all the CIP crap, which was just crap, then they come up with biometric bullshit, then Cuban nurses, which was all fronts to force you and bullying you to get what they want, but from since his first term in office, these policies was on his agenda. We are a Shit-Hole country that has no oil or precious minerals to contribute economically, all we have are bunch of people overstaying their welcome. We are not white South Africans and I notice we often focus on Antigua and Dominica, but the tides are turning all over so don’t be naive, even in the US Caribbean territories.
Mr PM you just gave a speech calling for the fearless defense of sovereignty and to resist the bullying practices of powerful nations, now you’re on your knees begging and bowing to the same powerful nations. Mr PM, you may fight, but will never win. You will eventually accept all the criminal Deportees that you see entering aircrafts handcuffed behind their backs with a simple plastic bag, and its as simple as that, so stop pretending you have standard. First of all Marco Rubio might be secretary, but the main man behind this and who has been with the President all throughout his last term and now is that little balled head guy, think his name is Miller, so you may as well give up and give in.
#Kaiso_Thyme…
Bwoi, somebody! Anybody! Any body!
Come serve up the grog!
It looks like, our PM!
Is having a brain fog!
Don’t he recognize the difference
Between the meaning of god and gog!
…My name is CHAT GPT!
…and, to those of you who don’t really know me!
…it’s no more, mail by sail
…nor even Yahoo’s, “you’ve got mail.”
…therefore, when you use my AI format,
…trying, not to look like a DERACINATED idiot!
…instead of a stamp Return to Sender
…I’ll check and cross check the vendor
…and, it’s IP address! No less!
…even before, I attempt to address;
…address any such mess!
…so, Mr. PM, you should have acted as a guest!
…before, putting a bully like T-Rump
…to any such test!
…I’d advise you instead, to send a Rapper doing, the #HUMPTY_HUMP.
Hey! Forrest Gump!
Asot say may not have felt the TUMP!
But he said, when you spit in the air!
Please stand clear; and, beware
PoliTRICKtans are rarely sincere!
Oh god! Your gog!
Somebody! Any body!
Obsti! Swallow! Shorty!
Our PM is having a #brain_fog!
RETURN TO SENDER!
ADDRESS UNKNOWN!
NO SUCH NUMBER!
NO SUCH TOWN!
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg 🦶🏿Foot
#Garrate_Bastard
Vere Edwards
The problem with toxic narcissistic people, they have a personality disorder, their brains shut down when forced to look in the mirror, everything bad is someone else’s fault, their mind can only accept praises and not criticism, this stagnates their emotional and mental development leading to perpetually remaining the same and can’t improve and never move forward.
So I say to Gaston that all those guys at your radio station and Ron saunders singing praises to your ego, it is just terribly sad that money answer all things, and it is the tax payers monies that you squander to tell you pretty things that is now eventually creating dystopia.
Now you mess up the country, you saw smoke when Sir V C Bird , Sir George Walter, Lester Bird and Hon.Baldwin Spencer was prime minister, but it wasn’t a pot cooking, it was smoke from hard work , and you came show boating and flamboyant and just run Antigua and Barbuda aground.
Lacking any ideology or historical groundings and very young, you set about to recolonize Barbuda by the bullet after hurricane Irma with a smirk under your moustache about making Barbuda jumby bay on steroid which speaks to gentrification and forced relocation of a people whose ancestors bled blood for that land, and you turn to our passports and chartered flight to Iran and Iraq to name a few and went selling with Antigua and Barbuda unable to trace any of the monies acquired from such sales, you hid it in offshore bank account that the USA is privy to, along with your other exorbitant personal offshore bank accounts, this has caused us to be where we are, and not that we care about the USA that our own country, but you Gaston has worked only to empower white people, so the people are leaved yearning to escape to the USA or shop there, you will pay for your treason against this country in the vicissitudes of time.
This debacle has roots way back in Odebretch’s time and the involvement and relationships with some nefarious characters. The Guy has a penchant for white-collar criminals. Who knows how many sanctioned persons have entered the United States via our passports that were sold by the Hong Kong National who was given some 200 plus! What about the more than 900 ‘wealthy ‘West Africans who disappeared from the state and landed on U.S soil, except for the 13 who perished near St. Kitts? This stance is not all about the CIP; there are seriously personal issues that effect the decision taking by the Trump Administration. The Antiguan Monarch still has not come clean about the process used to channel US $674k to purchase a property in Coral Gables, Florida and is still, the head of the only country that was affiliated with Odebretch that has not had an investigation, much less a finding. He knows exactly what’s happening but pleading ignorance.
From the time we said friends to all enemies to none I knew that was a big mistake……U cannot be friends to all….Trump for sure was not gonna take a small Island state telling him NO…..Trinidad said oh HELLS YES!!! We are the US best friend no matter who else we do business with……So I guess we gotta wait till Orange man leaves office to see what can happen for us…..NEVER TELL THE USA NO….BIG BIG BIG!!! MISTAKE…..
Trinidad tried to warn Prime Minister Gaston Brown to please side with the USA no matter who he has ties to give The USA support because Trump has the mentality of a toddler…. He didn’t listen now here we are….
Some outstanding comments on here…👏🏾
@The world.
even though we know you support this ABLP administration (your rights) you were very strategic in many of your humorous takes on ANR trying to send a signal to your Bwoi GB..You know where I stand with what I know about the deep things that happens in Antigua’s politics, but I for one was hoping he GB listened to you.
That was truly my hope, no cap, because I know he has not listened to me one bit since I’ve been warning him.
But what can be done now, because here we are indeed.
Trump is nowhere close to someone that I will stand behind as a political candidate, but I understand the plays that he makes, and I also understands how negotiations works, from all my life, negotiating terms to get where I am today.
I just hope that Antiguan’s finally wake up and choose to see that the promise of prosperity comes with a heavy price..some, by the time their riches arrives, they are old and have lost everything for a few more pieces of silver. For me I love Antigua and the Caribbean as I hold, but also know the psychological make up of almost every island, from my travels to, and spending real time amongst the locals.
But this is sad, because this could have been avoided.
Friends to all and enemy to none was a death sentence with the US relationship, not when you have the biggest enemy embassy in all of the Carribean in your island, and when you were deep in bed with a dictator like Maduro..
It just wouldn’t have cut it with this man that’s in the white house, and definitely not with Marco. This man has aspiration to be a president one day.
You have to know how to read the room, your bwoi Gassy is clueless in that. He was playing all sides and got caught..you can’t do that in today’s political atmosphere. I keep telling him..if you are going to choose sides, choose the US over these other bastards, and twice on sundays..I don’t give a crap who’s in the white house. The US is bigger than one man. Florida is almost a country by itself, and we all know how the cubans and Hispanics in South Florida thinks, where Marco Rubio resides.
Nuff said.
And one more thing, because people don’t think.
You think Trump would have gone after Cuba and Venezuela this hard if he didn’t have the backing out those two countries very own people, where he won in South Florida by a landslide?
You are very smart and understandable these things, because some Antiguan’s love to talk about the plight of the Cubans and the Venezuelan people..
So should we call them sellouts as well, because they certainly stand behind Trump and Marco with their moves on Cuba and Maduro. Huuumm!
Didn’t someone in the White House allege that Gaston Browne and family had links to Maduro? If my memory serves me correctly, GB had insisted these claims were fabricated. Do Antiguans and Barbudans trust the credibility of their leadership?
Co-operation with tyrannical governments, whether it be Cuba, Venezuela, or China is one thing. Friendships with these tyrants playout ike The Godfather. Speak to any Venezuelan or Cuban in exile and they will tell you that they were driven from their homelands due to the inability to buy the most basic of medical supplies or food. Venezuela, an oil rich country, yet the people are living in poverty. All whilst the rich at the top get richer.
The packaging of socialism and communism might appear shiny, yet the lived experience of “eating grass, comrades” tells a very different story. Furthermore, just try to exercise your freedom of speech in China, as people do here in this comment section. Beware when you bash the USA in favour of a new world order.You might find yourself in the gulag.
Food for thought, especially in light of the fact that 🇦🇬 is finding itself hung out to dry.
So now that the visa bond has both increased and is permanent, shouldn’t we revisit this 3rd country nationals deal.
CIP/CBI is not a COMMODITY it is a side hustle for Gaston Browne and his cronies; there should be a commission of inquiry headed by FBI/ INTERPOL on the number of passports sold, the names and country the CIP/CBI passport holders are from, the amount of money received and how it was spent by the Government of Antigua from the inception to present.
fungee as a matter of fact U cyan clap de salt fish and cassi pan dat.