By Zoila Palma: Attorney Godfrey Smith told 7news Belize that he believes his U.S. visa was revoked due to his work in promoting China’s presence in Belize.
Smith said that mostly U.S. visas are revoked due to drug dealings or immigration matters.
“So, let me say this: I do not take drugs. I do not traffic drugs. I do not represent drug traffickers, though nothing prevents me from doing it. If that was my area of law, I do not engage in immigration hustling or immigration trafficking. Not ever. Not now. I do not engage in representing Americans who are trying to evade taxes in the United States. I have no such clients. I do not engage in terrorism or terrorism financing, or any such thing, or money laundering for the purposes of terrorism financing. So, I say all of that to say there can be absolutely no doubt that it is not related to any nefarious activity,” Smith said.
“And why do I say that I wasn’t completely surprised when I got it? Because the US government has stated very plainly that its desire is to reduce China’s footprint in Latin America. This administration has made no bones about that. And this year, and especially over the past few months, I have been engaged in enlarging China’s footprint in Belize,” he added.
In addition, Smith said that Belize maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan but following his visit to China where he engaged with high-level officials of the Chinese government, China agreed to a collaboration.
“The officials of the government of China said that notwithstanding the lack of diplomatic relations, they were prepared through me to engage in that collaboration. As a result of that, I traveled to Jamaica, where I met with officials of the Chinese Embassy in Jamaica, since they do not have an embassy in Belize.
And we formalized a program for Belizean young leaders in the media and academia, etc., to visit China on study tours. And so far, a number of Belizeans have gone,” he explained.
The post Smith believes his work promoting China’s presence in Belize led to U.S. visa revocation appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: Attorney Godfrey Smith told 7news Belize that he believes his U.S. visa was revoked due to his work in promoting China’s presence in Belize. Smith said that mostly U.S. visas are revoked due to drug dealings or immigration matters. “So, let me say this: I do not take drugs. I do not
The post Smith believes his work promoting China’s presence in Belize led to U.S. visa revocation appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.