Primer ministro kosovar Ramush Haradinaj
Motivo: Por supuestamente apoyar un intento de los parlamentarios de abolir un Tribunal Especial para crímenes de guerra.
El primer ministro de Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj, podría tener algunos privilegios más que sus conciudadanos de su aislado país, como obtener una visa por un período más corto con menos trámites. Sin embargo, en enero tuvo un atisbo de lo que suelen pasar sus ciudadanos, cuando tuvo que cancelar una visita a Estados Unidos las autoridades de este último le negaron la visa , para asistir a eventos en Iowa organizados por la Guardia Nacional.
Many Kosovo analysts believe that the refusal came as a response to the latest incentive of Kosovo Lawmakers to abolish the new War Court announced in December, which has especially elicited strong reactions by the US ambassador Greg Delawie, the UK ambassador Ruairi O’Connell, the US Department and the main countries of the European Union.
However, PM Haradinaj finally received his visa to travel to the US, on February 9, to attend the Prayer Breakfast.
Kosovo is the only country in the Balkan that has been denied visa liberalization by the EU countries so far. Kosovo passport holders can visit only a few countries without a visa and is listed among the least powerful passports of the world.
Serbian General Ljubisa Dikovic
Reason: For allegedly being involved in war crimes in Kosovo
El gobierno serbio podría estar tratando de reintegrar a las instituciones a los acusados pero no juzgados por presuntos crímenes de guerra, pero Washington no es tan ‘liberal’ cuando se trata de tales casos. Esta es la razón por la cual la Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Belgrado se negó a emitir una visa al general serbio Ljubisa Dikovic en enero , quien estaba programado para participar en una conferencia contra el terrorismo en Washington, desde octubre de 2017.
And though the US authorities refused to comment the issue, it is believed that the reason behind the refusal of Dikovic’s visa application might be the allegations that he has been involved in war crimes committed by his troops in the 1998-99 war against Albanian civilians in Kosovo. Despite the fact that Serbian human rights groups have accused Dikovic of such crimes, he has never been tried or convicted of the alleged crimes.
In October Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic alongside Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic, who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison by a UN war crimes tribunal for taking part in a bloody crackdown against Kosovo’s Albanians in the 1990s, and former Gen. Bozidar Delic had been invited to teach at the Balkan country’s military academy. The three of them accused by Serbian rights groups for war crimes in Kosovo and Bosnia, which groups also demanded the removal of Vulin from his post for “rehabilitating” Lazarevic, at the time.
Israeli singer Amir Benayoun
Reason: For allegedly offending Obama in a song
To Israeli singer Amir Benayoun it was only a song dedicated to the US president he did not fancy and did not agree with his politics, but the US authorities might have taken it closer to the heart, making the former pay with his visa.
In January this year, the US embassy in Israel refused the issuance of a visa to popular Israeli singer, Amir Benayoun, scheduled to perform at the UN concert on Holocaust Remembrance Day at UN headquarters in New York.
And though the embassy resonated declining Benayoun’s visa with singer’s failure to convince the US consul of his intention to return to his homeland after the concert, according to the media the actual reason for Benayoun’s visa denial may be a bit more sinister.
En 2015, durante la presidencia de Obama, el cantante había escrito e interpretado una canción sobre un cuervo mascota “corrupto y cruel” al que llamó Obama, al que desea una muerte rápida. Parece que hay funcionarios del Departamento de Estado de EE. UU., incluidos muchos que trabajan en la embajada en Tel Aviv, que todavía le guardan rencor a Benayoun por insultar a su ex amado presidente.
Sin embargo, el 25 de enero las autoridades estadounidenses decidieron revertir su decisión y otorgaron visa a Benayoun .
Leyenda del fútbol Diego Maradona
Razón: Por supuestamente llamar a Trump un ‘títere’
Para muchos definitivamente pasará a la historia como una de las más grandes leyendas del fútbol, para las autoridades estadounidenses sigue siendo un consumidor de drogas convicto cuya visa ha sido revocada y denegada a fines del siglo pasado. O tal vez la razón por la cual el exfutbolista Diego Maradona no pudo obtener una visa estadounidense en enero de este año, es incluso más simple que eso.
Según el abogado de Maradona, Matías Morla, el rechazo de la visa se produjo después de que la leyenda del fútbol insultara a Trump durante una entrevista televisiva, cuando se le preguntó sobre sus pensamientos sobre Trump. El exjugador y técnico argentino, que no es hincha del presidente estadounidense, lo llamó ‘chirolita’, que es un insulto común en Argentina que se refiere a las personas tontas que están bajo las órdenes de otros como marionetas.
Maradona, quien ahora se desempeña como entrenador del club Al Fujairah con sede en los Emiratos Árabes Unidos, estaba en proceso de obtener una visa para visitar Miami por un caso judicial que involucra a su ex esposa Claudia Villafañe.
Excanciller argentino Héctor Timerman
Motivo: Por ser acusado de colusión con el régimen iraní para descargar a Teherán de su responsabilidad por el bombardeo de un centro judío
El ex canciller argentino Héctor Timerman y ex embajador en los Estados Unidos, se sorprendió al enterarse de que Estados Unidos le había revocado la visa cuando intentaba tomar un vuelo a la ciudad de Nueva York para someterse a su tratamiento contra el cáncer.
Timerman, found out on January 9, that the US had revoked his visa because of the accusations against him for colluding with the Iranian regime to discharge Tehran of its responsibility for the bombing of a Jewish center in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires in 1994.
The 64-year-old former minister who alongside several senior Argentine officials, among whom the former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchne, have been indicted on December 7, last year by a federal judge to face possible treason charges over a 2013 pact with Iran which later was declared as unconstitutional.
However, on Wednesday, February 7 the Argentine Foreign Ministry announced the US State Department had agreed to issue a visa to Timerman on humanitarian grounds so that he will be able to travel to New York to continue undergoing his cancer treatment.
Spanish singer Isabel Pantoja
Reason: For being sentenced of money laundering
Popular Spanish singer Isabel Pantoja might have thought that she had paid the price of her crime when she was finished her probation on October 2016, after serving in prison for almost two years as a convict for money laundering. But it seems like the US do not wish to deal with people with delinquent background anymore, even if they are rich and famous.
The singer, who was scheduled to perform in Miami on February 11, was refused her visa application from the US authorities. According to a statement issued by the Universal record label, Pantoja’s visa application has initially been approved, but then it got rejected after a second revision.
Though there was no official confirmation, the alleged reason behind Pantoja’s visa rejection is that 61 year old artist has been accused and sentenced to two years in prison for money laundering alongside her lover, the former mayor of Marbella town.