The authorities of the United States have communicated this Thursday the imposition of an entry ban on more than 60 people, including former political leaders and high-ranking officials from Colombia and Bolivia, as part of the Trump Administration's campaign against corruption and drug trafficking in the region.
The State Department has detailed that visa restrictions have been imposed on 21 Colombian citizens who, "through activities of corruption or drug trafficking, undermine democratically elected governments in our hemisphere, regardless of their political affiliation."
This group includes the former president of Ecopetrol, Ricardo Roa; the mayor of Sincelejo, Yahir Acuña; Senator Wadith Alberto Manzur and Congresswoman Karen Manrique, currently detained in Colombia for the corruption case of the National Unit for Risk Management (UNGRD).
The measure also affects former senators Julio Chagui and Liliana Esther Bita, as well as former congressman José Ignacio Mesa Betancurt.
For the same purpose, the department headed by Marco Rubio has expanded these restrictions to another 40 people in Bolivia, including former prosecutors Juan Lanchipa, Félix Balderas, and Armando Rojas, as well as magistrate Julio César Porras, responsible for the Controlled Substances Unit in Santa Cruz.
Also included in the list, linked to this region, are the president of the Departmental Court of Justice of Santa Cruz, Aldo Quezada; Judge Julio Alba; and the director of the General Personal Identification Service, Óscar Ortiz.
Completing the list are deputies Rafael López and Rolando Pacheco, the commander of the Tarija Police, Freddy Pereira; the former general director of Migration, Katherine Calderón, and the former head of Airport Security of the Special Force to Combat Drug Trafficking (FELCN) at Viru Viru International Airport, Fernando Velasco.