Washington Revokes Visa Of Top Government Supporter

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – A university lecturer says the United States may have been sending a message to the Bruce Golding administration when it revoked the visa of a prominent businessman and a long time associate of the Prime Minister.

Professor of Law at the University of Miami, David Rowe, says the decision to revoke the visa of Wayne Chen may have been as a result of the decision by the Jamaica government not to extradite nationals wanted on criminal charges in the United States.

Chen, head of the state-owned Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is also the proprietor of the Super Plus chain of food stores.

He is a long-time associate of Golding, whom he had helped form the National Democratic Movement (NDM).

Chen found out that his visa had been revoked just prior to boarding a flight to the United States earlier this week.

Rowe said Washington is not very happy with the Golding administration and cited the refusal of the government to extradite Christopher “Dudus” Coke, a Jamaican who is wanted in the US on a number of drug and weapon charges.

Coke, is a well known activist for the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and Rowe, who is also an attorney, said he had predicted that Washington would take strong action against persons close to the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration, thought to be influencing the government not to honor the extradition treaty. “The message has been sent, I believe that they are going to be cancelling more visas of persons who are associated with the Jamaica Labour Party.

“I believe that there are individuals who have been involved in the obstruction of justice in Jamaica who have either been indicted or will be for their role in the unnecessary violation of Jamaica in the treaty process,” Rowe said.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Kenneth Baugh is to hold a meeting with the US Chargé d’Affaires, Isiah Parnell, the highest-ranking American diplomat in Jamaica regarding the cancellation of Chen’s visa. No date has been given for the meeting.

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