The revocation of Viviana Marín’s U.S. visa has drawn renewed attention to a broader pattern emerging under President Donald Trump’s second term: the use of visa cancellations as a political weapon against critics across Latin America.
Marín, a Colombian activist aligned with left-wing politics, had called on citizens to take to the streets to make life “unlivable” for President Abelardo De La Espriella’s government. Her visa was subsequently pulled by Washington, making her the latest in a growing list of public figures targeted by similar measures.
According to reporting from Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, the Trump administration has relied on broad executive authority to strip visas from individuals it considers hostile to U.S. interests, with little oversight from the courts. This expanding practice has raised concerns among observers who see it as a tool to silence political dissent beyond U.S. borders, particularly among voices critical of allied or friendly governments in the region.
The case underscores how immigration and visa policy have become instruments of foreign policy leverage, blurring the line between routine diplomatic decisions and politically motivated sanctions. Because U.S. visa decisions are largely discretionary and rarely subject to judicial review, affected individuals have few avenues to challenge such actions.
To learn more about how this practice has evolved and which other figures have been affected, read the full report at El Tiempo.
Image: kalleboo, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).