The U.S. State Department announced Monday that it has revoked the entry visas of Colombian businessman Euclides Torres and Senator Martha Peralta, along with their immediate families, as part of the “Shield of the Americas” initiative that Colombia has joined. Officials said the move targets individuals accused of undermining democratically elected governments in the region.
Both figures are considered part of the inner circle of former President Gustavo Petro, who himself appears on the so-called Clinton List, a U.S. registry of individuals linked to drug trafficking or money laundering. According to the Trump administration, the sanctions stem from commitments made at the Doral Summit and reaffirmed in a September 22 declaration by leaders of the Shield of the Americas initiative, which aims to fight corruption and drug trafficking across the hemisphere.
Torres, a businessman from Colombia’s Caribbean coast, owns a conglomerate with major interests in energy, road signage, and public lighting. He notably financed a controversial political event featuring Petro’s campaign branding in Barranquilla and benefited significantly from government contracts during Petro’s term. Peralta, a senator from La Guajira, is under investigation by Colombia’s Supreme Court for her alleged role in improperly advancing Petro’s 2023 social reforms amid the UNGRD corruption scandal, which involved misuse of disaster relief funds.
The visa restrictions, issued under U.S. immigration law provisions concerning foreign policy risks, also swept up several judges, prosecutors, and officials from Bolivia. To learn more about the individuals involved and the broader diplomatic implications, read the full story at El Tiempo.
Source: Primeras acciones del Escudo de las Américas en Colombia: EE. UU. retiró visas de Euclides Torres y Martha Peralta, cercanos a Petro (eltiempo.com).
Image: kalleboo, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).