GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Nov 11, CMC -The chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into the July 18 sinking of the MV Barima that resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives, Justice Godfrey Smith, says President Irfaan Ali had rejected his offer to resign after the United States revoked his visa.
“As a matter of professionalism, even though I have acted in no untoward way whatsoever, the professional thing to do, because it’s not my decision, I did not appoint myself, somebody else appointed me, the president, is to inform him of what has happened,” Smith told a news conference here.
He said that his offer of resignation was to allow the Guyana head of state “in the event he believes that it could in any way hinder, hamper, or taint my role as chairman of the commission”.
Justice Smith, a Belizean jurist, who is also the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) High-Level Representative on Law and Criminal Justice, as well as an ad hoc Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, said that no reason had been given to him by the United States regarding the decision to revoke the visa.
Smith, who is the chairman of the University of Belize board of directors, said the email sent to him from the U.S Embassy consular section, indicated only that the visa had been revoked.
According to the email “information has come to light indicating that you may be ineligible for your visa…if you’re not physically present in the United States at this time, the visa revocation is effective immediately.”
Smith questioned publicly what can the reasons be adding “the usual reasons in this part of the world people’s visas get revoked or cancelled has to do with drug dealings or immigration matters.
“Let me just say this, because social media, I have not followed it, but I know it is crazy with speculations, as is expected, so let me say this. I do not take drugs. I do not traffic drugs. I do not represent drug traffickers, though nothing prevents me from doing it if that was my area of law.
The US embassy confirmed that the revocation was issued by the US State Department, but indicated that no further information could be provided.
Smith told the news conferencethat President Ali “emphatically declined the offer” for him to step down, as he continued to question the rationale behind the decision of the United States.
“That therefore leads to the question as to the possible reasons for it. Because they had issued no reasons, because they had stated no reasons, what – all that I can do is to speculate based on circumstantial evidence or circumstances as to what could be the reason,” he said.
He identified his involvement in facilitating academic exchanges and study tours between the University of Belize and China as the only conceivable connection to the revocation.
He said the activities included academic engagements involving distinguished scholars from China’s Fudan University and organizing study tours to China for young leaders, including parliamentarians.
He noted that Belize maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than Beijing, suggesting that his engagements with Chinese institutions may have drawn scrutiny from Washington given US concerns over China’s expanding influence in Latin America.
The US authorities provided no official explanation for the action, he said. “I accept their decision and will move on from there.”
He added that while he would welcome a public explanation from US authorities, he would not pursue the matter further following advice that no additional details were available.
Justice Smith told reporters that the visa revocation has no bearing on the Commission of Inquiry’s work, whose hearings resumed on Tuesday.
CMC/gt/ir/2026