Church group reportedly denied visas to attend summer conference in the United States
In what is feared to be a first strike by the United States, a local church has told members that the US Embassy in Barbados had rejected their applications for visitor’s visas.
A member of the congregation explains to REAL News that regional churches of that denomination hold a women’s conference every summer, and this year the venue chosen was in California.
However, the member reports, the women were advised by the church’s authorities in Jamaica that the Embassy had rejected their applications, stating that “no visas are being issued to Antiguans and Barbudans at this time.”
It is all being kept very hush-hush, the church member tells our Newsroom. However, as a result of the rejections, the women’s group reportedly has been instructed to choose a new venue within the region for the conference, scheduled for August.
While Antigua and Barbuda’s name had, indeed, appeared on a circulated “draft” list for visa restrictions, no official word on the country’s status has come from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In fact, in a recent social-media argument that reportedly involved Prime Minister Gaston Browne and an overseas attorney, Browne is alleged to have hotly denied any such restrictive action against Antigua and Barbuda.
