Dear Editor,
Blaming CBI is a smokescreen—Washington’s real concern is Caribbean independence, foreign alliances, and control of the hemisphere
As of January 1st, Dominican citizens seeking entry to the United States are facing visa denials, cancellations, and heightened scrutiny. Predictably, the finger has been pointed at Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme. That accusation is not just wrong—it is deliberately misleading.
Let us be clear: CBI is not the reason Dominican citizens are being denied U.S. visas. If it were, the United States would have imposed passport-level restrictions long ago. Instead, we are seeing selective, discretionary visa denials, including against native-born Dominicans with no second citizenship and no link to CBI. That fact alone destroys the narrative.
This moment must be understood for what it really is: geopolitics.
The United States has a long and documented history of using visas, sanctions, and financial access as tools of influence across Latin America and the Caribbean. Immigration policy is not just about borders—it is about leverage. And when small states pursue development paths or foreign relationships that are not approved in Washington, pressure soon follows.
Dominica’s past and present relationships are not secrets. For years, Dominica maintained strong ties with Venezuela, benefiting from energy cooperation and regional solidarity at a time when Caribbean economies were under severe strain. That relationship, like similar ones across CARICOM, was never about ideology—it was about survival. Yet it placed Dominica on the wrong side of U.S. geopolitical preferences.
More recently, Dominica has deepened its relationship with China, securing financing for hospitals, schools, housing, roads, and major infrastructure projects that traditional Western partners were unwilling or unable to fund. Again, this is not unique to Dominica. Across the Caribbean, China has stepped into gaps long left open. But independence has a price.
Visa pressure is part of how that price is collected.
To suggest that Dominica’s CBI Programme—one of the most regulated and internationally scrutinized in the world—is suddenly the trigger for U.S. visa denials is intellectually dishonest. No CBI citizen can obtain a U.S. visa without appearing at a U.S. embassy. Every applicant is vetted by American authorities. The United States controls its own borders completely.
What is really happening is a reassertion of hemispheric control, consistent with a modern interpretation of the Monroe Doctrine: Caribbean nations are free—so long as their economic choices, diplomatic partners, and development models remain acceptable to Washington.
This should concern the entire region.
Today it is Dominica. Tomorrow, it could be any CARICOM state that dares to diversify partnerships, resist economic dependency, or finance development outside traditional channels.
Blaming CBI only weakens the Caribbean position. The real issue is sovereignty—who decides how we develop, who we partner with, and whether small states are truly free to chart their own futures.
Visa denial is the weapon. Control is the objective. And the Caribbean must stop pretending otherwise.
Disclaimer
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