Guyana President Irfaan Ali has rejected an offer to resign from Belizean Justice Godfrey Smith, chairman of the commission investigating the deadly MV Barima ferry disaster, following the revocation of Smith’s U.S. visa.
Smith, a former attorney general and foreign minister of Belize, confirmed Tuesday that he had offered to step down as chairman of the MV Barima Commission of Inquiry after receiving notice that his U.S. visitor visa had been revoked.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the resumption of public hearings into the July 18 ferry capsizing, which claimed more than 100 lives, Smith said he believed it was appropriate to inform the Guyanese president of the development and offer his resignation.
“As a matter of professionalism, even though I have acted in no untoward way whatsoever, the professional thing to do” was to inform the president of what had happened and offer to resign if he believed the visa revocation could interfere with his role, Smith said.
However, he said Ali “emphatically declined the offer.”
Smith also disclosed that he had offered to resign from his position as chairman of the University of Belize, but that offer was similarly rejected.
The development follows a notice issued by the U.S. Embassy in Belmopan confirming that the U.S. Department of State revoked Smith’s B1/B2 visitor visa on November 7 under Section 221(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
According to the notice, the decision was based on information that emerged after the visa was issued, “indicating that you may be ineligible for your visa.”
The embassy did not disclose the nature of the information or provide a specific explanation for the revocation.
The notice states that Smith can no longer travel to the United States using the revoked visa and must apply for a new one if he intends to visit the country in the future.
Smith said the U.S. Embassy in Belize had declined to explain the decision, leaving him to speculate that it could be connected to his efforts to strengthen academic exchanges between Belize and China.
As chairman of the University of Belize, Smith said he had invited Chinese academics to participate in exchanges and helped arrange study tours to China for Belizean students.
“I am aware that the United States government has indicated that it frowns upon any expansion of China’s footprint in Latin America, and all I am left to surmise is that my activities as chairman of the union, having visited China and sending students there, is a message and a signal that that should not be done,” he said.
However, there has been no official confirmation linking Smith’s visa revocation to his academic activities or relations with China.
Belize is among three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than mainland China. The others are St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia.
The issue comes amid growing geopolitical competition between Washington and Beijing in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Guyana, meanwhile, maintains diplomatic relations with China under its One China policy, despite its increasingly close cooperation with the United States in security, defense, energy, trade and economic development.
In February 2021, Guyana reversed a decision to allow Taiwan to establish a trade office in the country after China strongly objected to the arrangement.
Smith, a senior counsel and prominent Caribbean jurist, served as Belize’s attorney general from 1999 to 2003 and foreign minister from 2003 to 2005. Between 2017 and 2020, he served as a High Court judge and acting justice of appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
He is also the founder and senior partner of his law firm, specializing in commercial and public law litigation.
His visa revocation comes amid a broader crackdown on U.S. visa holders under President Donald Trump’s administration.
On October 20, the U.S. State Department reported that more than 300,000 visas had been revoked since Trump began his second term in January 2025, according to Reuters.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said at the time that the administration “has revoked more visas at a faster pace than any administration in history.”
Despite the visa decision, Smith is expected to continue leading the inquiry into the MV Barima ferry disaster following President Ali’s rejection of his resignation offer.
caribbeannationalweekly.com
