State Department Tightens Visas on Central Americans Over CCP Ties

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Sep 6, 2025 - 09:54 Updated: Sep 6, 2025 - 03:39
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State Department Tightens Visas on Central Americans Over CCP Ties

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Sept. 4 a new visa restriction policy against Central American nationals controlled by Beijing, calling the move a response to “China’s corrupt influence” in the region.

Rubio said in a statement that the visa restriction applies to “Central American nationals who, while in Central American countries and intentionally acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), knowingly direct, authorize, fund, provide significant support to, or carry out activities that undermine the rule of law in Central America.”

He did not identify anyone by name or provide concrete examples of the actions that prompted the new policy. However, he said that “a number” of Central Americans who “have previously engaged in such activities” will now be ineligible to enter the United States.

“These actions reaffirm President Trump’s commitment to protect America’s economic prosperity and national security interests in our region,” Rubio stated.

“We continue to promote accountability for Central American nationals who intentionally work with the CCP in Central America and destabilize our hemisphere.”

Before China’s communist regime emerged as a major player in Central America, it was Taiwan that held greater diplomatic influence across the region. However, starting in 2017, a diplomatic shift began to take hold, with Panama cutting ties with Taiwan in favor of recognizing China.
The diplomatic switch continued in 2018 with the Dominican Republic and El Salvador, followed by Nicaragua in 2021, and Honduras in 2023. Costa Rica had already made the switch in 2007.
Taiwan, a self-governing island that the Chinese regime considers a part of its territory, now maintains formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See and 11 countries, including Belize, Guatemala, and Paraguay.

Five-Nation Trip

On his first international trip as secretary of state in February, Rubio traveled to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, billing the tour as an effort to deepen economic partnerships and counter the CCP’s influence in the region.
After meeting Rubio, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino said on Feb. 2 that his country would not renew its participation in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as One Belt, One Road. Mulino said the agreement was set to expire in two to three years but could be terminated sooner.
Rubio also informed Mulino and other senior Panamanian officials that China was wielding “unacceptable” control and influence over the Panama Canal, a situation that, if left unsolved, could compel the United States to “take measures necessary” to safeguard its access to the waterway, according to the State Department.

During his visit to El Salvador, Rubio signed a memorandum of understanding to advance civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries. According to the State Department, Rubio shared with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele strategies on countering the CCP’s influence, aiming to safeguard “the sovereignty and interests of both nations and the region.”

Rubio applauded Costa Rica as a “model” for other countries following its decision to allow only “trusted vendors,” excluding Chinese suppliers, to bid on its 5G system, at a joint press conference with Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles during his trip to the country.

Costa Rica should “deserve a lot of support” for standing firm in turning aside Chinese companies “that are not sure” but are “backed by governments like the government of China that likes to threaten, that likes to sabotage, that likes to use economic coercion to punish” countries, Rubio said, with Chaves Robles standing next to him.

In Guatemala City on Feb. 5, Rubio held a joint press conference with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo, during which he warned about China’s “debt trap” diplomacy.

“We’ve seen case after case where the Chinese government comes in with billions of dollars, they promise, they start a project, but then they never finish. They bring in their own workers to do the work, and in the end, the project is either incomplete or they are in debt and now a government owes them billions of dollars in what we call a debt trap,” Rubio said at the time.

At the last stop of his trip, Rubio expressed the U.S. desire to work with the Dominican Republic to develop rare earth elements, during a joint presser alongside Dominican President Luis Abinader.

In August last year, the Dominican Republic announced that it would establish a state mining company to explore and develop the country’s key mining resources, including rare earths.

“Those rare earth elements belong to the Dominican Republic,” Rubio said at the time.

“This is your country and this is yours, but we want to help you develop it, because it’s better that these elements are in the hands of an ally rather than in the hands of a country that’s not an ally on the other side of the world,” he added, in a veiled reference to China.
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