Excerpt from State Department Daily Briefing, November 20, 2002

Excerpt from State Department Daily Briefing, November 20, 2002

Daily Press Briefing
Philip T. Reeker, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
November 20, 2002

There is a gentleman in the back. Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Yes, thank you. On Colombia.

MR. REEKER: Colombia.

QUESTION: Yes, sir. US decision to remove the visa of the Colombian Admiral Rodrigo Quinonez, can you tell us the reasons why this decision was made? Was it his family's alleged connection to the narco-traffickers or his ongoing investigation on the massacre on --

MR. REEKER: I thought he was a general, but if you say he is an admiral I will take your work for it.

QUESTION: That's what I got.

MR. REEKER: What I can you is that Rodrigo Quinonez's US visa was revoked under the Immigration and Nationality Act, that is our law that governs visa issuance under Section 212(a)(2)(c). And that deals with controlled substance trafficking. Other than that, visa records are confidential, as you probably know, so I'm not able to go into any further detail on that one.

QUESTION: Was that the only basis for this decision?

MR. REEKER: That was the basis under which the visa was revoked: Section 212 (a), Part 2, Subsection (c).

QUESTION: Thank you.

As of November 21, 2002, this document was also available online at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2002/15325.htm