Dominican Republic: U.S. Ambassador Leah Campos Denounces Political Use of American Visas

A statement that is already generating significant political debate in the Dominican Republic. During an interview on the Gepiano Podcast, the United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Leah Francis Campos, publicly acknowledged that the U.S. Embassy had, at certain moments, been drawn into domestic political disputes involving the revocation of visas.

Appointed by Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2025, Ambassador Campos explained that upon her arrival in Santo Domingo, she identified what she described as troubling practices within the political environment surrounding visa decisions.

“When I arrived, I realized that the embassy had been used to revoke visas for political reasons,” she stated, before adding the phrase that has since circulated widely online: “Fuimos usados por la política vuestra” (“We were used by your politics”).

According to Ambassador Campos, decisions regarding U.S. visas should be guided exclusively by American national security considerations and foreign policy interests, rather than by political rivalries within the Dominican Republic.

Her remarks are being interpreted as a direct response to allegations that certain political actors sought to influence U.S. consular decisions in order to target opponents through visa cancellations or restrictions.

For many observers, Leah Francis Campos is signaling a clear institutional shift, emphasizing that the U.S. Embassy should not function as an instrument for local political disputes.

A former congressional adviser on Western Hemisphere affairs, Ambassador Campos appears determined to reinforce a stricter diplomatic framework regarding visa policy and embassy operations in the Dominican Republic.

The interview, broadcast this Tuesday on the Gepiano Podcast, has since circulated extensively across Dominican social media platforms, provoking strong reactions in political and diplomatic circles.