Last night, the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica rejected rumors that Washington had revoked visas belonging to serving government officials, following social media posts claiming that former President Rodrigo Chaves, now minister of finance and the presidency, had lost his U.S. visa.
The embassy issued its statement yesterday after the claims circulated over the weekend and into the week. It said it was aware of false online publications alleging that the State Department had canceled visas for Costa Rican officials currently in office. “These are false rumors,” the embassy said in its Spanish-language statement. It urged readers to distinguish official U.S. government communications from claims made by unofficial or unverified accounts.
The wording matters as the embassy rejected the circulating claims about serving officials but did not name Chaves or any other individual. It also did not identify the specific posts it was addressing or provide details about anyone’s visa record. The rumors named Chaves, but the embassy’s statement did not mention him directly.
The public denial differed from the embassy’s response to earlier cases involving Costa Rican politicians, business figures and former officials. In those cases, the diplomatic mission has said it does not publicly discuss individual visa decisions and has declined to confirm or deny reported cancellations. Yesterday’s statement addressed the latest rumors without explaining previous decisions or announcing a change in that approach.
The denial came one day after Washington announced visa cancellations affecting judges, prosecutors, senior officials and business figures from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. That announcement concerned those four countries; it did not establish that Costa Rican officials had been included in the action.
Several Costa Rican public figures have, however, reported losing their U.S. visas since 2025. Those earlier cases are separate from the claims the embassy rejected this week. In February 2025, then-lawmakers Johana Obando and Cynthia Córdoba had their visas revoked. Former President Óscar Arias, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, lost his visa in April of that year. On July 9, 2025, then-legislative president Rodrigo Arias and Constitutional Chamber Justice Paul Rueda confirmed receiving notices that their visas had been canceled.
The reported cases later extended to business and media figures. In October 2025, the United States revoked the visa of Leonel Baruch, president of CRHoy and a shareholder in Banco BCT. In May 2026, it was disclosed that several members of its board had lost their visas, including board president Pedro Abreu and director Carmen Montero. The newspaper said the affected directors had received no official explanation.
For the average visa holder and applicant, yesterday’s statement announced no changes to visa validity, application procedures or appointments. Its scope was the false claims about government officials, rather than a new measure affecting travel to the United States
