[Source/Observer Network by Zhang Jingjuan] Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize winner, recently compared the behavior of US President Trump to that of a "Roman emperor" on social media earlier this year.

According to an Associated Press report on March 3, Arias said that the US government had arbitrarily canceled his visa, but this would not stop him from continuing to publicly criticize Trump.

Arias said he received an email from the US Department of State on Tuesday, notifying him that the US side had suspended his visa in his passport.

This brief email read, "This decision is based on the fact that after the issuance of the visa, information has emerged indicating that you may no longer meet the visa requirements."

The US Department of State said that if Arias wanted to go to the United States, he must reapply for the visa. However, the department did not further explain why they made such a decision.

Not long before Arias made these remarks, Trump had just imposed "tariff sticks" on US trade partners, and Costa Rica was subject to a 10% "minimum base tariff."

The Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica stated: "We will engage in dialogue with US authorities to seek the best access conditions for Costa Rican products."

The former president of Costa Rica said that for a country that promotes free trade globally and has signed dozens of free trade agreements, this makes no sense.

Arias was the biggest promoter of the US-Central American Free Trade Agreement. He said, "History has proven this. You can analyze it based on experience; those countries that are more economically open and have higher levels of free trade develop faster and can improve within a short period of time."

At a news conference on the first day, he said he did not know why his visa was revoked, "I don't know if the revocation of my visa is some kind of retaliation because I say what I want to say."

However, he admitted that Washington might not like his comments on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the trade conflicts between the US and China, or the situation in Gaza.

The 84-year-old Arias said that this decision did not keep him awake at night.

"The US has granted me 93 honorary doctorates, they won't grant me any more," Arias explained. His main reason for going to the US was to receive these doctorates. "I hope this does not happen."

Arias served as the president of Costa Rica twice, from 1986 to 1990 and 2006 to 2010. In 1987, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for facilitating a ceasefire in Central America. During his second term as president, in 2007, Costa Rica established diplomatic relations with China and signed a free trade agreement.

According to The Guardian, in February, Arias criticized the current government of Costa Rica, led by President Rodrigo Chaves Robles, on Facebook for bowing to US pressure.

"It is not easy for a small country to disagree with the US government, especially when its president behaves like a Roman emperor, pointing fingers at other countries around the world," Arias wrote.

It was reported that the US had previously canceled the visas of three Costa Rican congressmen who opposed President Chaves's decision to exclude Chinese enterprises from participating in the country's 5G construction according to US demands. Additionally, another opposition congressman in the country had his US visa canceled on April 1st.

Furthermore, according to CNN reports, Arias also accused Trump and Vice President Vance of insulting and threatening Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the White House. He referred to the 50-minute meeting that caused global attention on February 28th.

In addition, Arias publicly expressed confusion about the Trump administration's decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Secretary of State Rubio stated that the remaining functions of the agency that were not aligned with government priorities would be stopped. Regarding this, Arias said, "Everything indicates that the priorities are wrong, and this is because the moral values are incorrect."

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Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7489113681108795956/

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