Daryl Vaz

Last updated

Ann-Marie Lyew
(m. 2003)
The Honourable
Daryl Vaz
MP
Daryl Vaz in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (cropped).jpg
Minister of Science Energy, Telecommunications and Transport
Assumed office
September 13, 2020
Children1
Parent(s) Douglas Vaz
Father
OccupationPolitician, Businessman
Daryl Vaz in Halifax, Canada, 2018 Daryl Vaz in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (cropped).jpg
Daryl Vaz in Halifax, Canada, 2018

Daryl Wesley Phillip Vaz is a Jamaican politician who is the Labour MP for Portland Western. [1] [2] He was the Minister of Information and Telecommunications in Jamaica from March 2009 to January 2016. His party lost the election in 2011 and Vaz served as opposition spokesman on Telecommunications. Vaz is currently Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, with responsibility for land, environment, climate change and investments, since the Jamaica Labour Party returned to government in March 2016. He also serves as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Portland Parish Western Division. [3] [4]

Contents

Early life

He was born in Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica to Douglas and Sonia Vaz. [5] His father is a former president of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association and former Minister of Industry and Commerce. [6]

Personal life

Vaz's wife Ann-Marie Vaz is MP for Portland Eastern. [7]

Controversy

Daryl Vaz engendered some controversy over his dual United States/Jamaican nationality. His mother, Sonia, was born in Puerto Rico and thus is a United States citizen by birth, albeit also a Jamaican citizen, currently resident in Canada. In 2008 or 2009 he renounced his United States citizenship in order to remain active in Jamaican politics. [8]

Vaz was charged with corruption after an investigation into a traffic violation and bribery charge involving a close personal friend. Vaz's friend Bruce Bicknell was ticketed on 9 April 2012, in a traffic offence and allegedly presented the police officer with JA$2000 along with vehicle documents. [9] It is alleged that Mr. Vaz told the police sergeant in the case that he would be promoted if he gave Bicknell a chance. Vaz stepped down from his shadow minister post for the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), as a result of the corruption charges. [10]

In 2021, Darl Vaz was reissued a USA Visa after it was cancelled - that US Visa had an annotation that reads: "212(SMALL D) (3) (A) WAIVER of 212 (A) (2C) (1).". Which according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services refers to a visitor who the consular officer or the US attorney general knows or has reason to believe is or has been an illicit trafficker in any controlled substance or in any listed chemical or is or has been a knowing aider, abettor, assister, conspirator, or colluder with others in the illicit trafficking in any such controlled or listed substance or chemical, or endeavoured to do so. [11] [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Vaz</span> Former British Labour MP

Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz is a British politician who served as the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987 to 2019. He is the UK Parliament's longest-serving British Asian MP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denzil Douglas</span> 2nd Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Denzil Llewellyn Douglas is a Saint Kittitian and Nevisian politician and the longest-serving prime minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, in office from 1995 to 2015. He was the leader of the Saint Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP) from 1989 to 2021. He was the leader of the parliamentary opposition from 1989 to 1995 and from 2015 to 2022.

The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) is a program of the United States federal government that allows nationals of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. It applies to all fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, which also have an additional program with waivers for more nationalities; American Samoa has a similar but separate program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Golding</span> Prime Minister of Jamaica from 2007 2011

Orette Bruce Golding is a former Jamaican politician who served as eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 11 September 2007 to 23 October 2011. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which he led from 2005 to his resignation in 2011.

An Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility is an application for legal entry to the United States made by an individual who is otherwise inadmissible on one or more grounds. The application is submitted to the consular office, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office or immigration court considering the immigrant visa or adjustment of status application.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visa policy of the United States</span> Policy on permits required to enter the United States and its unincorporated territories

Visitors to the United States must obtain a visa from one of the U.S. diplomatic missions unless they are citizens of one of the visa-exempt or Visa Waiver Program countries.

Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States, and until 1976 in Canada, that refers to "an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community". This term appears in U.S. immigration law beginning in the 19th century. Moral turpitude laws typically deal with legal, judicial, and business related transgressions. Moral turpitude laws should not be confused with laws regarding social morality, violations of which are more commonly called public order, morality, decency, and/or vice crimes.

David Patrick Rowe was a Jamaican-American lawyer, professor, media commentator, corruption watchdog, Commonwealth Caribbean country risk analyst and pioneer in the area of transnational law. He has spent most of his career as a litigator in Florida, along with serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law since 1989. He is one of the world's leading voices on the law of the Commonwealth Caribbean and the political economy of the wider Caribbean region, and his scholarly work and quotations have appeared in periodicals around the world. He is also frequently used as a media consultant with international publications, including the Miami Herald and The New York Times, among others.

Sharon Hay-Webster is a Jamaican politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of Jamaica from 1997 to 2012, representing the People's National Party. She came to international attention after the 2004 Haitian coup d'état, when she escorted Jean-Bertrand Aristide from his temporary exile in the Central African Republic to Jamaica at the invitation of then-Prime Minister of Jamaica P. J. Patterson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Member states of the Caribbean Community</span> Member nations of CARICOM, an economic and political union in the Caribbean

A member state of the Caribbean Community is a state that has been specified as a member state within the Treaty of Chaguaramas or any other Caribbean state that is in the opinion of the Conference, able and willing to exercise the rights and assume the obligations of membership in accordance with article 29 of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Member states are designated as either More economically developed country (MDCs) or Less economically developed countries (LDCs). These designations are not intended to create disparity among member states. The Community was established by mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, but has since become a multilingual organisation in practice with the addition of Dutch-speaking Suriname in 1995 and French-speaking Haiti in 2002. There are fifteen full members of the Caribbean Community, four of which are founding members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shahine Robinson</span> Jamaican politician (1953–2020)

Shahine Elizabeth Robinson was a Jamaican politician, who served as the Minister of Labour and Social Security. She was a member of the Parliament of Jamaica for Saint Ann North Eastern. She served briefly as the Transport and Works Minister from late November 2011 to January 2012.

Ian Dave Hayles is a Jamaican politician with the People's National Party. He was a Member of the Parliament of Jamaica since 2007 before losing his seat to Jamaica Labour Party Candidate and Attorney-at-Law, Tamika Davis, at the 2020 Jamaican general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reed Amendment (immigration)</span> US legal instrument

The Reed Amendment, also known as the Expatriate Exclusion Clause, created a provision of United States federal law attempting to impose an entry ban on certain former U.S. citizens based on their reasons for renouncing U.S. citizenship. Notably, entry can be denied to persons who renounced their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying income taxes. The United States is one of two countries in the world that taxes its citizens' income earned abroad for citizens whose primary residence is abroad. The other country to do so is Eritrea.

The HonourableDanville Walker, O.J. is a Jamaican politician, formerly Director of Elections and Commissioner of Customs, as well as a one-time candidate for the Parliament of Jamaica.

Michael Anthony Stern is a Jamaican politician with the Jamaica Labour Party. He was formerly a Member of the Parliament of Jamaica for Clarendon North West as well as State Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, but lost his seat in the 2011 general election.

Clifford Everald Errol Warmington CD is a Jamaican politician with the Jamaica Labour Party. He has represented the Saint Catherine South Western constituency in the Parliament of Jamaica since 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Grant</span>

Lindsay Fitz-Patrick Grant is a Saint Kitts and Nevis politician and lawyer. He served as Leader of the People's Action Movement until his resignation in July 2012.

Douglas Vaz was a Jamaican politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Portland Eastern by-election</span> Election result for Portland Eastern, Jamaica

A by-election to the House of Representatives was held for the Portland Eastern constituency on April 4, 2019. The seat was declared vacant due to the murder of member of Parliament Dr. Lynvale Bloomfield on February 2, 2019. The election was won by Ann-Marie Vaz of the Jamaica Labour Party.

References

  1. Virtue, Erica (10 March 2009). "Vaz shows proof he no longer hold U.S. citizenship". Jamaica Observer . Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  2. "Members of Parliament" (PDF). Jamaica Information Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 June 2013. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  3. "UPDATE: Holness names Shadow Cabinet". go-jamaica.com. 19 January 2012.
  4. "Ministers and Ministries" (PDF). Jamaica Information Service. November 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  5. "Jamaica Observer: Daryl Vaz - Newsmaker". Jamaica Observer . Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2019.
  6. "Jamaica Manufacturers Association Ltd. - Past Presidents". Jma.com.jm. Archived from the original on 20 August 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  7. "Daryl, Ann-Marie Vaz double-team Portland". jamaica-gleaner.com. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  8. "Daryl Vaz renounces United States citizenship". Sknvotelabour.com.
  9. "Police Federation defends SGT Llewellyn - Latest News - JamaicaObserver.com". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
  10. "Vaz steps aside - Politician, senior cop to face court Sep 5". Jamaica Observer .
  11. "Chapter 4 - INA 212(d)(3) Waivers | USCIS". 20 October 2021.
  12. "Vaz gets back US visitor's visa with rare waiver". 24 September 2021.