Oscar Arias, the former president of Costa Rica, claims the US cancelled his visa

Oscar Arias, a Nobel laureate and former president of Costa Rica, announced on Tuesday that the United States had cancelled his visa to enter the nation, weeks after he blasted U.S. President Donald Trump on social media for acting like “a Roman emperor.”

The 84-year-old Arias served as president twice, from 2006 to 2010 and from 1986 to 1990. He was a self-proclaimed pacifist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to mediate peace during the 1980s crises in Central America.

During his final term, Arias also pushed for a free trade pact with the United States and opened diplomatic relations with China in 2007.

“The United States government emailed me to let me know that they had suspended the visa attached to my passport. The communication was quite brief and lacked justification. Without providing further details on his suspicions, Arias told reporters outside his house that “one could have conjectures.”

Since the United States has attempted to counter China’s influence in the region and deported migrants from third nations into Central America, Arias had accused the current administration of President Rodrigo Chaves on social media in February of caving in to American pressure.

“It has never been easy for a small country to disagree with the U.S. government, and even less so, when its president behaves like a Roman emperor, telling the rest of the world what to do,” he said in February on social media.

Following U.S. requests, the U.S. removed the visas of three Costa Rican senators who disagreed with Chaves’ decision to bar Chinese companies from taking part in the country’s 5G development. Another opposition politician also lost her U.S. visa on Tuesday.

During his visit to Costa Rica in early February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised to assist Chaves in “punishing” Costa Rican authorities who work with “foreign actors who pose a threat to the country’s cybersecurity.”