1983 - HORTENSIA BUSSI DE ALLENDE (Widow of slain Chilean President Salvador Allende)

Allende applied for a nonimmigrant tourist visa after receiving speaking invitations from several academic and community groups. The letter denying her visa stated that her presence would be "prejudicial to US interests." During hearings on ideological exclusion, Rep. Barney Frank asked, "Why was Senora Allende kept out of the United States? … It would seem to me fairly clear that it was a question of people not wanting her to make speeches here." Allende said that had she been allowed to speak in the U.S., she would have condemned President Reagan's support of the Pinochet regime in Chile.