Jose Chua Lopez, a 20-year-old Mexican man in desperate need of heart and liver transplants, is hoping the media attention he got this week will convince the American consulate in his hometown of Hermosillo to grant him a tourist visa so he can travel to the Mayo Clinic for life-saving surgery.
So far, the State Department has twice denied Lopez a visa to travel for treatment, even though his father is an Arizona resident and he's been approved for travel to the U.S. before the past. Lopez and his family have received nothing but "bland bureaucratic responses" when they
try to get answers, The Washington Post reported.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told The Associated Press that "our team is looking into it."
The Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, has accepted Lopez for an appointment and his family and friends have already raised $18,000 for his travel and treatment. The only hang-up is the visa, which he had until he was 15 years old and the family could no longer afford to renew it.
"Will the State Department kill or help this young man?" asked Kevin Forbes, of Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a charity that's helping Lopez in his visa quest.
Lopez told the AP he first approached U.S. officials in Mexico in November about a visa. The consulate asked for a letter from the hospital and evidence that he could pay for the medical procedure. But when he supplied that information, the consulate still turned down his request.
"They didn't give me any explanation, they only told me they were sorry about my situation but they couldn't give me a visa," Lopez said. "This is my life we're talking about."
He now hopes public pressure will push the State Department to grant his request to travel to the Mayo Clinic.
"There are many people who are upset by what they're doing to me," Lopez told the AP. "I don't know what motives they have to deny me the visa. I'm very sad. I'm desperate. Because it's very difficult to be sick like this. I couldn't explain to you in words how it feels to be in bed and not be able to do anything. They have to give me this visa to save my life."
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