Below you will find the complete list of diplomatic passports issued by Antigua and Barbuda, to its genuine and bona fide diplomats, and sold to all others for cash. Examine it yourself, looking at each name, and you will find a number of surprising entries. Here are the ones that stand out, in my opinion:
(1) Ten individuals are listed as "Ambassador-at-Large," a vague term that in and of itself violates the Vienna Convention, which requires diplomats to be assigned to a specific mission, at a specific jurisdiction, to perform specific duties. Diplomatic Immunity, the presumed reason why purchasers would lay out a large amount of cash for their "diplomat" status, only extends to the particular country where the diplomatic is posted, and while traveling to and from that nation. The rest of the world, the diplomat has no immunity.
(2) Only 28 names are of genuine, accredited diplomats, and their spouses. What about the other 158 ? Some are listed as "Economic Envoy," a totally vague title that confers zero diplomatic responsibility for anything.
(3) Some have no description after their names; a number of which are Russians. Some say "Special Envoy," yet another amorphous job description. real diplomats do not have this title.
(4) A number of them are clearly politicians, listed by their titles, and their spouses. By what stretch of the imagination are these individual entitled to diplomatic passports ? If anything, some may be entitled to official passports, but not diplomatic.
Diplomatic passports in the wrong hands allow the holder to smuggle cash, financial instruments or precious gems through customs at a port or airport of entry, in many countries in the developing world, where diplomatic passports are golden, and never questioned.
Go through the diplomatic passport list in detail. You may be surprised at what you find.
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