May 21, 2013
Catie Curry
News Writer
mETRO SCENE
Photos: Elise Vu/DC Spotlight Newspaper
WASHINGTON, DC — Actor Sean Penn gathered with 
Representative Chris Smith (D-NJ) and members of Congress on Monday to advocate for the freedom of an American prisoner in Bolivia as well as the future for U. S. citizens detained overseas.
American Jacob Ostreicher has been held in Bolivia for two years after being arrested in June 2011 for alleged money laundering as well as associating with criminal organizations. No formal charges have been made against him, yet he remains under house arrest in the country after being released from prison on bail in December 2012.
The corruption involved in Ostreicher’s case has caused Smith, as well as Representative Nydia Velaquez (D-NY), to re-introduce the Justice for Imprisoned Americans Overseas Act, or “Jacob’s Law,” as it is also known. This law, H.R. 1778, will deny visas to any foreign 
government officials who are holding Americans and violating their human or due process rights. This ban on travel would also apply to the officials’ immediate family members.
“It is wrong for our government to give foreign officials and their families the privilege — and it is a privilege, not a right — to visit and study in the U.S. while those same officials are wrongfully detaining an American abroad,” Smith said.
Penn, an Academy Award-winning actor, became involved with the case in October 2012 after a phone call from fellow actor Mark Wahlberg who alerted him to Ostreicher’s situation. Penn has since had the chance to meet with Ostriecher multiple times last year. Since then, he has spoken several times on Ostreicher’s behalf.
During his 
testimony in Congress on Monday, Penn also suggested that by asking companies to boycott Dakar 2014, an annual rally of off-road racing, which will be making a stop in Bolivia, the president of Bolivia might be pressured to release Ostreicher. Companies included in this event’s roster were Michelin, Honda, and Red Bull.
“This international pressure could very well be precisely what the President of Bolivia needs to be able to finally expel the malignant cancer of corruption that is killing both the Bolivian justice system and thousands of people like Mr. Ostreicher,” Penn said.
After listening to Penn’s ideas, Representative Smith approved the suggestion and agreed to petition these companies. “I believe Jacob’s life is in danger as we sit here today,” Penn explained during his testimony before Congress. “We don’t want to look back and say we should have.”
