Meet Kelvin Blas
Army veteran. Six years stranded in Togo, West Africa. Not because he committed a crime. Not because he lacks documentation. Because State Department officials systematically failed him, then covered those failures, then retaliated when he documented their negligence.
The story gets darker. Through sources in Togo, we’ve uncovered connections between his former Army command, events in Afghanistan before his 2018 retirement, and family ties to the very ambassador overseeing his abandonment. The Department of Defense has stonewalled our FOIA requests about his service record with the same systematic obstruction as State. Three agencies – State, DoD, and Army – working in concert to keep one veteran silenced. Why? That’s the subject of an upcoming investigation. For now, focus on how State Department alone has failed him.
I’ve been fighting for Kelvin for those six years through Covenant for Forgotten Warriors, the veteran advocacy nonprofit I founded when it became clear no official channel would help him.
This isn’t speculation. Through systematic FOIA requests – 180+ active requests across multiple federal and state agencies – we’ve documented patterns of government stonewalling that go far beyond just Kelvin’s case. State agencies refusing to provide SNAP data to USDA. Federal agencies burying transparency. A systematic culture of obstruction across government at every level.
We have the receipts.
The Currency of American Corruption
No money changed hands in Kelvin’s case. No bribes. No kickbacks. But the mechanism is identical to what I saw in Ghana: officials prioritizing their interests over their duty.
The Pattern:
- Consular officers fail to provide mandated services
- Failures get documented in internal reports
- Officials bury the documentation to protect their career advancement
- When the veteran complains, officials manufacture justifications
- When he persists, they escalate to physical removal and threats
- Six years later, he’s still stranded
November 11, 2025 – The Latest Example:
Kelvin hadn’t eaten in three days. I had no money to send him. Desperate, he went to the U.S. Embassy in Lomé – the institution that’s supposed to protect American citizens abroad.
A guard stopped him outside. Asked what he wanted. Kelvin said he needed to see the Ambassador.
The guard went inside. Spoke to someone for approximately 20 minutes. Came back out.
“The secretary said he’s not welcome, and needs to leave.”
When Kelvin didn’t leave immediately – a starving American veteran standing outside his own embassy – the guard two-handed shoved him in the chest to force him away.
As Kelvin walked away, the guard delivered the final message: “Next time you won’t have the chance to come back.”
November 13, 2025 – The Official Spin:
Two days later, a Mr. Agawu Raymond spoke with one of my informants in Togo. The embassy’s version of events? Kelvin was asked to leave because he “had no appointment scheduled.”
But Raymond revealed more than he intended. He stated that “from today onward, if Kelvin ever comes to the embassy without holding his American passport in his own hands, he will be arrested or sack [removed]” because the passport is what proves his identity and nationality.
Think about that requirement. An American veteran – whose identity the embassy knows, whose case they’ve documented for years, who they’ve systematically failed – must physically hold his passport in his hands to not be arrested by guards at his own embassy.
Raymond also complained that “someone has been tarnishing the image of the embassy on the internet, spreading negative comments all over.”
There it is. The real concern isn’t that they failed a veteran. It’s that someone is documenting the failure publicly.
The System:
A starving veteran gets physically assaulted and threatened with arrest at his own embassy. The official response? Blame him for not having an appointment. Threaten him with arrest if he returns without passport in hand. Complain about negative comments online.
State Department officials face no consequences for consular failures. They face career damage for having failures exposed. So failures get buried, documentation gets delayed or heavily redacted, and veterans who persist in seeking accountability get physically removed and threatened.
This is career protection, not consular service. The embassy’s reputation matters more than the veteran’s welfare. Officials’ comfort matters more than their duty.
The Cost:
Six years and counting. One veteran’s life in limbo. Taxpayer dollars funding dysfunction. A veteran who served his country abandoned by the very officials tasked with serving him abroad.
The Evidence Trail
Through FOIA, we’ve documented:
- Systematic consular failures spanning years
- Internal reports showing officials knew about problems
- Patterns of delayed responses and buried documentation
- Retaliation against the veteran for seeking accountability
- Officials manufacturing justifications after the fact
- Department of Defense and Army obstruction matching State’s stonewalling – three agencies coordinating to keep one veteran silent about events in Afghanistan
- A broader pattern of government stonewalling across multiple agencies on multiple issues
Our FOIA Campaign:
180+ active requests across federal and state agencies. Not just about Kelvin – about systematic transparency failures everywhere. State agencies refusing to provide SNAP data to USDA. Federal agencies burying accountability. A culture of obstruction that goes far beyond one stranded veteran.
Recent Appeals Filed:
30+ appeals when agencies systematically obstruct FOIA through delays, excessive redactions, and missed deadlines. We appeal. We document. We build the case.
Congressional Oversight Preparation:
We’re building the case for congressional intervention because the State Department has demonstrated it will not hold itself accountable. Every delayed FOIA response, every excessive redaction, every missed deadline, every physical assault of a veteran at his own embassy is evidence for that case.
The Parallel to Ghana:
Different continent. Different mechanism. Same result: a citizen abandoned by systems that should protect him, forced to organize outside those systems to seek justice. In Ghana, I went to court and won deportations. In America, I’m filing FOIA requests and preparing congressional cases. The tools vary. The fight is the same.