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Son of Margaret Thatcher denied US visa

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Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was denied a visit visa to enter the US and visit his family. Thatcher called it a result of his guilty plea involving a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

Thatcher, 51, pleaded guilty in January in a court in Cape Town to a role in a mercenary plot to overthrow the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. He was given a four-year suspended sentence and a $500,000 fine in a plea bargain.

His two children and Texan-born wife Diane have been in the United States for the past few months while Thatcher has been staying with his mother in London following his plea bargain in Cape Town.

He said the rejection by US visa authorities -- for reasons he did not explain -- meant that his family would instead relocate to Europe. His children, he said, will continue to be educated in America.

His spokesman said in London that Thatcher could nevertheless reapply for a US visa after two years.