[ZERO] Honduran President Xiomara Castro has threatened to evict US military forces from a major base if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his promise to unleash a mass-deportation policy targeting illegal immigrants. An estimated five percent of the Honduras population lives in America.
"Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military arena," Castro said in a New Year's day address. In office since January 2022 and a member of the leftist Liberty and Refoundation (LIBRE) Party, Castro's husband Manuel Zelaya was president from 2006 until he was removed in a 2009 coup.
Castro's remarks were cheered by many, but some Honduran politicians hesitated to endorse the pre-emptive threat on a Trump administration that hasn't even taken power yet, while others condemned it. Among the detractors was likely November 2025 presidential challenger Jorge Calix, who said Castro's heated rhetoric put Honduras "in grave danger." Another potential challenger, Olban Valladares, said "[Castro] knows we don’t have the ability to threaten the United States in any way, that the damages it would cause Honduras would be terrible."
Another charity state.
Like other Latin American countries, Honduras has a huge financial interest in keeping its huge population of illegal emigrants inside the United States -- the money they send back to families inside Honduras accounts for up to 25% of the country's economy, the New York Times reports. |