Honduran President Xiomara Castro threatened to shut down the United States military base in her country if President-elect Donald Trump mass deports her citizens back to their home country once he takes office.
Castro, a far-left socialist, said that she would change her administration’s “collaboration” policy with the US and the American military base in Honduras would “lose its reason for existence" during a televised New Year speech last Wednesday, Breitbart reports.
“Faced with a hostile attitude of massive expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the US,” Castro said, “especially in the military field in which, without paying a penny for decades, they [Americans] maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case would lose all reason to exist in Honduras.”
She continued: "I want to say that we hope that the new US administration of the democratically elected president, Donald Trump, will be open to dialogue, constructive and friendly ... That he does not take unnecessary reprisals against our migrants, who as a rule are a great contribution to the US economy."
Over 500 US military personnel have operated out of Honduras from the Soto Cano Air Base, which was built in 1982. It also houses over 500 Honduran and US civilians and serves as the headquarters for Joint Task Force Bravo, which oversees Central America.
Over 1 million Hondurans, both legal and illegal, are currently in the United States, with around 280,000 set to be deported. Former Honduran Vice President Salvador Nasralla warned Castro against severing the relationship between the two countries by expelling the American military in response to mass deportations.
Castro, a far-left socialist, said that she would change her administration’s “collaboration” policy with the US and the American military base in Honduras would “lose its reason for existence" during a televised New Year speech last Wednesday, Breitbart reports.
“Faced with a hostile attitude of massive expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the US,” Castro said, “especially in the military field in which, without paying a penny for decades, they [Americans] maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case would lose all reason to exist in Honduras.”
She continued: "I want to say that we hope that the new US administration of the democratically elected president, Donald Trump, will be open to dialogue, constructive and friendly ... That he does not take unnecessary reprisals against our migrants, who as a rule are a great contribution to the US economy."
Over 500 US military personnel have operated out of Honduras from the Soto Cano Air Base, which was built in 1982. It also houses over 500 Honduran and US civilians and serves as the headquarters for Joint Task Force Bravo, which oversees Central America.
Over 1 million Hondurans, both legal and illegal, are currently in the United States, with around 280,000 set to be deported. Former Honduran Vice President Salvador Nasralla warned Castro against severing the relationship between the two countries by expelling the American military in response to mass deportations.
