In a Jan. 1st message to the nation posted on social media, Honduran President Xiomara Castro delivered a sharp message to the United States: if President-elect Donald Trump carries out his threat to deport Hondurans (among others) en masse from the United States, Honduras will consider it a hostile act which eliminates the grounds for Honduras to continue to allow the United States to keep its military bases inside Honduras. She suggested a much smarter deal for the United States: invest instead in helping Honduras build its planned cross-isthmus railroad. We quote:
“We hope that the new U.S. administration of the democratically-elected President, Donald Trump, will be open to constructive and friendly dialogue; that it will not take unnecessary reprisals against our migrants, who as a rule make a great contribution to the U.S. economy.
“Faced with a hostile attitude of the massive expulsion of our brothers, we would consider a change in our policies of cooperation with the United States, especially in the military domain, under which—without paying a penny for decades—they maintain military bases in our territory. In that case, [the bases] would forfeit any reason to be in Honduras.”
