TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) 鈥 Honduras President Xiomara Castro 鈥檚 comments earlier this week threatening to stop her country鈥檚 cooperation with the U.S. military if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on promised mass deportations have generated political heat at home, even as the U.S. government has remained silent.
In a New Year鈥檚 Day speech on a national television channel, Castro said that , Honduras would reconsider military cooperation with the U.S.
鈥淔aced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change of our cooperation policies with the United States, especially in the military realm,鈥 Castro said.
She said the U.S. had maintained a presence in Honduran territory for decades without paying a cent and if Hondurans are expelled en masse that presence would cease to have any reason to exist in Honduras. She added that she hoped the Trump administration would be open to dialogue.
It was just the latest response in the region to early pronouncements from Trump.
His threat to impose tariffs on Mexico if it didn鈥檛 do more to stop illegal migration and drug trafficking was met with a suggestion of . More recently Trump criticized charges to transit the Panama Canal and suggested the U.S. could take it back, something .
The main U.S. military presence in Honduras is at Soto Cano Air Base outside the capital. While it is a Honduran base, the U.S. has maintained a significant presence there since 1983 and it has become a key U.S. launching point for humanitarian and anti-drug missions in Central America.
It is home to Joint Task Force Bravo, which the U.S. Defense Department has described as a 鈥渢emporary but indefinite鈥 presence.
The U.S. Defense Department declined to comment, noting that it 鈥減ertains to campaign statements and not policy.鈥 U.S. Embassy in Honduras did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Castro鈥檚 political opposition, however, has been quick to denounce the president鈥檚 comments.
Jorge C谩lix, a probable presidential aspirant for the Liberal Party in Honduras鈥 Nov. 30 elections, said Castro had put Honduras 鈥渋n grave danger鈥 for .
Olban Valladares, a political analyst contemplating his own run for office for the Innovation and Unity Party, panned Castro鈥檚 threat.
鈥淪he knows we don鈥檛 have the ability to threaten the United States in any way, that the damages it would cause Honduras would be terrible,鈥 Valladares said. He said the threat could make Honduran migrants even more of a target for the Trump administration.
