Honduras Threatens To Evict US From Key Military Base Over Looming Mass Deportations

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. 

BREAKING: Honduras President Xiomara Castro just issued a threat to President Trump, saying she’ll shutdown U.S. military bases if he deports Honduran nationals.

“Faced with a hostile attitude of mass expulsion of our brothers, we would have to consider a change in our policies… pic.twitter.com/wD0QFjMCrL

— George (@BehizyTweets) January 3, 2025

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.”

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. 

The United States has service members in several locations in Honduras, but one stands far above the others in importance: Soto Cano Air Base is the largest US base in Central America. Currently operating under the moniker Joint Task Force Bravo, American forces have been there since 1983. Touted as a key asset for anti-drug and humanitarian missions, the base has long been used to facilitate American meddling in the region, such as the US-backed Contra insurgency that waged a bloody and failed guerrilla war against Nicaragua’s Marxist Sandinista government. 

“Without paying a cent for decades, they maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case would lose all reason to exist in Honduras,” said Castro. According to the US government, the State Department and US Agency for International Development together provided $780.5 million in various forms of aid to Honduras between 2020 and 2023 alone. America is also the country’s largest trading partner. 

While many Honduran officials aren’t backing Castro’s threat, Foreign Minister Enrique Reina opined that Castro has the authority to unilaterally suspend the long-standing US-Honduran agreement under which the Pentagon built Soto Cano and currently bases more than a thousand service members and civilians. 

Trump’s transition team chose to respond gently. “The Trump administration looks forward to engaging our Latin American partners to ensure our southern border is secure and illegal immigrants can be returned to their country of origin,” said spokesman Brian Hughes. Trump himself has been full of bluster on the issue of secure borders — for example, threatening to hammer Mexico and Canada with 25% tariffs if they failed to block migrants and fentanyl from flowing across the frontiers. 

Of course, for genuine America-Firsters who want secure borders AND an end to our sprawling, bankrupting military empire, Castro’s threat sounds just great:    

So Honduras has threatened President Trump with throwing the US military out if Trump deports Hondurans ! I say that’s a win win situation! Bye bye pic.twitter.com/ApVoP9Phgs

— Papageorgio (@gecffmn) January 3, 2025