Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she would consider shutting down a U.S. military base if the incoming Trump administration implements the mass deportation of Honduran nationals.
In a televised speech on Wednesday, Castro urged President-elect Donald Trump to engage in “constructive and friendly” dialogue rather than resorting to “unnecessary reprisals” against Honduran citizens.
Honduras is among the countries with the largest numbers of citizens illegally residing in the United States.
The latest available data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security suggest that approximately 560,000 Hondurans—almost 5 percent of the Central American country’s population—were living in the United States as illegal immigrants as of 2022.
“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 United States, especially in the military field,” Castro said. “Without paying a cent for decades, they maintain military bases in our territory, which in this case would lose all reason for existing in Honduras.”
She was referring to Soto Cano Air Base, located about 50 miles northwest of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
Originally known as Palmerola Air Base, the facility was established in 1982 under a military partnership agreement dating back to 1954. It currently hosts over 500 U.S. military personnel and an equal number of U.S. and Honduran civilians.
The base serves as the headquarters for Joint Task Force-Bravo, which began as a temporary expeditionary force but has since evolved into an indefinite military presence. In addition to regional security operations, the task force conducts a range of humanitarian missions including aid distribution, disaster relief, medical services, infrastructure development, and training for local police and firefighters.
The United States has provided significant humanitarian support to Honduras over the decades.
From the financial year 2020 to 2023, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) delivered over $785 million in bilateral, regional, and humanitarian assistance to Honduras, according to the State Department. In 2023, an additional $42.5 million of USAID money was allocated to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, USAID said in a 2023 statement.
Castro’s critics, including political-ally-turned-opposition-leader Salvador Nasralla, cautioned against jeopardizing the country’s relationship with its most important trade partner over immigration issues.
In March 2023, Castro broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan in favor of China. The ruling Chinese communist regime—despite having never governed Taiwan—proclaims Taiwan as a renegade province and has not ruled out using force to reunite the democratic island with the authoritarian mainland.
That June, Castro signed a slew of agreements with China during her trip to Beijing, including bringing the Belt and Road Initiative to Honduras and encouraging Chinese investments in energy, infrastructure, and telecommunications.
This shift has raised concerns in Washington. Eric Jacobstein, a deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, told members of Congress that Castro’s embrace of China does pose potential security risks, particularly if China’s state-backed telecommunications giant Huawei were to establish operations near Soto Cano.
“With regard to Huawei and our presence at the Soto Cano base, that is absolutely critical and it would be very concerning if we saw a Chinese presence in any way at the base,” Jacobstein said at an October 2023 congressional hearing. “This is something that we have made clear, both publicly and privately to our Honduran partners.”
