Trump threatens to cut US aid
A caravan of Central American immigrants travelling northbound in buses and on foot yesterday provoked the ire of President Donald Trump, who threatened to cut off US aid to Honduras if the group was not stopped.
Trump said via Twitter that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez had been warned about the group of roughly 2000 asylum seekers and economic migrants.
‘‘The United States has strongly informed the President of Honduras that if the large Caravan of people heading to the US is not stopped and brought back to Honduras, no more money or aid will be given to Honduras, effective immediately!’’ Trump tweeted.
The caravan departed Sunday from the violence-plagued city of San Pedro Sula, two days after Vice President Mike Pence prevailed on the leaders of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to persuade their citizens not to enter the United States illegally.
The group arrived at the Guatemalan border on Tuesday. After a two-hour standoff, its members, who far outnumbered the police and immigration officials there, were allowed to cross. They spent the night in the small town of Esquipulas, about an hour north of the border, and yesterday were continuing north.
It was unclear how Trump expected Honduras to stop the caravan. Hernandez did not immediately respond to Trump’s tweet.
The US gave Honduras more than $180m in aid in 2017 for a range of programmes designed to improve security and combat poverty and drug trafficking, according to the Washington Office on Latin America think tank. Those funds are appropriated by Congress. – Los Angeles Times