US plans to divert $40-M in aid to Venezuela's opposition

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration plans to divert more than $40 million in humanitarian aid for Central America to support the U.S.-backed opposition in Venezuela, according to an internal document obtained by Reuters on Tuesday.

The $41.9 million had been destined for Guatemala and Honduras, two of the three Central American countries at the center of a migration crisis in which thousands of people have fled poverty, violence and corruption and attempted to cross the southern U.S. border.

The congressional notification from the U.S. Agency for International Development said the money will instead be used for salaries, travel, communications equipment, technical assistance and training for the management of a government budget and other needs for the Venezuelan opposition.

The memorandum, dated July 11, says the funds are necessary because of "a significant, exigent event in the U.S. national interest, specifically the rapidly evolving crisis in Venezuela."

The memo and its contents were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Spokespeople for the State Department, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and Venezuela's Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Guaido, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly, invoked the Venezuelan constitution in January to assume an interim presidency, arguing Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro is illegitimate.

Maduro, meanwhile, has called Guaido a U.S.-backed puppet and has so far retained his grip on the levers of government.

The State Department announced in June it was slashing hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras after Trump said the three countries were not doing enough to stem migration.

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Mexico, Central America seek joint strategy on migrants as Trump looms

GUATEMALA CITY - The foreign ministers of Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala met on Monday to form a strategy to protect their migrants in the United States, in a show of regional solidarity following Donald Trump's win in the US presidential election.

Trump's election upset has sent shockwaves through Mexico and Central America, which rely heavily on U.S. remittances and bilateral trade with their rich northern neighbor.

Trump romped to victory in the Nov. 8 election by vowing to end illegal immigration and re-examine trade treaties that he said have led US firms to ship jobs south to lower-wage economies.

During his election campaign, Trump said he plans to build a wall along the US-Mexican border, insisting that Mexico will pay for it.

Many of the migrants bound for the United States hail from the poor nations of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and there are concerns that Trump's promise to deport millions would have grave repercussions in Central American countries with few jobs and shaky security.

On Monday, at a meeting in Guatemala City, the foreign ministers of the Central American countries asked Mexico for help to create a migrant protection network, liaise for coordination with US authorities, and to meet regularly for regional talks.

Claudia Ruiz Massieu, Mexico's foreign minister, said the US immigration policy remained unchanged at the moment, and added Mexico's focus on human rights and deepening bilateral links, including at the border, was unshaken.

"Mexico is in a situation of alertness, strengthening our services and capabilities to reach wherever our community is," she said.

Reuters reported last week that Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador had agreed seek support from Mexico, and work together to forge a joint strategy in response to Trump's surprise win.

With his inauguration set for Jan. 20, President-elect Trump is currently picking his cabinet.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Honduras, Nicaragua report first cases of Zika in pregnant women

MANAGUA/TEGUCIGALPA - Nicaragua and Honduras have both detected their first cases of the Zika virus in pregnant women, the Central American countries' governments said on Thursday.

In Nicaragua, government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo, who is also first lady, said three women who were three to four months pregnant had been infected by the mosquito-borne virus and that the country was forging ahead with a fumigation program.

Nicaragua has detected a total of 29 cases of Zika to date.

In Honduras, Health Minister Yolani Batres said on Thursday authorities had detected six cases of Zika in pregnant women, again the first such cases. Honduras has registered more than 3,200 cases of Zika overall.

The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the Zika virus rampaging through the Americas, saying it strongly suspected Zika infection in pregnancy causes microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally small head size in newborns that can cause permanent brain damage.

El Salvador is grappling with more than 7,000 cases, and last month urged women to avoid getting pregnant until 2018.

(Reporting by Ivan Castro in Managua and Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa; Writing by Simon Gardner)

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