Washington, April 1 (RHC)-- The U.S. State Department has reported that President Donald Trump has ordered the suspension of the delivery of financial aid that had been previously committed as part of foreign assistance to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

 "At Secretary [Mike Pompeo’s] instruction we are carrying out the President’s direction and ending FY 2017 and FY 2018 foreign assistance programs for the Northern Triangle," a State Department spokesman told reporters in Washington.

 News agencies reported that some $627 million, which Congress allocated to the Central American countries last year, are "blocked" and it is still unknown if these funds will be delivered to them.  "I’ve ended payments to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.  No money goes there anymore... We’re not paying them anymore because they haven’t done anything for us,” Trump said.

The Northern Triangle is a Central American region where most of the migrants have come from in recent years.  In December 2018, Trump warned that U.S. assistance to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador would cease.

 The U.S. allocated $84 million in foreign assistance to Guatemala, $58 million to Honduras and $51 million to El Salvador in FY 2018, which goes from October 2017 to September 2018.  Part of these funds were channeled through the United States Agency for Development (USAID).  In fiscal year 2017, funds related to the U.S. fight against drugs amounted to $42 million throughout Central America.

Before Pompeo’s instruction was announced, however, the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras agreed on February 27th with the U.S. to carry out joint police operations to combat criminal organizations and irregular migration at the Northern Triangle.

 The agreement was reached at the V Meeting of Security Ministers of the Northern Triangle in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, between security officials of the three countries and the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.