
US President Donald Trump has put Mexico and Central American nations under pressure to accept a series of migration agreements that aim to shift the burden of dealing with asylum-seekers on to them, and away from the United States.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez emerged battered from the trial and conviction of his brother last Friday after the US Justice Department concluded that the evidence showed narco-traffickers had bribed the president and his party.

A New York court convicted the Honduran president's brother of drug trafficking Friday, a verdict immediately rejected by the Central American leader as opponents called for his resignation.

United States prosecutors alleged on Wednesday that convicted Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán personally gave US$1 million in bribes to the brother of Honduras' president to pass on to the Central American leader, who swiftly denied wrongdoing.

The former first lady of Honduras Rosa Elena Bonilla, wife of ex-president Porfirio Lobo, was sentenced on Wednesday to 58 years in jail on charges of fraud and undue appropriation of funds, a spokesman for the nation's highest court said.

The United States will seek migration deals with El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama, akin to last week's with Guatemala, to curb emigration from Central America, a senior US official said Thursday.

A scheme to create 20,000 jobs in Honduras has been agreed between the country's president and Mexico's leader in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants toward the United States.

The US and Guatemala have signed a migration agreement, days after US President Donald Trump threatened the Central American country with tariffs. Under the deal, migrants from Honduras and El Salvador who pass through Guatemala would be required to stop and seek asylum there first. Migrants who failed to do so would then be ineligible for asylum in the US.

Honduran authorities said on Thursday they are investigating the causes of an accident in which at least 27 people died after their fishing boat sank off the Caribbean coast.

The World Medical Association has called on the President of Honduras to bring to an immediate end the use of violence against protesters striking against the government’s health and education reforms.