阳光穿过窗户，在收音机里播放的节日音乐上方响起孩子们的笑声，斑驳明亮的墙壁。

如果你还不知道，你永远也猜不到Puerta a las Misiones青年拓展中心就在危险区的正中央。

在里维拉·埃尔南德斯，洪都拉斯圣佩德罗苏拉最艰苦的街区之一，也可能是世界上最艰苦的街区之一，街道被分成五个较小的区域，每个区域都由不同的帮派控制。

在这个社区，是帮派首领，而不是政府控制着地方当局——在这里，他们用拳头统治。进入城镇的错误地区，或者无意中违反当地帮派的规则，这很容易让你付出生命的代价。

世界上一些最臭名昭著的帮派，包括MS-13和第18街帮派，管理着附近的街道，里维拉·埃尔南德斯很少有地方让希望避免犯罪生活的年轻人去寻求指导。但是，多年来，普埃塔拉斯米西奥内斯中心一直被认为是其中之一。

在这里，年轻人可以来寻找方向；他们可以来玩；他们可以来上计算机课，更重要的是，他们可以来接受职业培训。

阿诺德·利纳雷斯牧师告诉我们，从电工培训到美容，“许多年轻人来到这里”是为了学习如何走出帮派新闻周刊。“这是一种选择。”

孩子们在里维拉埃尔南德斯的普埃塔阿拉斯米西奥内斯青年拓展中心玩耍。该中心被认为在近年来社区犯罪率下降中发挥了重要作用

“最穷的人将会遭受后果”

然而，利纳雷斯说，洪都拉斯各地类似这样的外联中心现在面临风险，这要归功于唐纳德·特朗普总统决定削减美国对洪都拉斯、危地马拉和萨尔瓦多的援助，这三个国家统称为“北方三角”，因为他认为这些中心在阻止移民流向美国方面做得还不够

特朗普今年3月表示:“我们给了他们大量的钱，我们不会再给他们钱了，因为他们没有为我们做任何事。”他兑现了长达数月的削减数亿美元援助的威胁。

利纳雷斯摇摇头说:“这是一个轻率的决定...最贫穷的人将会遭受后果。”

牧师说，普埃塔拉斯米西奥内斯外联中心发生的所有好事，“都是从美国国际开发署开始的。”

在整个中心，美国国际开发署的存在随处可见。在设施外面，美国国际开发署的一块匾庆祝美国在这个中心取得成果方面所发挥的作用，而在里面，美国国际开发署的贴纸贴在了中心的几乎每一件设备上，从儿童弹奏的吉他到培训用的水槽理发师，再到为整个社区的儿童打开世界之窗的电脑。

尽管波多黎各阿拉斯米西奥内斯外联中心已经逐渐摆脱了美国国际开发署的资助，达到了其进展的“计划基准”，但帮助该中心恢复活力的方案正在被削减，这一事实引起了社区的愤怒。

利纳雷斯说:“这会带来失望和愤怒，我们才是承担风险的人。”。

你不能向这些人承诺你不能交付的东西

牧师说，风险可能很大，因为在洪都拉斯的各个社区，不仅年轻人对特朗普政府的削减感到失望，而且该国的黑帮头目也感到失望。

简而言之，在里维拉·埃尔南德斯这样的社区里，黑帮头目对社区里发生的事情非常感兴趣。如果像利纳雷斯这样的外联中心协调员承诺为青年人举办社区讲习班，他们希望他能兑现承诺。

“然后，如果美国国际开发署来这里告诉我，我们没有预算，我必须去社区告诉他们，和帮派说话，告诉他们...我才是最终处于危险中的人，”他说。

“帮派成员告诉我们，如果你没有，那就不要承诺，”他说。“你不能向这些人承诺你不能交付的东西。”

无数专家警告称，特朗普将美国国际开发署削减至中美洲国家的决定只会导致洪都拉斯等国家的进一步不稳定，让居民有更多理由逃往美国边境。

对利纳雷斯来说，这对于美国领导人来说应该是显而易见的。

“郊狼，帮派成员，他们都来自我们的社区，”利纳雷斯说，郊狼是走私者经常使用的术语，走私者经常利用寻求庇护者希望进入美国领土。

“里维拉·埃尔南德斯出口捣乱分子，”牧师说。

然而，利纳雷斯说，在过去的几年里，该地区的暴力事件大幅减少，几乎“减少了50%左右”

他说，暴力事件的显著下降在很大程度上是“由于这些项目”。

在对...的声明中新闻周刊，美国国际开发署发言人瑞安·埃斯曼表示，该机构将“继续推进总统关于向萨尔瓦多、洪都拉斯和危地马拉提供外援的决定”

埃斯曼说，尽管美国国际开发署将继续执行削减资金前启动的目标，“我们已经停止为这三个国家提供新的资金”。

他说:“总统和国务卿认为，北三角政府必须阻止移民到美国，并预计在做出任何重新开始援助萨尔瓦多、危地马拉和洪都拉斯的决定之前，北三角的移民数量将会减少。”。

与此同时，他说，“国务院正与萨尔瓦多、洪都拉斯和危地马拉政府就减少非法移民到美国的额外努力进行接触，例如打击人口走私和人口贩运，加强边境安全，劝阻其公民非法移民，以及接收和重新融入其返回的公民。”

特朗普政府削减资金的理由对利纳雷斯毫无意义。

“美国国际开发署的援助不会渗透到[洪都拉斯政府。它直接进入当地的项目或通过美国国际开发署的工作人员，”他说。“但是，也许特朗普总统不知道洪都拉斯政府不会动这笔钱。”

利纳雷斯说，扼杀允许像他这样的中心运作的资金，不仅会对洪都拉斯产生影响，而且毫无疑问还会产生与特朗普预期相反的效果:它会把更多的人带到美国边境。

“暴力是一种疾病，”利纳雷斯说。“我们总是得给它吃药。”

DONALD TRUMP'S AID CUTS ARE ALREADY HURTING THE MOST VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES IN HONDURAS: 'MAYBE HE DOESN'T KNOW'

Sunlight streams through the windows, dappling brightly-painted walls as children's laughter rings out above festive music blasting through the radio.

If you didn't already know, you would never be able to guess that the Puerta a las Misiones youth outreach center is smack dab in the middle of a danger zone.

Here in Rivera Hernández, one of the toughest neighborhoods in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and perhaps one of the toughest neighborhoods in the world, streets are divided into five smaller districts, each under the control of a different gang.

In this neighborhood, it is gang leaders, not government, that hold the local authority-and here, they rule with a heavy fist. Cross into the wrong part of town or unknowingly break one of your local gang's rules and it could easily cost you your life.

With some of the world's most notorious gangs, including MS-13 and the 18th Street gang, running the neighborhood's streets, there are few places in Rivera Hernández for young people hoping to avoid a life of crime to turn to for guidance. But, for years, the Puerta a las Misiones center has long been known as one of them.

Here, young people can come for direction; they can come to play; they can come for computer classes and importantly, they can come for job training.

From electrician training to cosmetology, "many young people come here" to learn how to forge a path outside of gangs, Pastor Arnold Linares tells Newsweek. "This is an alternative."

Children play at the Puerta a las Misiones youth outreach center in Rivera Hernández. The center has been credited with playing a major role in a drop in crime in the neighborhood in recent years.

'The poorest will suffer the consequences'

However, outreach centers just like this one across Honduras, Linares says, are now at risk thanks to President Donald Trump's decision to slash U.S. aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, collectively known as the Northern Triangle, because he believes they have not done enough to stem the flow of migration to the U.S.

"We were paying them tremendous amounts of money, and we're not paying them any more because they haven't done a thing for us," Trump said in March, making good on a months-long threat to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid.

Shaking his head, Linares says: "This is a rash decision...and the poorest will suffer the consequences."

All of the good that happens at the Puerta a las Misiones outreach center, the pastor says, "began with USAID."

And throughout the center, the presence of the United States Agency for International Development can be felt everywhere. Outside the facility, a USAID plaque celebrates the role that the United States has had in bringing this center to fruition, while inside, USAID stickers have been slapped across nearly every piece of equipment at the center, from the guitars children play to the sinks barbers-in-training use to the computers that serve as windows to the world for children across the community.

While the Puerta a las Misiones outreach center has been gradually weaned off USAID funding, having met its "planned benchmarks" for progress, just the fact that the very programming that helped bring this center to life is being cut has sparked outrage in the community.

"It creates disappointment and anger and we are the ones who run the risk," Linares says.

'You can't promise these people things you can't deliver'

The risk, the pastor says, can be great because across communities in Honduras, it is not only young people who are disappointed about the Trump administration's cuts, but also the country's gang leaders.

Put simply, in neighborhoods like Rivera Hernández gang leaders are deeply interested in what goes on in the community. If an outreach center coordinator like Linares promises community workshops for youth, they expect him to deliver.

"Then, if USAID comes here and tells me that we don't have the budget, I have to go to the community and tell them and speak to the gangs and tell them...I'm the one who ends up at risk," he says.

"The gang members tell us if you don't have it, then don't promise it," he says. "You can't promise these people things you can't deliver."

Countless experts have warned that Trump's decision to slash USAID to Central American countries will only cause further instability in nations like Honduras, giving residents more reason to flee to the U.S. border.

For Linares, that much should be obvious to the U.S. leader.

"Coyotes, gang members, they all come out of our communities," Linares says, with coyotes being the term often used for smugglers, who often exploit asylum seekers hoping to make it onto U.S. soil.

"Rivera Hernández exports troublemakers," the pastor says.

However, in the last couple of years, Linares, says, the neighborhood has seen a major reduction in violence, almost "around 50 percent."

The significant drop in violence, he says, is in large part "due to these programs."

In a statement to Newsweek, USAID spokesperson Ryan Essman said the agency would "continue to move forward on the President's decision regarding foreign assistance for El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala."

While USAID will continue to carry out objectives set in motion before the funding cuts, "we have ceased obligating new funds for those three countries," Essman said.

"The President and the Secretary believe that the Northern Triangle governments must stem migration to the United States and expects to see reductions in the number of immigrants from the Northern Triangle prior to any decisions relating to restarting assistance to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras," he said.

Meanwhile, he said, "the State Department is engaging with the governments of El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala on additional efforts they should undertake to reduce illegal immigration to the United States, such as combatting human smuggling and human trafficking, enhancing border security, dissuading their citizens from illegally migrating, and receiving and reintegrating their returned citizens."

The Trump administration's justification of its funding cuts makes no sense to Linares.

"USAID assistance doesn't filter through the [Honduran] government. It goes straight to programs on the ground or through USAID staff," he says. "But, maybe President Trump doesn't know that the government of Honduras doesn't touch that money."

Strangling the funds that allow centers like his to run, Linares says, will not only have consequences in Honduras, but it will also undoubtedly have the opposite of Trump's desired effect: it will drive more people to the U.S. border.

"Violence is a sickness," Linares says. "And we always have to give it medicine."