After crushing powerful criminal gangs in El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele has turned his attention to the Caribbean nation of Haiti, deploying 2,000 troops after four Salvadoran military aviation technicians disappeared following an Oct.18 ambush near Port-au-Prince.
“We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too,” Bukele wrote in a message on X directed at Haiti’s criminal groups. Bukele stressed that the operation’s objective was not to invade Haiti or conduct a long-term occupation, but to recover the four missing Salvadorans alive.
The disappearance has become a national priority for Bukele, who has warned Haitian gang leaders that El Salvador is prepared to use overwhelming force if the men are not returned alive.
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The aviation technicians were assigned to a medical unit as part of the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti when their armored vehicle was attacked in Croix-des-Bouquets. Haiti’s National Police announced Tuesday, more than two weeks after the attack, that it had found the charred remains of the vehicle in the Santo neighborhood of Croix-des-Bouquets. Police said, however, they found no sign of the missing men.
El Salvador says the men were abducted, the Haitian government says the soldiers are missing, and one gang leader says they are dead.
In a post on X Tuesday, directed at the “Haitian people” and written in Haitian creole, Bukele recalled the 1806 assassination of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who proclaimed Haiti’s independence from France in 1804 and who many regard as the founder of Haiti.
“Dessalines liberated Haiti, but some people who were by his side betrayed him and killed him,” Bukele said. “Those traitors still exist in Haiti.”
Bukele also reposted video of a helicopter engagement in Croix-des-Bouquets.
“Gangs were attacking GSF soldiers from Chad,” he wrote. “We arrived quickly and repelled the attackers with our attack helicopters.”
Bukele has the backing of President Donald Trump, who, when asked by reporters at Mar-a-Lago on Halloween, confirmed speaking with the Salvadoran president.
“He said that he has a big problem with Haiti,” Trump said. “They killed some of his people. I said, ‘You’re running your country. You have to do what you have to do.'”
Unlike previous foreign interventions, Bukele’s deployment has the backing of Haiti’s transitional government.
“The international force is not here to replace the state,” Haitian Prime Minister Didier Fils-Aimé said Tuesday in his first remarks about the deployment. “They’re here to support us.”
Fils-Aimé added that Bukele “understands our fight. … He came to stand on the side of the Haitian people.”
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The operation has drawn criticism from human-rights advocates and gang leaders who warn that a military escalation could worsen civilian suffering. The U.N. says at least 5,700 people have been killed or injured due to the gang violence in Haiti since Jan. 1 as security forces struggle to contain the violence.
The U.N. has also indicated that El Salvador’s deployment is separate from the GSF and has warned El Salvador must follow applicable international law.
One of those gang leaders is Wilson Joseph, known as “Lanmò Sanjou,” leader of the powerful 400 Mawozo gang. He accused rival gang Chen Mechan of carrying out the ambush and claimed the Salvadorans are dead, he told The Associated Press.
Joseph also sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres asking the U.N. for mediation and warning Bukele’s “vengeful remarks, expectations, and threats … will lead to an escalation of violence and a logic of reprisals, of which the Haitian people would be the first victims.”
Joseph was indicted by the U.S. in 2022 on hostage-taking charges related to the 2021 kidnapping of 17 missionaries, including 16 Americans, and remains the subject of a reward of up to $1 million for his arrest.
Bukele dismissed such appeals, accusing gang leaders of attempting to use civilians and international concerns about human rights as a shield to preserve their power and avoid accountability. Bukele has said that negotiations have only prolonged the crisis that has devastated Haiti for years.
After years as one of the world’s most violent countries, dominated by powerful gangs including MS-13, El Salvador launched an unprecedented crackdown in 2022 under a state of emergency. Authorities carried out tens of thousands of arrests, ultimately detaining more than 90,000 suspected gang members.
Supporters credit the strategy with driving homicide rates to historic lows and restoring public safety. Critics accuse Bukele’s government of human-rights abuses, arbitrary detentions and erosion of due-process protections.
The question now is whether that model can be exported to Haiti, where gangs control large portions of Port-au-Prince and wield influence over key transportation routes and neighborhoods. Despite years of international intervention, security conditions have continued to deteriorate.
The GSF has struggled with manpower shortages and operational limitations, operating below its Security Council-approved intended strength, leaving Haiti’s government unable to reassert full control over much of the capital.
“We can help you defeat them, but we are not your enemies,” Bukele wrote on Tuesday. “We must stand up, take back control of our communities, and put under our control those who are making us endure all this pain, all this suffering. We are right there beside you… Haiti will be free.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.