El Salvador Deploys Over 2,000 Troops to Haiti to Find Missing Soldiers
President Nayib Bukele sends a massive force to Haiti in a bid to rescue four missing air‑force technicians.
Wow! El Salvador has rolled out a “robust deployment” of over 2,000 troops to Haiti, aiming to retrieve four of its air‑force technicians who vanished nearly two weeks ago.
The move was announced by President Nayib Bukele in a message to Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils‑Aime, according to a statement from El Salvador’s foreign ministry on Wednesday.
Bukele added that the Salvadoran soldiers will also lend assistance to Haiti’s “security efforts against gangs,” reinforcing the ongoing anti‑gang campaign.
Tensions have risen after the four technicians, serving with the UN‑backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), were ambushed while traveling back to their base in an armoured vehicle in the Croix‑des‑Bouquets area, a zone controlled by armed groups.
No gang has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier this week, Haitian officials handed over four bodies to special forces, asserting they belonged to the missing men. Bukele disputed the claim, noting that one corpse was a child and another wore a uniform from a different country.
He warned on X that he would replicate the decisive actions taken in El Salvador against Haiti’s gangs if the Salvadorans were not released.
The foreign ministry described the operation as “large‑scale” and said it is supported by various countries and international organisations.
The GSF, whose mandate was expanded by the UN Security Council last October, continues to struggle to penetrate gang‑held territories, with the UN reporting over 5,700 gang‑related deaths in Haiti this year.
Haiti’s capital remains largely under gang control, a situation that has intensified since the political vacuum following President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in 2021.
El Salvador’s decisive deployment underscores the urgency of the mission and the broader regional concern over Haiti’s security crisis.
