Bukele’s Haiti Push Wins Support but Raises Civilian Fears

Bukele’s Haiti Push Wins Support but Raises Civilian Fears
El Salvador’s deployment of more than 2,000 troops to Haiti is being framed in sharply different ways: as an effort to restore public order and recover missing Salvadoran technicians, or as an escalation that could bring further harm to civilians caught in the conflict.

The mission began after four Salvadoran aviation technicians disappeared in an ambush near Port-au-Prince on October 18. Their burned vehicle was later found, but the technicians had not been located. What began as a recovery operation expanded into raids against areas associated with the Chèn Mechan and 400 Mawozo groups, including an armored advance in Cul-de-Sac that reportedly left at least 10 group members dead. Bukele has argued that El Salvador’s experience confronting organized crime can be applied abroad: “If we end the gangs here [in El Salvador], we can end them there.”

That approach has found support from Haiti’s prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, who thanked El Salvador for its military assistance and linked improved security to the prospect of elections. The article also reports public demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and other cities backing a stronger campaign. Yet the Salvadoran contingent largely operates separately from the UN-authorized anti-gang force, underscoring the exceptional nature of Bukele’s intervention.

The leadership of 400 Mawozo, meanwhile, has sought international mediation rather than a continued military confrontation. In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, its leader Wilson Joseph warned that Bukele’s “threats” could produce “an escalation of violence and a logic of reprisals, of which the Haitian people would be the first victim.”

Concerns have also been raised over alleged strikes near civilian areas. Bukele denied those allegations, saying Salvadoran helicopters had not yet conducted missions during the period cited. The mission’s duration remains unsettled, with Haiti and El Salvador expected to discuss its future as insecurity and displacement continue to shape the country’s crisis.

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