El Salvador Deploys Troops to Haiti in Hostage Rescue Mission Amid Controversy
Over 2,000 troops from El Salvador have deployed to Haiti to rescue four missing hostages, sparking clashes with armed gangs and drawing unverified allegations of civilian casualties from a local UN delegation, which President Nayib Bukele strongly denies.
More than 2,000 troops from El Salvador, accompanied by armored vehicles and helicopters, landed in Haiti last week as part of an intervention aimed at rescuing four hostages held by street gangs controlling most of the Caribbean nation, which has been in political collapse since the 2010 earthquake.
The troops began arriving on Thursday at Toussaint Louverture International Airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, where they were greeted by local police forces who have been struggling against the armed gangs.
Since their deployment, the Salvadoran soldiers have engaged in several clashes with gang members while clearing supply routes in the capital. Local residents were filmed handing bottles of water to the patrolling troops. However, some Western actors and an UN-affiliated delegation accused the Salvadoran forces of committing war crimes, including the aerial bombardment of civilian population centers.
Nayib Bukele Defends the Mission
President Nayib Bukele strongly defended his country's forces against allegations of criminal misconduct and rejected claims that they carried out airstrikes against civilians. Writing on the social media platform X, Bukele noted that the mission possesses no bombs and questioned how the alleged attacks could have occurred prior to the arrival of Salvadoran combat helicopters.
Bukele stated that the helicopters arrived in Haiti on October 29, a day before the allegations were reported by Drop Site News, and had not flown a single mission as of Saturday. The deployment was triggered by an October 18 gang ambush that left four Salvadoran aviation technicians missing while serving with a UN-backed force, prompting the rescue operation.
UN Delegation Demands Investigation
The accusations were initially raised by a delegation known as UNA-Haiti in an open letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on October 30. The letter accused Salvadoran forces of conducting aerial bombardments, helicopter strikes, and heavy weapons operations in densely populated areas near Port-au-Prince.
UNA-Haiti demanded an independent investigation into alleged civilian casualties. In response, Bukele dismissed the accusations, accusing certain non-governmental organizations of spreading disinformation and acting as fronts for criminal gangs under the guise of humanitarian groups.
