Bukele demands Haitian gangs free four Salvadorans
The technicians, part of the UN force against the gangs, vanished Sunday after an ambush; El Salvador says it is already trying to rescue them.
Haitian gangs are holding four Salvadorans from the UN force fighting the armed groups, and El Salvador has launched a military operation to rescue them, President Nayib Bukele announced Wednesday. He gave no details of the operation and did not say which group has the men.
In a post on X, Bukele demanded they be returned "alive, without any harm" and warned the gangs that what has happened so far "is nothing compared" with what is coming if they are not freed.
The four are aviation technicians with the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), the contingent the Security Council authorized about a year ago to curb Haiti's gangs. They vanished Sunday, Oct. 18, as they were returning to base from a market and gangs ambushed their armored vehicle on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. They escaped the burning vehicle and have not been seen since.
Bukele says they are not combatants and that El Salvador's mission is limited to medical evacuations.
Who holds them remains unconfirmed. Some reports point to the Chen Mechan gang and others to the Viv Ansanm coalition, but no authority has said so. The GSF did not respond to a request for comment.
The force has about 1,000 troops from six countries, including Mongolia, Guatemala, Jamaica and Chad, and after a year it has reached little more than a third of its planned size. Its mandate was renewed for six months on Sept. 29. Gang violence has left about 5,700 people dead or wounded this year, according to UN counts.
The United States has weighed in as well. Mike Waltz, its ambassador to the UN, promised the Security Council on Oct. 19 that Washington will help bring the men home, and said there are reasons to believe they survived.
Haiti has elections set for Dec. 13, with the campaign postponed by the electoral council.
