El Salvador’s Bukele touts military intervention in Haiti

Haitian police have found a vehicle used by four missing Salvadoran technicians as Salvadoran troops deploy to Haiti.

Armoured vehicles of the El Salvador Army operate separately from the UN-authorised Gang Suppression Force (GSF), in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on November 3, 2026 [Patrice Noel/Reuters]

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has posted videos of heavily armed soldiers from his country patrolling streets in Haiti and being greeted by locals.

“Gather your gangs so we can go fight with them,” Bukele wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.

list 1 of 3 UN extends mandate of Gang Suppression Force in Haiti for six months

list 2 of 3 El Salvador’s Bukele threatens Haitian gangs over abducted soldiers

list 3 of 3 El Salvador pledges more than 2,000 soldiers as Haiti delays elections

The posts come as Haitian authorities say they have found the vehicle used by four Salvadoran aviation technicians who were attacked by gangs more than two weeks ago, but have yet to find the men themselves.

The country’s national police posted photos of the burned remains of a truck it said was used by the group, found in the Santo neighbourhood in the Croix-des-Bouquets community outside the capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. The area, like much of the capital, has been under the control of gangs, which authorities are struggling to wrest control from.

Police were conducting a joint operation along with the United Nations-backed multinational Gang Suppression Force (GSF) and Salvadoran troops when they found the vehicles.

The disappearance of the four men on October 18 prompted the right-wing leader of El Salvador to dispatch more than 2,000 troops along with military hardware to the Caribbean nation.

Since being elected to office in 2019, Bukele has instituted a harsh crackdown on crime in El Salvador, jailing tens of thousands of people and imposing a state of emergency that rights groups say has suspended many civil rights.

On Tuesday, Bukele posted a video he said showed Salvadoran military helicopters opening fire on gangs attacking GSF soldiers from Chad.

“The gangs no longer have the upper hand,” he wrote.

In another post, Bukele said Salvadoran forces were there to help Haitians free themselves from the gangs. “We are right there beside you,” he wrote.

The presence of the troops has raised concerns among some about who is responsible for the use of force in the country.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the office of the UN Secretary-General, told reporters in New York this week that only about 200 of the Salvadoran soldiers fell under the GSF’s jurisdiction.

“What is important is that any security operation be done within the framework of international human rights law, of international law, and that people’s rights need to be respected as you conduct security operations,” Dujarric said.

Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime speaks to the media days after four Salvadoran members of Haiti’s UN-backed GSF went missing in a gang ambush, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on November 3, 2026 [Patrice Noel/Reuters]

Haiti’s Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, though, has assured the public the foreign forces are operating under Haitian authority.

“The international forces did not come to replace the state. They came to support it, to reinforce our capacity,” he said on Tuesday, speaking alongside the Salvadoran commander in charge of the country’s troops as well as Haitian and GSF commanders.

The leader of one gang, the 400 Mawozo, told the Associated Press news agency that he had written to the UN Secretary-General asking for an opportunity for dialogue. Wilson Joseph, best known as Lanmo Sanjou, said he was concerned about the killing of civilians given the surge in fighting.

Haiti has been without an elected government since 2021, when its last elected president, Jovenel Moise, was assassinated . Since then, successive transitional governments have tried to impose enough order to hold fresh elections.

Last month, the country’s nine-member Provisional Electoral Council announced it would delay national elections, pushing the first round of voting from December 13 to July 18, 2027. A second round of voting is also scheduled for October 4, 2027.

Authorities have pushed to register voters, with fewer than one million registered so far, out of some 6.5 million Haitians who hold identification cards that would make them eligible. Roads controlled by gangs have made it difficult for officials to reach registration centres, and violence has forced many Haitians from their homes.

The violence has also interrupted the delivery of food and other aid, leaving some 5.94 million Haitians facing acute hunger, according to an international food security assessment released last month.

Last week, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said an uptick in fighting since the disappearance of the Salvadorans was having an impact on civilians in Port-au-Prince.

The group said 30 people, including women and children, had been injured in the eight days following the disappearance on October 18, by heavy gunfire and drone explosions.

The ongoing fighting had blocked civilians’ access to roads and bridges, and made travel to healthcare facilities “extremely risky” for people wounded in the conflict. The addition of international forces, the group said, was expected to make the situation worse.

“We fear that this armed conflict will claim even more victims, and displace even more people in the coming days, particularly with the arrival of additional international security forces,” Davina Hayles, MSF head of mission in Haiti, said in a statement .

海地警方找到了四名失踪的萨尔瓦多技术人员使用的车辆，此前萨尔瓦多军队已部署到海地。

2026年11月3日，在海地太子港，萨尔瓦多军队的装甲车辆与联合国授权的打击帮派部队（GSF）分开行动。[Patrice Noel/路透社]

萨尔瓦多总统纳伊布·布克莱发布了视频，视频中该国全副武装的士兵在海地街头巡逻，并受到当地居民的欢迎。

“召集你们的帮派，这样我们就可以和他们一起战斗了，”布克莱周三在X上发帖写道。

联合国将海地打击帮派部队的任务期限延长六个月（共3项，此为第1项）

列表 2/3：萨尔瓦多总统布克莱威胁海地黑帮，要求他们就士兵被绑架一事采取行动。

3/3 萨尔瓦多承诺向海地派遣2000多名士兵，海地推迟选举

就在此时，海地当局表示，他们已经找到了两周多前遭到团伙袭击的四名萨尔瓦多航空技术人员使用的车辆，但尚未找到这四名技术人员本人。

该国国家警察周二在太子港郊外的克鲁瓦德布凯社区的圣托街区发现了一辆被烧毁的卡车残骸，并公布了照片。警方称，这辆卡车是该团伙使用的。与首都的大部分地区一样，该地区一直被帮派控制，当局正努力从这些帮派手中夺回控制权。

警方与联合国支持的多国打击帮派部队（GSF）和萨尔瓦多军队进行联合行动时发现了这些车辆。

10 月 18 日，四名男子失踪，促使萨尔瓦多右翼领导人向这个加勒比国家派遣了 2000 多名士兵以及军事装备。

自 2019 年当选以来，布克莱在萨尔瓦多对犯罪进行了严厉打击，监禁了数万人，并实施了紧急状态，人权组织称这暂停了许多公民权利。

周二，布克莱发布了一段视频，称视频显示萨尔瓦多军用直升机向袭击乍得安全部队士兵的团伙开火。

“帮派不再占上风了，”他写道。

布克莱在另一篇帖子中表示，萨尔瓦多军队在那里是为了帮助海地人摆脱帮派的控制。“我们就在你们身边，”他写道。

军队的存在引发了一些人的担忧，他们想知道谁应该为该国使用武力负责。

联合国秘书长办公室发言人斯特凡·杜加里克本周在纽约告诉记者，只有大约 200 名萨尔瓦多士兵属于联合国安全部队的管辖范围。

杜加里克说：“重要的是，任何安全行动都必须在国际人权法和国际法的框架内进行，并且在开展安全行动时必须尊重人民的权利。”

2026年11月3日，在海地太子港，海地总理阿利克斯·迪迪埃·菲尔斯-艾梅在四名萨尔瓦多籍海地联合国支持的“海地安全部队”（GSF）成员在一次帮派伏击中失踪几天后向媒体发表讲话。[帕特里斯·诺埃尔/路透社]

不过，海地总理阿利克斯·迪迪埃·菲尔斯-艾梅向公众保证，外国军队是在海地当局的授权下行动的。

“国际部队不是来取代国家的，而是来支持国家，加强我们的能力，”他周二在与萨尔瓦多军队指挥官以及海地和全球安全部队指挥官一同发表讲话时说道。

其中一个帮派“400 Mawozo”的头目告诉美联社，他已致信联合国秘书长，请求提供对话机会。威尔逊·约瑟夫（Wilson Joseph），更为人熟知的名字是兰莫·桑乔（Lanmo Sanjou），表示鉴于战斗升级，他对平民伤亡感到担忧。

自2021年海地最后一位民选总统若弗内尔·莫伊兹遇刺身亡以来，该国一直没有民选政府。此后，历届过渡政府都试图维持秩序，以便举行新的选举。

上个月，该国九名成员组成的临时选举委员会宣布将推迟全国选举，把第一轮投票从12月13日推迟到2027年7月18日。第二轮投票也定于2027年10月4日举行。

当局大力推进选民登记工作，但迄今为止，在约650万持有符合登记资格的身份证件的海地人中，登记人数不足100万。帮派控制的道路使得官员难以抵达登记中心，暴力事件也迫使许多海地人流离失所。

根据上个月发布的一份国际粮食安全评估报告，暴力事件还中断了食品和其他援助物资的运送，导致约 594 万海地人面临严重饥饿。

上周，无国界医生组织（MSF）表示，自萨尔瓦多人失踪以来，战斗愈演愈烈，对太子港的平民造成了影响。

该组织称，在10月18日失踪事件发生后的八天里，有30人（包括妇女和儿童）在猛烈的枪击和无人机爆炸中受伤。

持续不断的战斗阻断了平民通往道路和桥梁的通道，使得冲突中的伤员前往医疗机构就医“极其危险”。该组织表示，国际部队的加入预计会使局势更加恶化。

无国界医生组织驻海地负责人达维娜·海尔斯在一份声明中表示：“我们担心，随着更多国际安全部队的到来，这场武装冲突将在未来几天造成更多伤亡，更多人流离失所。”