Bukele deploys special forces to Haiti to rescue four kidnapped Salvadorans

A YouTube channel called Funcionario de Prisiones posted a clip under the title “4 Salvadoreños secuestrados Bukele envía FUERZAS ESPECIALES a Haití para este rescate ⚔️🇸🇻 #bukele.” The channel’s own description says four Salvadorans were kidnapped in Haiti and that President Nayib Bukele answered by sending special forces and armored vehicles more than 2,000 kilometers from El Salvador.

According to that description, the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang is issuing threats while Bukele holds to a line of faith: “Con Dios obtendremos la victoria.” AP and other outlets supply the sequence the clip is riding. Bukele announced a military rescue operation on Wednesday and demanded the four men be returned alive. One hundred Salvadoran special forces soldiers reached Port-au-Prince on Thursday. An additional 100 followed Thursday night, bringing the contingent to about 200, according to media reports citing security sources. The UN-backed Gang Suppression Force confirmed a Salvadoran unit arrived Thursday to support search and security work in the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac outside the capital.

The four missing men are Salvadoran aviation technicians. They disappeared Sunday after an ambush in Santo, in the Croix-des-Bouquets commune near Port-au-Prince. Attackers hit their armored vehicle with gunfire and explosives and set it on fire. The technicians got out of the burning vehicle and have not been heard from since. Haiti’s government confirmed Wednesday evening that the four had been abducted. Their condition and whereabouts remain unknown. The attack took place in territory controlled by the Chèn Méchan gang, near ground where the more powerful 400 Mawozo faction, part of the Viv Ansanm coalition, operates. No gang has publicly claimed the kidnapping.

Bukele put the objective in plain terms on X. “We have a single objective: to bring our four compatriots back home alive, without any harm,” he wrote. He added a direct warning to Haitian gangs: “We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too.” In another post he raised the stakes further. “Today’s attack is nothing compared to what is coming if they do not release the four hostages alive. And do not take our words as empty threats.” On Friday he answered critics who said Haiti’s gangs were a harder target than the groups he crushed at home. “But when God grants us victory, those who say all these things today will change their tune,” he wrote.

Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmo San Jou and leader of 400 Mawozo, answered with a social-media video that showed large quantities of ammunition and challenged the Salvadoran deployment. He said he would not flee and was ready to fight. On Wednesday evening a gang leader known as Krisla, who controls territory farther from the ambush site, posted his own video that referenced Bukele. “They have bigger weapons and more technology than we do, but we’ll fight to the end,” Krisla said. “We didn’t ask Bukele to come here, we didn’t ask Bukele to send soldiers here. Bukele has come here to protect his money at his soldiers’ expense.”