El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele announced Wednesday that he has launched a military operation to rescue four Salvadoran soldiers kidnapped by gangs in Haiti, delivering a blistering warning to the gang leaders holding them: "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."
The Ambush in Croix-des-Bouquets
The four men — aviation technicians serving with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) — went missing Sunday after gangs opened fire on their armored vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. The men jumped from the burning vehicle after the ambush while returning to their base from a market, security officials said. It was the first major attack on foreign troops since the international Gang Suppression Force began operating in the violence-wracked Caribbean country last year.
Bukele's Warning: "We Can Finish With You Too"
In a statement posted on X — issued in Haitian Creole and English — Bukele stressed that the abducted men are not combatants: "Our kidnapped men are not combatants. They are aviation technicians who are part of our mission in Haiti, within the framework of an international mission. Our mission consists only of pilots and technical personnel, whose primary job is to carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war."
Addressing the gang leaders directly, he demanded the four be returned "alive, unharmed," warning that if they are, "everything will go back to the way it was before the kidnapping." Otherwise, he promised, a far more powerful operation would follow: "We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too." His post included video of armored vehicles with shattered windows driving through plumes of smoke. It was not immediately clear whether further action would come from Salvadoran, Haitian, or international security forces in the area.
Haiti Calls It an "Absolute Priority"
Haiti's government issued a news release Wednesday evening saying the "abduction" of the aviation technicians was an "absolute priority," noting that a meeting was held at the prime minister's office "to assess the ongoing interventions and determine the necessary measures to strengthen operations, in close collaboration with the Gang Repression Force." The multinational GSF operates under a UN Security Council mandate extended until March 31, 2027, and has faced severe security constraints amid intense gunfire with criminal factions. Haiti's security vacuum has persisted since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, allowing armed syndicates to expand territorial control across Port-au-Prince and neighboring districts.
The kidnapping puts Bukele — who drew international attention for his contentious war on his own country's gangs — at the center of the international mission's most serious crisis yet. Whether the gang leaders take his ultimatum seriously will determine if this becomes a rescue operation or the start of a far wider confrontation.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Volatile Reaction (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0