In a country where armed gangs have long filled the space left by a weak state, a foreign army's presence has once again put force and accountability into uneasy contact. On a Sunday in Croix-des-Bouquets, outside Port-au-Prince, Haitian police backed by Salvadoran soldiers struck at the house of a gang leader and the headquarters of the 400 Mawozo, leaving at least twenty people dead, though no one has yet said who they were. The operation sits within a deployment of some two thousand Salvadoran troops, most of them outside the United Nations-backed mission, and its rules remain largely unspo
Salvadoran Troops Back Haitian Police Raid on Gang Compound, Leaving 20 Dead
At least 20 people were reportedly killed in the Sunday police-led operation in Croix-des-Bouquets.
Most of the 2,000 troops sit outside the UN-backed force
Mark
Why does this raid matter beyond the 20 deaths?
Mimi
Because it shows Salvadoran troops doing more than the original mission. They were sent after four soldiers went missing on October 18, and now Bukele is posting footage of helicopters firing on a gang headquarters.
Luke
Careful, though. The 20 dead is reported, not confirmed in detail. We don't know who they were or whether all were gang members.
Mark
And who is actually in command here?
Mimi
That's the gap Amnesty is pointing at. Most of the roughly 2,000 troops are outside the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force, so their rules of engagement are unclear.
Luke
Right, and the agreement governing the deployment hasn't been published. So any claim about legal limits is unverifiable right now.
Mark
Why would the timing with the prime minister's visit matter?
Mimi
Fils-Aime goes to El Salvador next week to discuss the troops' future. The raid lands just before that conversation.
Luke
Whether it was meant as a signal is speculation. The reporting only establishes the sequence.
Mark
And the elections?
Mimi
July and October next year, the first in over a decade. Security is the backdrop to all of it.
Luke
What we still don't know is whether Bukele's wider goal of eliminating the gangs has any agreement behind it.
O Pulso
- A helicopter video posted online shows gunfire over a site in Croix-des-Bouquets, and the death toll of at least twenty arrives as a fact no one has yet verified.
- About 2,000 Salvadoran troops are operating in Haiti, and most sit outside the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force, leaving their orders and limits unclear.
- Amnesty International is demanding publication of the deployment agreement, independent investigations, and safe ways to report abuse before impunity takes root again.
- Haiti's prime minister travels to El Salvador next week to decide the troops' future, with the secrecy of the deal itself now under scrutiny.
- The shadow of July and October elections hangs over every decision, as the country tries to govern through its most volatile security crisis in years.
In a country where armed gangs have long filled the space left by a weak state, a foreign army's presence has once again put force and accountability into uneasy contact. On a Sunday in Croix-des-Bouquets, outside Port-au-Prince, Haitian police backed by Salvadoran soldiers struck at the house of a gang leader and the headquarters of the 400 Mawozo, leaving at least twenty people dead, though no one has yet said who they were. The operation sits within a deployment of some two thousand Salvadoran troops, most of them outside the United Nations-backed mission, and its rules remain largely unspoken. As Haiti edges toward its first elections in more than a decade, the questions raised by this raid concern not only who holds the guns, but who is willing to say under what authority they are fired.
On Tuesday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted a video to X showing helicopters circling and firing over a site in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town near Port-au-Prince. His caption claimed that Salvadoran troops had destroyed the house of the gang leader known as Lanmo San Jou and the headquarters of the 400 Mawozo, one of Haiti's largest criminal groups. The raid took place on Sunday, carried out by Haitian police with Salvadoran support, and reports say it killed twenty people. Who those people were, and how they were identified, has not been made clear.
The operation arrives at a delicate moment. About two thousand Salvadoran troops have been in Haiti since mid-October, when four Salvadoran members of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force disappeared during an ambush. Bukele first framed the deployment as a mission to bring those soldiers home, but his aims have since widened to suggest a campaign to eliminate Haiti's gangs, much as he claims he did in El Salvador, where his crackdown has drawn accusations of rights abuses. Most of the troops are not part of the UN mission, so the rules governing their use of force and the authority they answer to remain largely unexplained.
Amnesty International has pressed both governments to publish the agreement behind the deployment, to explain how the forces are overseen, and to ensure independent investigations into any violations. Its warning is that a response to gang violence must not repeat the impunity of earlier interventions in Haiti.
Next week, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime travels to El Salvador to discuss the troops' future. What is decided there, and whether the agreement is made public, will shape how Haiti moves toward elections next July and October, its first in over a decade.
On Tuesday, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele posted a video on X showing helicopters circling over a site in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town near Port-au-Prince, and firing on it. His caption said Salvadoran troops had destroyed the house of the gang leader known as Lanmo San Jou, along with the headquarters of the 400 Mawozo gang, one of Haiti's largest criminal organisations.
The operation itself, according to reports, took place on Sunday. It was carried out by Haitian police with support from Salvadoran troops, and it reportedly left 20 people dead. The figure comes from reporting on the raid, and the source material does not say who the dead were or how they were identified.
The timing is notable. Haiti's prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aime, is due to travel to El Salvador next week to discuss what the future of the Salvadoran troop presence in his country should be. Fils-Aime has already celebrated a police operation with the words 'One less gang leader,' though the source does not say which operation that referred to.
About 2,000 Salvadoran troops have been sent to Haiti since mid-October. The deployment followed the disappearance of four Salvadoran personnel who were part of the Gang Suppression Force, the United Nations-backed mission, during an ambush on October 18. Bukele initially described the deployment as an effort to bring those four soldiers home.
More recently his stated aim has widened. He has hinted at a broader goal of eliminating Haiti's powerful gangs, much as he claims to have done in El Salvador, where his campaign has been marked by allegations of human rights abuses.
Most of the roughly 2,000 troops are not part of the Gang Suppression Force, which raises questions about the rules of engagement that govern them. Who they answer to, and under what limits they can use force, has not been publicly spelled out.
Amnesty International has asked for exactly that. Its Americas director, Ana Piquer, urged both governments to publish the agreement governing the deployment. She asked them to explain how the forces are overseen, what rules apply to the use of force, to whom they are accountable, and how people can report possible violations without fear of reprisals. She also called for prompt, independent and impartial investigations into any allegations of rights violations, and warned that the response to gang violence must not repeat the abuses and impunity that marked earlier interventions in Haiti.
The backdrop is a political calendar that is still fragile. Haiti is scheduled to hold elections in July and October next year, its first in more than a decade. Next week's meeting between Fils-Aime and Bukele is the next point to watch, both for what is decided about the troops and for whether the agreement behind them is made public.
Citações Notáveis
Both governments must make public the agreement governing the deployment and explain how they oversee the deployed forces.— Ana Piquer, Amnesty International Americas director
We destroyed the house of Lanmo San Jou and the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters.— Nayib Bukele, El Salvador's president, on X
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