Haiti government calls the release of four abducted men an absolute priority
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Wednesday that he had launched a military operation to rescue four Salvadoran aviation technicians kidnapped by gangs in Haiti.
Gang members opened fire on an armored vehicle three days earlier, the first major attack since an international gang-suppression force began operating in Haiti. The technicians fled the burning vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, Port-au-Prince, and have remained missing.
Addressing Haitian gang leaders, Bukele demanded that they return the technicians “alive, unharmed” and said that if they did so, “everything will go back to the way it was before the kidnapping.” If they did not return the men alive and unharmed, he said the response would become a more powerful operation.
On X, Bukele wrote: “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.” His post included video of armored vehicles with shattered windows driving through plumes of smoke. It was not immediately clear whether he intended any further action to be carried out by Salvadoran, Haitian or international security forces in the area.
Haiti’s government issued a news release Wednesday evening saying the technicians’ “abduction” was an “absolute priority.” A meeting at the prime minister’s office assessed ongoing interventions and planned measures to strengthen operations in close collaboration with the Gang Repression Force. The government said, “The release of the abducted soldiers is an absolute priority, and all necessary resources are being mobilized to achieve this goal.” It was not immediately clear whether Haitian authorities had received confirmation that the men were alive. A Gang Repression Force spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking details.
Bukele said the Salvadoran mission in Haiti “consists only of pilots and technical personnel” and described its main work as medical evacuations, “not to wage war.” In early October, El Salvador passed a law extending its armed forces’ participation for a year and authorizing the mission to “deploy civilian and military personnel according to the mission’s needs.” The authorization expanded El Salvador’s role beyond the medical evacuations stipulated in the previous decree.
El Salvador, Chad, Jamaica and Guatemala form part of a multinational gang-suppression force with more than 2,000 troops on the ground in Haiti. The U.N. in 2025 originally approved up to 5,550 security personnel and more than 50 civilian staff to dismantle armed gangs. The force later received an extension of at least six months, through March 2027, from the U.N. Security Council.
The U.N.-backed Gang Repression Force was still fighting gangs in the community where the attack occurred and had warned residents in the area to remain indoors. No one had claimed responsibility for the attack. It came as Haiti prepared for its first general election in more than a decade.
Gangs were estimated to control 70% of Port-au-Prince. The targeted area was controlled by gangs including Chèn Méchan; Kraze Barye, led by Vitelhomme Innocent; and 400 Mawozo, led by Lanmo Sanjou. Innocent and Sanjou have been sanctioned by the U.N. and the U.S.
Gang violence has displaced nearly 1.5 million people in Haiti in recent years. According to the United Nations, more than 5,700 people were killed or injured from January through mid-September, and more than 230 were kidnapped.
Earlier, MSI reported that the new U.N.-backed force was attracting funding pledges as it began deploying. The current attack was the first major attack since that force began operating, but the four technicians’ fate and the scope of any follow-up action remained unresolved.