President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador issued a sharply worded warning to Haitian gang members who kidnapped four of his countrymen this week: We are coming for you.
Mr. Bukele said a military operation had been launched to rescue four missing Salvadoran aviation technicians who were abducted in a gang stronghold outside the capital on Sunday. Mr. Bukele was in discussions to send more troops to conduct operations and assist in the rescue attempt, according to a person familiar with the episode who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The four missing Salvadorans are members of a new United Nations-backed military force called the Gang Suppression Force, which is aimed at wresting control of Haiti from gangs that hold much of its capital.
The four Salvadorans were ambushed Sunday afternoon in a gang attack while driving back to their base from a supermarket in the town of Croix-des-Bouquets. Their armored S.U.V. was hit by explosives and caught fire, but the four soldiers escaped, the Salvadoran military said.
Nobody has heard from them since.
In a social media message written in Creole and directed at gang leaders, Mr. Bukele stressed that the four missing men were not combatants. El Salvador’s contingent in the Gang Suppression Force is made up of pilots and technical personnel whose primary job is to carry out medical evacuations and save lives, “not to wage war,” Mr. Bukele said.
Mr. Bukele, a right-wing leader in office since 2019, is widely known for overseeing a harsh crackdown on El Salvador’s gangs. A nation once awash in violence is now among the safest in the world. And with thousands of accused gang members locked up in a maximum-security prison, it has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
His post included a video clip of armored military vehicles firing weapons in a desolate street that appeared to have been the scene of heavy fighting.
A military operation launched to rescue the missing Salvadorans has a single mission to bring them back alive, he said.
“I want you, the gang leaders, to understand one thing very clearly: today’s attack is nothing compared to what is coming if we do not get all four hostages back alive,” he wrote. “And do not take our word for empty threats. We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too.”
But he said gang members still have time to avoid repercussions.
“Return our four compatriots to us alive, without any harm, and everything will go back to how it was before the kidnapping,” he wrote. “The decision is in your hands.”
The Gang Suppression Force and a Haitian National Police task force comprised largely of private military contractors who launch drone strikes have been engaged in battle with gang members in the area where the abduction took place for days.
Several gang members were killed and four Gang Suppression Force soldiers were injured in operations to try to find the men, the force said in a statement.
Initial reports indicating that five Salvadorans had gone missing were incorrect, the Gang Suppression Force said.
The Gang Suppression Force arrived in Haiti in April with the mission to aggressively go after gangs wreaking havoc in the country.
More than 22,000 people have died in gang violence and police operations in the past five years as Haiti battles armed groups that terrorize entire communities.
Authorized by the U.N. Security Council, it was expected to reach 5,500 troops, but has struggled to reach full capacity. It currently comprises about 2,000 soldiers from six countries: Guatemala, Jamaica, Chad, El Salvador, Mongolia and Sri Lanka.
“Gangs are testing the GSF,” the force’s special representative, Jack Christofides, told the U.N. Security Council on Monday. “We recorded an increase in hostile incidents against our force — from two to 15 in a single month.”
Haitian government officials did not respond to requests for comment.
On Wednesday, three days after the kidnapping, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé released a statement calling the abduction “an absolute priority” for state authorities.
Emiliano Rodríguez Mega contributed reporting.
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