Nayib Bukele denied that the deployment of more than 2,000 soldiers in Haiti is an invasion

The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, affirmed that the deployment of more than 2,000 soldiers in Haiti to search for four missing troops does not represent an invasion nor is it intended to control Haitian territory. The president made the statements this Thursday through a publication on the social network X.

Bukele pointed out that the deployment of soldiers and equipment is close to being completed and maintained that his country has no interest in dominating the population or appropriating Haiti’s resources.

“We are not a great power. We have no interest in coming to dominate the Haitian people, nor in getting our hands on Haiti’s wealth,” he said.

The search for the four soldiers

The operation began after four Salvadoran soldiers disappeared on October 18, when the vehicle in which they were traveling was attacked in an ambush on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

The missing personnel are aviation technicians who were in Haiti as part of the Salvadoran participation in the Gang Suppression Force (GSF).

After the attack, El Salvador expanded its participation in the Haitian security crisis and deployed a contingent of more than 2,000 members, including members of special forces.

This is the largest contingent sent by a country to Haiti since the end of the United Nations Stabilization Mission (Minustah), which remained in the territory between 2004 and 2017.

Bukele spoke with the Haitian Prime Minister

According to the Salvadoran Foreign Ministry, Bukele held a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of Haiti, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, on Wednesday. During the dialogue, the president reaffirmed his country’s support for security tasks against gangs and both addressed the search for the military.

The Salvadoran president explained that “the only thing” they want is for their four aviation technicians to “return home,” and they are teaching “a lesson to the gangs, those gangs that make the Haitian people suffer, that kill the people that the people love, that prevent them from living a normal, free life, without fear.”

He also stated that El Salvador is “almost” the only one that is “paying for this operation,” although he did acknowledge “some logistical help from some other countries.”

“It costs us dearly, but we have learned in our own suffering: justice and peace are priceless,” he added.