El Salvador joins support mission to fight gangs: Haitian Foreign Minister

SAN SALVADOR —

El Salvador is already part of the mission, backed by the UN and led by Kenya, that supports Haiti in its attempt to regain control of areas dominated by gangs, said Haitian Foreign Minister Dominique Dupuy.

At the beginning of 2024, the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, offered his contribution to solving the problem of insecurity in the Caribbean nation and the United Nations and Haiti took him at his word.

“What El Salvador has done by signing this agreement is recognize their willingness to accompany us in the effort against gangs. They offered multiple commitments that will be implemented soon,” Dupuy said in an interview with the Voice of America.

“There are many things we can learn from your experience. Your decision to join us is symbolically significant,” he added.

A Salvadoran mission is already in Haiti carrying out medical evacuations and supporting “more precise operations,” Dupuy added.

“We were not able to have a traditional peacekeeping force for various reasons that you know due to the configuration of the (UN) Security Council and polarization, but it is encouraging that we have partners who have this experience, who are joining our efforts “added the official in reference to El Salvador.

The VOA made a request for comments to the press secretary of the Salvadoran Presidency, Ernesto Sanabria; and to the international press department to delve into the details of the support that El Salvador will give to the mission, but at the time of publication there has been no response.

Bukele offers support

In March 2022, Bukele offered to export his security model in Haitimired in poverty and with a deep crisis of insecurity caused by gangs.

“All the ‘experts’ said that these groups could not be defeated because they were an ‘intrinsic part of our society.’ They were wrong. We annihilate them. The same must be done in Haiti,” Bukele said last March 10 when he offered on his X account to provide a solution to the Haitian problem.

The president made reference in his publication to the endemic security crisis that El Salvador was suffering and his controversial heavy-handed policy to solve it, which has followers and detractors in equal measure.

“We will need a UN Security Council resolution, the consent of the host country and all the expenses of the mission to cover,” he added then.

The collaboration materialized on October 3, after the signing of an agreement between San Salvador and the Haitian ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Gandy Thomas. The pact “will allow El Salvador’s proven experience in the eradication of criminal gangs to be valued,” Thomas said at the time.

The maras or criminal gangs were dismantled in El Salvador after the Bukele government implemented an emergency regime in March 2022 that extends to the present.

The Salvadoran police and the Army deployed their operational force in the neighborhoods where gang leaders and lower-ranking members were located, who were unable to respond to the government force. Some 90,000 people were detained until then.

Despite Bukele’s popularity and internationally recognized results – a Gallup poll registered El Salvador as one of the safest countries in the world – Human Rights defenders have criticized this strategy, due to the lack of guarantees for due process for suspects and the conditions of prisoners.

What is the situation in Haiti?

Haiti fight against armed gangs led by gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, alias “Barbecue”, a former Haitian police officer identified by the UN and the United States as responsible for numerous atrocities, including massacres.

It is estimated that at least 200 gang groups operate in Haiti, mainly in the capital Port-au-Prince. In addition to drug trafficking and arms trafficking networks.

In 2022, the country requested international help to assist the police in their fight against gangs.

In these cases, the UN promotes peace operations in countries in conflict, as it did with a multinational delegation of 6,700 “blue helmets” established in Haiti from 2004 to 2017, in charge of protecting civilians, monitoring borders and observing peace processes. The mission withdrew under controversy, accusations of having brought cholera to the country and allegations of sexual abuse.

The ghost of that mission still weighs on the UN, which chose to approve and support the current operation with the US in 2023, but left the presence on the ground to the countries involved, including the leader Kenya, the Bahamas and now El Salvador. .

The Multinational Security Support Mission (MMS) It was renewed until October 2025. This multinational operation seeks to support the Haitian police in their fight against gangs. Kenya, which is leading the operations, sent dozens of agents to the country.

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