Bukele to Haitians: 'This is not an operation against the Haitian people'

Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald on Oct 29, 2026

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A week after launching an unprecedented deployment of military prowess onto Haitian soil, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is asking the Haitian people to trust him, telling them Thursday that he’s not invading their Caribbean nation and all he wants is his men back — and to teach Haiti’s gangs a lesson.

Four aviation technicians from the Salvadoran armed forces were ambushed on Oct. 18 in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince and have not been heard from since. Angry, the Central American leader known for his decisive, authoritative style and mass crackdown on criminalized gangs in his own country, decided to take matters into his own hands.

A week later there are more than 2,000 Salvadoran troops in Haiti with their numbers expected to surpass that of the U.S.-backed, United Nations-authorized Gang Suppression Force.

“This is not an operation against the Haitian people, nor an invasion of the country of Haiti,” Bukele said in a post on X written in Haitian-Creole and addressed to the Haitian people. “We are not a great power. We have no interest in coming to dominate the Haitian people, nor in laying hands on Haiti’s wealth. We are a modest country that is developing. The only thing we want is for our four aviation technicians to return home.”

And he wants to teach Haitian gangs, now in control of most of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and expanding elsewhere inside the mountainous country, a lesson, he said.

The gangs, Bukele said, make Haitians suffer, kill loved ones and prevent the population “from living a normal, free life, without fear.”

The Miami Herald, which first reported the deployment of Salvandoran troops a week ago, also reported that at least one of the airlifts was carried out by a U.S. military aircraft. Colombia has also helped with logistics.

But it is El Salvador, Bukele said, that is “footing the bill for this operation.”

“It’s with our own modest funds that we’re covering 90% of the expenses,” he said, as he also announced that their deployment is almost complete. “It costs us dearly, but we’ve learned from our own suffering: Justice and peace have no price.”

While Bukele is admired by many people in Haiti for his take-charge style, his deployment has also created ripples, raising concerns about his ultimate intentions. The arrival of the forces was done without a signed agreement with Haiti, and both nations went days without any public acknowledgment as more than a dozen flights carrying Salvadoran military and equipment landed at Port-au-Prince’s international airport.

Apparently aware of the criticism, Bukele said El Salvador, which is now considered one of the safest countries in the region, “went through the same suffering that Haiti is going through today.

“We lived through a nightmare that was even more horrific than what the Haitian people are enduring right now. We know what that means: living in fear, not trusting politicians, not believing anyone who promises to help you. Because no one came to help us, and those who did come didn’t have good intentions in their hearts,” he said.

“But we managed to escape it. After 200 years of suffering, finally we’re living in peace, and today we are the safest country on the continent,” Bukele said. “We didn’t come to Haiti to make money, because no one is paying us to do it. We came to Haiti to fight against the wicked.”

Asking Haitians to trust him and pray to God for healing, the strongman then quoted from the Old Testament, 2 Chronicles 7:14.

“If at that time my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, where I am, I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.”

“Help us help Haiti,” Bukele ended his message. “And when our mission is finished, we’ll return home. Perhaps the next generation of Haitians will remember us as friends who came to help one day.”