El Salvador sent more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti, the government said Wednesday, to support a mission to rescue four soldiers serving in a UN-backed force missing after an ambush.
Haitian PM thanks El Salvador for support in fight against gangs
A soldier from El Salvador stands guard as a convoy of armored vehicles carrying military personnel and Equipment arrives in the Tabarre neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
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The soldiers with the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) disappeared on October 18 when attackers targeted their armored vehicle as they were returning to base from a market outside the capital Port-au-Prince.
"El Salvador will continue with the operational deployment of more than two thousand soldiers to rescue the four Salvadoran (soldiers), in a large-scale operation supported by various countries and international organizations," the Salvadoran foreign ministry said in a statement.
Officials said El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele spoke on the phone on Wednesday about the rescue mission with Haiti's Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime.
Bukele threatened last week in an X post written in Haitian Creole to wipe out Haiti's gangs, as he says he has done with those in El Salvador, if they did not release the Salvadorans.
The new soldiers will join forces previously deployed to Haiti to support the search operation in the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac area near Port-au-Prince.
One of Haiti's main gang leaders, Wilson Joseph, meanwhile sent a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to ask for dialogue with the international forces.
The UN confirmed that it had received the letter, but distanced itself quickly from its demands and did not formally respond.