Haiti's prime minister praises Bukele after Haitian police and Salvadoran troops destroy a gang leader's home
Haiti's Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé thanked El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele on Tuesday after Haitian police and Salvadoran troops destroyed a home of Wilson Joseph, the 400 Mawozo gang leader known as Lanmò San Jou, who was not inside. Bukele celebrated the attack on the home and what he called the gang's headquarters; a reported toll of about 20 dead rests on unnamed sources and is not established, and Amnesty International has urged both governments to publish the agreement governing the Salvadoran deployment.
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Key points
- Bukele said his troops destroyed the 400 Mawozo gang's headquarters; AP's narrower account is that Haitian police and Salvadoran troops destroyed one of leader Wilson Joseph's homes on Sunday, and he was not inside.
- Haiti's prime minister thanked Bukele on X and said the collaboration would continue; he visits El Salvador next week to discuss the troops' future.
- A reported toll of about 20 dead comes from unnamed sources in one account and is not established; no official toll has been published.
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- At least 2,500 Salvadoran troops are in Haiti, most outside the UN-backed force; Amnesty wants the deployment agreement published.
What happened
El Salvador sent the troops after four of its aviation technicians were attacked on 18 October in gang-controlled territory and disappeared. Two days before Sunday's operation, Bukele had answered a social media post claiming to show Joseph's house by writing, in Haitian Creole: "Give us the exact address, and we'll destroy it."
The Salvadoran force is larger than the roughly 1,500-member UN-backed Gang Suppression Force and mostly operates outside its command, alongside Haitian police and soldiers and a private security firm. Experts cited by AP describe a crowded and complex security picture, with civilians killed in some attacks on gangs, while Haitian public sentiment toward the Salvadoran troops is described as largely positive.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- Bukele and Fils-Aimé both praised the operation in their own posts on Tuesday, and the prime minister said the collaboration would continue.
- A home of Wilson Joseph was destroyed on Sunday and Joseph was not killed, on AP's reporting.
- At least 2,500 Salvadoran troops are in Haiti and most operate outside the UN-backed force's framework.
What we don't know yet
- Whether anyone was killed in Sunday's operation, and how many — the only toll reported rests on unnamed sources.
- The terms of the agreement governing the Salvadoran deployment, which Amnesty International has asked both governments to publish.
- The fate of the four Salvadoran aviation technicians missing since 18 October.
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- Whether Sunday's operation destroyed a gang headquarters, as Bukele said, or one of several homes Joseph uses, as AP's account suggests.
Claim by claim
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Why this label: Bukele's posts are his own words, reported by AP and AFP. They verify what he said and claimed; the wider description of the operation is carried in the claims below on their own evidence.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Fils-Aimé's post is his own words, reported by AP. It verifies his stated position, not the operation's outcome.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: AP reports the destruction of a home — a narrower account than Bukele's "headquarters" wording — on the Herald's reporting and Merlo's confirmation. Gang leaders in Haiti regularly move between several houses, AP notes.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The toll rests on unnamed sources in one newspaper's account. No official toll has been published, and no independent source has confirmed a death count.
On the ladder: the evidence so far sits low — early, single or social sources. We publish the claim as a claim, never as fact.
Why this label: AP reports the deployment, the 18 October attack and that the technicians remain missing. Joseph has told AP the four are dead; El Salvador maintains they are alive — that disagreement is carried in the claim below.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The two accounts directly conflict and neither is independently established. The men's fate is unknown on the reporting read.
On the ladder: credible sources conflict, so we show both workings. One side's own statement is that side's position — never proof.
Why this label: The outside-the-framework position is reported by AP and AFP; Amnesty's call is its Americas director Ana Piquer's own statement of Monday, quoted by AP. The gang suppression force's spokesperson told AP it is coordinating closely with Haitian authorities and partners.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Abinader's remarks are his own stated position, reported by AP. His spokesperson declined to give details of the assistance.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why it matters
A foreign army is now fighting one of Haiti's most powerful gangs largely outside the UN-backed mission's structure, with public praise from Haiti's prime minister and open backing from the Dominican Republic. Whether that brings territory back under state control — and under what rules and oversight — is the question the deployment agreement, still unpublished, would help answer.
Background
Show the background timeline (4)
Four Salvadoran aviation technicians are attacked deep in gang-controlled territory in Haiti and disappear.
Bukele deploys more than 2,000 Salvadoran soldiers to Haiti; the force later reaches at least 2,500.
Bukele answers a post claiming to show Joseph's house: "Give us the exact address, and we'll destroy it."
Haitian police and Salvadoran troops destroy a home of Wilson Joseph in the operation first reported by the Miami Herald.
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