Haitian PM praises El Salvador after strike on alleged gang leader’s home

Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has praised El Salvador’s military support after a joint operation targeted the alleged home of a powerful gang leader. The strike against a property linked to the 400 Mawozo gang comes as Salvadoran troops expand their involvement in Haiti’s security crisis.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said in a post on X that forces had destroyed the home of Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmò San Jou, and the gang’s headquarters. His announcement presented the operation as a success against one of Haiti’s most powerful armed groups, although the building’s alleged role remains a claim by the Salvadoran leader.

Footage posted by Bukele showed helicopters firing on a two-storey property in Croix-des-Bouquets, near Port-au-Prince, according to AFP reporting. People could be seen fleeing the area, underscoring the danger surrounding an operation involving air power in an inhabited neighbourhood.

The Associated Press reported that Haitian police and Salvadoran soldiers carried out the attack on Sunday and that Joseph was not killed. Destruction of the property therefore does not establish that the gang’s leadership has been removed or that its capacity to operate has been dismantled.

Fils-Aimé’s public endorsement gives political backing to a deployment that has brought thousands of Salvadoran troops into Haiti. His message praised their contribution to the fight against gangs, placing the bilateral operation within the Haitian government’s broader effort to restore state authority.

The deployment followed the disappearance of four Salvadoran aviation technicians during a gang attack in October. Their fate remains disputed: Joseph told the AP they were dead, while Salvadoran authorities have maintained that they are alive. Those competing accounts leave the rescue mission’s central question unresolved.

The military campaign also raises questions about how Salvadoran forces work alongside Haitian security personnel and the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force. AFP reported concerns about coordination and rules of engagement, issues that matter both for the conduct of operations and the protection of people living nearby.

Haiti’s gang crisis provides the backdrop to the intervention, with armed groups controlling territory and challenging the government’s authority. A strike on a prominent property offers a visible demonstration of military force, but its longer-term significance depends on whether authorities can establish security beyond the immediate target.

Bukele’s approach draws attention because of his sweeping campaign against gangs in El Salvador. That campaign sharply reduced homicides but also prompted allegations of serious human rights abuses, making scrutiny of the Haitian operation’s safeguards and accountability especially consequential.

The next phase is expected to include discussions between the two governments about the Salvadoran deployment’s future. The AP reported that Fils-Aimé planned to visit El Salvador for talks, with the mission’s duration and operating arrangements among the unresolved questions surrounding the offensive.