Haitian political leader urges Bukele to target officials linked to gangs

A Haitian political leader has urged El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele to address the political figures allegedly supporting armed gangs in Haiti, arguing that those groups are not the country’s only source of instability.

Jean Baptiste Elysée, president of the Haitian political party Independent Patriots Voice (VIP), made the appeal in a message directed to Bukele following El Salvador’s deployment of military personnel to Haiti.

“Your main enemies are not the gang members, but the leaders who support them,” Elysée said, according to reports. He also conveyed a request from several political groups, asking the Salvadoran president to help bring an end to Haiti’s current government so the country can regain its place in the international community.

The statement comes as El Salvador participates in an operation in Haiti, with authorization from the Haitian government, to locate four Salvadoran military personnel who went missing nearly two weeks ago.

Bukele authorized the deployment of Salvadoran troops to help rescue the missing personnel and has blamed armed gangs for their disappearance.

The Haitian leader’s remarks add a political dimension to the Salvadoran mission, which was initially presented as an operation to find the missing soldiers.