President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele announced on Tuesday that Salvadoran troops deployed in Haiti “destroyed” a facility described as the headquarters of the deadly Haitian gang 400 Mawozo.
Bukele published video footage across his official social media accounts of the military operation. In the video, rockets are seen fired from helicopters at a compound reportedly described as the home of 400 Mawozo’s leader, Wilson Joseph, who also goes by the alias “Lanmò San Jou.” Towards the end of the video, several individuals are seen fleeing from the area on foot, while some are seen escaping on motorcycles.
The Salvadoran president accompanied the footage with a text written in Haitian Creole that reads, “We kept our promise. We destroyed Lanmò San Jou’s house and the 400 Mawozo gang’s headquarters.”
“Most of them ran away without even trying to fight,” the text continued. “What cowards they are.”
At press time, Bukele has not publicly disclosed details of the military operation shown in the footage.
The Salvadoran press secretary published a landscape-orientation copy of the footage on social media and accompanied it with a text that reads, “With the destruction of the so-called ‘House of Death’ and the headquarters of the 400 Mawozo criminal organization in Haiti, the government of President Nayib Bukele reaffirms its commitment to the success of the military and rescue operation.”
The military operation shown by Bukele comes less than a week after the Salvadoran president “crowdsourced” open-source intelligence (OSINT) through social media to ask the exact GPS coordinates of a house in Haiti attributed to the deadly gang. On November 6, President Bukele wrote in Haitian Creole, “Where is this house? Give us the exact address, and we will destroy it” responding to a now-deleted post by X user “Sophia Fecu Kerry” that reportedly showed photos of a multi-story house attributed to Joseph and the 400 Mawozo gang alongside photos of the ruined Haitian presidential palace.
Bukele did not disclose if any of the OSINT information supplied by X users responding to his post was verified or used in the strike against the compound.
El Salvador deployed over 2,000 troops to Haiti in late October to support an ongoing U.N.-endorsed security operation against the nation’s deadly gangs. The deployment occurred days after four Salvadoran aircraft technicians were ambushed and kidnapped by gang members on October 18.
Although the burned remains of the vehicle that the technicians were driving when they were ambushed was found days later, the four men remain missing and their whereabouts are still unknown at press time. President Bukele threatened to “destroy” the Haitian gangs should the four missing men not be safely returned.
Le Nouvelliste reported that Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé affirmed that the collaboration with the Salvadoran forces “promises results” in remarks shared during a Tuesday visit to the Kenscoff commune, located some seven miles southeast from the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
“We will see the results. Criminals will face relentless action. Gangs and their leaders will face relentless action,” Fils-Aimé reportedly said before hundreds of Kenscoff residents.
Prime Minister Fils-Aimé is expected to visit El Salvador next week between November 16-17. Salvadoran Vice President Félix Ulloa detailed to local outlets last week that both countries will discuss the future of the deployed Salvadoran troops in Haiti during Fils-Aimé’s visit.
Haiti-focused outlets detailed over the weekend that hundreds of local residents marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince and other Haitian towns to express their gratitude and support to Bukele and the Salvadoran troops. Last week, Bukele published four pieces of footage showing some of the troops walking through the streets of the Haitian capital, and remarked, “It seems the gangs don’t want to fight us.”
Wilson Joseph, whose gang headquarters were presumptively “destroyed” in the military operation announced by Bukele, issued a letter to the United Nations last week asking the organization to mediate with the Salvadoran government. U.N. Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric acknowledged that the request was received, but explained that its reception does not constitute an endorsement of its contents, a recognition of its author, or a position by the United Nations.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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