Theme: Haiti

According to Opera Mundi, the Haitian civil society group Association of the United Nations-Haiti (UNA-Haiti) reported to the United Nations bombardments and attacks with heavy weapons on civilian neighborhoods by Salvadoran troops sent to Haiti by President Nayib Bukele, and asked for an investigation into possible civilian deaths, including children, in operations in Croix-des-Bouquets, Canaan and Plaine du Cul-de-Sac. Bukele denied the accusations: in a post on X on Saturday, October 31, 2026, he said his country's troops have no bombs and that the attack helicopters reached Haiti only on Thursday, October 29, after the period cited in the complaint.

The government of Nayib Bukele announced it is sending more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti, in a statement issued after a phone call with Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, CNN en Español reported. The reinforcement follows the disappearance of four Salvadoran soldiers serving in the UN gang-repression force, according to DW. Bukele said the four may be held hostage by criminal groups and announced a military operation to locate them, according to RT Brasil.

Bukele called US President Trump on Tuesday to make sure Trump had no problem with a major military escalation in Haiti, to which the Haitian government has agreed, and was told, “Do what you have to do,” according to sources briefed on the call. El Salvador announced Wednesday it was deploying as many as 2,000 troops to Haiti, a number that could double or triple, according to the same sources.

El Salvador sent about 1,000 troops to Haiti after four Salvadorean members of a UN-backed security mission went missing in a gang ambush on the outskirts of the capital on October 18, according to the South China Morning Post.

Four Salvadoran soldiers with the Gang Repression Force (FRG), the UN mission that has operated in Haiti since April, have been missing since Sunday night (18), after the vehicle they were in was ambushed in the Santo neighbourhood of Croix-des-Bouquets, in greater Port-au-Prince. Four days into the operation, the soldiers have not been found. The FRG said that “several gang members were killed and others wounded during the clashes” and that four of its personnel were wounded. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said on Wednesday (21) that the four are aviation technicians and that the Salvadoran mission in Haiti has “only pilots and technicians”, working on medical evacuation.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele initiated a military operation to rescue four Salvadoran soldiers abducted by gangs in Haiti, without elaborating, according to Al Jazeera. The four, aviation technicians with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF), have been missing since they fled a burning vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets.

Haiti’s government said the release of the Salvadorans kidnapped by gangs is “an absolute priority” and that all necessary resources are being mobilized, in a statement that calls the hostages “abducted soldiers”, according to AP News. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said on Wednesday he had launched a military operation to rescue the four Salvadoran aviation technicians kidnapped in Haiti, according to the same report.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced on Wednesday that he had launched a military operation to rescue four Salvadoran aviation technicians kidnapped by gangs in Haiti, according to the Associated Press (AP). The four disappeared after an ambush by armed gangs on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, according to security officials. AP reported that after fleeing a burning vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets the four were left unaccounted for; Bukele demanded the hostages be returned alive and unharmed and said the Salvadoran mission involves only pilots and technicians for medical evacuations.

To US President Donald Trump, Springfield, Ohio, crystallises the country’s problems after years of unchecked immigration, according to the BBC. He once repeated the false claim that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in the city. In June, the Supreme Court upheld the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for some 350,000 Haitians.

Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council extended until October 31 the deadline for candidate registration and postponed indefinitely the start of political campaigns, according to Opera Mundi. In practice, the calendar of the presidential and legislative elections is stalled: the first round had been expected on December 13.

Haiti indefinitely postponed the elections scheduled for December and February, according to the electoral council cited by France 24, citing technical and operational requirements as gang violence continues to disrupt preparations. The first round of the presidential and legislative elections was set for December 13, with the second round set for February 21, 2027. A council member confirmed to AFP that the December 13 date “no longer stands” and that a new timetable is being prepared, according to France 24, with information from AFP.

The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) in Haiti until March 31, 2027, in Tuesday's vote, according to Al Jazeera. China, Russia and Pakistan abstained, citing concerns over the measure's effectiveness. US ambassador to the UN, Waltz, said that about 1,500 GSF troops are currently operating in Haiti and the remaining 4,000 are expected to arrive in the coming months.