Joint Haitian and Salvadoran forces reclaimed the Sylvio Cator Stadium this Thursday, the main sports venue in Port-au-Prince, which had been under the control of armed gangs. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced the takeover of the stadium with a direct message: "We now have the advantage on the ground."
The National Police of Haiti confirmed full control of the stadium and its surroundings, according to a report from the Haitian Times. The venue was immediately converted into an operational base to advance towards neighborhoods of the capital dominated by armed groups.
Bukele warned gang members to leave the area before a new offensive and threatened those who remained to fight with "consequences."
During the operation, the Salvadoran leader stated that several human skulls were found inside the stadium, although there is no independent forensic verification of this finding.
The operation included the deployment of armed robotic dogs —identified as potential Unitree Go2 models— along with more than 20 armored vehicles and Salvadoran trucks, an image that circulated in media around the world.
The Salvadoran military escalation in Haiti was triggered by the ambush on October 18 in Croix-des-Bouquets, about 12 kilometers from Port-au-Prince, in which four Salvadoran aviation technicians went missing when their armored vehicle was attacked with gunfire and explosives and caught fire.
Before the attack, El Salvador had only 124 personnel in the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force. After the ambush, Bukele ordered a gradual escalation that increased the contingent to over 2,500 soldiers by mid-November, according to Associated Press figures.
The Salvadoran president has insisted that his country covers 90% of the operation's expenses with its own resources: "We do not come to Haiti for money, because no one pays us for this. We come to Haiti to fight against the wicked," he declared at the end of October.
The Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé has publicly endorsed the intervention and confirmed the coordination between the Haitian National Police, the Haitian Armed Forces, and Salvadoran troops. Haitian citizens in Port-au-Prince and Kenscoff expressed their gratitude to the Salvadoran soldiers in recent days.
However, the operation has also resulted in the displacement of at least 2,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration, and the four missing Salvadoran aeronautical technicians have still not been officially located.
The leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, Wilson Joseph, requested UN mediation in early November and claimed—without evidence—that the four Salvadorans were dead. The UN confirmed that it had received his letter but clarified that this does not imply recognition of the sender or support for its content.
Experts warn that Bukele faces challenges in Haiti that he did not encounter in El Salvador: gangs are familiar with the terrain, Salvadoran soldiers do not master Creole nor have local intelligence networks, and the urban environment of Port-au-Prince is extremely complex.
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