Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader said he spoke with his Salvadoran counterpart, Nayib Bukele, to offer logistical and intelligence support to the Salvadoran mission seeking to rescue four aviation technicians kidnapped by criminal gangs in Haiti.
Abinader reported that the contact with Bukele occurred this Saturday. The Dominican leader noted that his priority is maintaining security along the border with Haiti, given the presence of armed groups in the neighboring country.
"My responsibility as a border country is to secure the border, and we have substantially reinforced the border. Those terrorists can be sure that if they come near there, they are going to have a very, very bad time," Abinader said.
Dominican Republic Reinforces Surveillance on the Southern Border
The head of state indicated that the Dominican government concentrated resources in the southern area of the border, where the greatest activity of Haitian gangs takes place.
As he explained, authorities deployed aircraft, armored vehicles, and drones to reinforce surveillance tasks. "We are prepared, we have planes flying over the border, we have armored vehicles nearby, and we also have drones watching over security," he said.
Abinader recalled that the Dominican Republic was the first country to classify members of Haitian criminal gangs as terrorists. He added that anyone attempting to cross the border will be treated under that designation.
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Luis Abinader offered logistical and intelligence support to Nayib Bukele for the rescue mission in Haiti. (Courtesy: Listín Diario)
The president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, stated that he spoke with his counterpart from El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, to offer logistical and intelligence support to the Salvadoran mission seeking to rescue four aviation technicians kidnapped by criminal gangs in Haiti. Abinader reported that the contact with Bukele took place this Saturday. The Dominican leader noted that his priority is maintaining security along the border with Haiti, given the presence of armed groups in the neighboring country.
"My responsibility as a border country is to secure the border, and we have substantially reinforced the border. Those terrorists can be sure that if they come near there, they will have a very, very bad time," Abinader declared. The head of state indicated that the Dominican government concentrated resources in the southern area of the border, where the greatest activity of Haitian gangs is recorded.
Government authorities sent surveillance aircraft, armored transports, and unmanned aerial technology to the border perimeter to stop any violent incursion from the armed gangs operating in Haitian territory. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernández)
As he explained, the authorities deployed aircraft, armored vehicles, and drones to reinforce surveillance tasks. "We are prepared, we have planes flying over the border, we have armored vehicles nearby, and we also have drones watching over security," he said. Abinader recalled that the Dominican Republic was the first country to classify members of the Haitian criminal gangs as terrorists. He added that anyone attempting to cross the border will be treated under that designation.
Since Thursday, Salvadoran personnel have been in Haitian territory searching for four aviation technicians who, according to Abinader, were kidnapped by criminal organizations operating in Haiti. Bukele referred to the operation on his social media and asserted that El Salvador's troops will carry out the mission. He also stated that his government will confront the Haitian gangs with a strategy similar to the one applied against gangs in his country.
The Dominican government deployed aircraft, armored vehicles, and drones to guard the border line with Haiti. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernández)
The situation in Haiti keeps the Dominican Republic on alert, as it shares a land border of nearly 390 kilometers with that country and has reinforced migration and security controls in recent years.
The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, responded on Friday, October 23, to questions about a possible Salvadoran defeat against the Haitian gangs. In a message posted on X, he listed the arguments of those who believe the mission will face resistance greater than what his country fought.
"Many messages, analyses, and comments claim that the gangs in Haiti are not like those in El Salvador; that they are bloodthirsty, that they are heavily armed, that no one has been able to defeat them, that all missions have failed, that we are falling into a trap, that we don't know what we are facing, that this will be our ruin, that we are heading toward our Waterloo," Bukele wrote.
Nayib Bukele asserted that he will confront the Haitian criminal gangs with a strategy similar to the one he applied against Salvadoran gangs. (Europa Press)
The leader argued that a victory would change those assessments: "But when God grants us victory, those same people will change their minds. They will say it was always easy, that anyone could have done it, that the gangs in Haiti were not as dangerous as we believed. In short, we never paid attention to them and we are not going to start now."
Bukele also linked the operation to his religious beliefs. "All those who have enlisted are believers, and we have entrusted this mission to God, while the gangs in Haiti are satanic. God will grant us victory. The Creator of the Universe is with us. Deuteronomy 28:7: The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated; they will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways," he stated.