Nayib Buekele’s fight in Haiti: New hope, or greater havoc?

The crisis in Haiti has fueled fatigue and frustration within the international community. Neither the Organization of American States nor the United Nations has been able to reverse this human tragedy. No superpower has been willing to put boots on the ground. Yet in March 2024, the president of the smallest country in Central America, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, declared his readiness to take on the challenge:  “We can fix it.” Bukele has emerged as a prominent global figure in the fight against gangs and organized crime. He transformed his own country, once the most dangerous country in the Americas, into the safest nation in the Western Hemisphere. In 2025, El Salvador recorded 1.3 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. In January of 2025, El Salvador joined U. N. security efforts in Haiti. Then, in October, four aviation technicians were captured by Haitian gangs. Bukele called for the immediate release of the technicians, sending 2,000 more troops to Haiti and issuing a strong ultimatum: “We have already finished the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too.” Haiti is not a regular country with gangs. It has a nationwide gang coalition, which functions much like an army, under the name of Viv Ansanm (Live Together). In 2025, the group was designated by the U. S. as an international terrorist organization. According to the United Nations, at least 5,519 people were killed and 2,608 were injured in Haiti between March 2025, and Jan. 15, 2026 in gang-related violence, with 1.4 million internally displaced. Bukele sent a message to the Haitian people: “We can help you defeat them, but we are not invaders. We are people with the same courage as you. We must stand up, take back control of our communities, and bring those who are making us endure all this pain, all this suffering, under our control.” The arrival of Bukele’s troops has brought a sense of hope to Haitians after years of suffering, death and neglect. They were received with chants of “We are Bukele” and “Long live Bukele!” Hatian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime thanked Bukele and said, “He understands our fight. He came to stand on the side of the Haitian people.” Since the arrival of elite troops from El Salvador, the situation has begun to shift. For the first time, a gang leader has been captured: Jean Saint Louis, alias “Kenken,” was arrested by Salvadoran forces and the Haitian Coast Guard. Meanwhile, last week, Mathias Saintil — a member of the “Boston Gang” — was killed, and Wilson Joseph, the top leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, has requested U. N. mediation, expressing concern over the arrival of the Salvadoran troops. Bukele faces several challenges. Unlike in El Salvador, Haiti lacks the support of a strong government, a functional prosecutor’s office, a robust judiciary or a high-security prison system in Haiti. Furthermore, he faces a massive coalition of gangs and is at a numerical disadvantage. Added to this are the differences in terrain, language and culture — an entirely unfamiliar environment. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also noted that security and coordination in Haiti are key components. He said that “de-confliction” is essential. “What you can’t have is gang suppression force running into Salvadorian soldiers and shooting at each other because they think the other side are gang members,” he said. “You’ll need a lot of strong coordination, because they’re operating alongside one another.” Amnesty International has also expressly called on the government of Haiti and the government of El Salvador to respect human rights. “The vast majority of Salvadoran military personnel recently deployed to Haiti are not part of the Gang Suppression Force, authorized by the UN Security Council, and therefore fall outside the mandate and monitoring mechanisms of the United Nations Support Office in Haiti.” The truth is, the crisis in Haiti is far more complex than the gang situation in El Salvador. Currently, Haiti is home to the U. N. Gang Suppression Force, in addition to forces working for security contractor Erik Prince, Bukele’s troops, the Haitian police and military and the massive gang coalition known as Viv Ansanm. Bukele’s efforts in Haiti face a challenge of epic proportions, like a dark mirror of a new Vietnam in the Caribbean. Only time will tell whether his presence in Haiti brings change or chaos, a new hope or a greater havoc. Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University’s Security and Defense Seminar and the Harvard Leadership course. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.