Haiti Kills Gang Chief as El Salvador, Mercenaries add pressure

(Bloomberg) — Haitian officials say they have killed a top gang leader in the capital as private mercenaries and at least 2,000 Salvadoran soldiers join the fight to regain control of the restive Caribbean nation.

In a joint operation with other forces, the Haitian National Police said they attacked the gang’s stronghold in Cité Soleil and fatally wounded the leader of the “Boston” gang, Mathias Saintil, who died in a local hospital.

“One less gang leader,” interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé wrote on X. “The gangs will not sleep.”

Haiti’s gang crisis has attracted a range of international support, including the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force and a private military company run by Erik Prince, a former US Navy SEAL and founder of Blackwater. Prince suggested that his contractors, known as the Task Force, who work as a division within the National Police, or HNP, were responsible for the gang leader’s death.

“Greetings to the HNP working group,” he wrote on X in response to the Prime Minister’s message. “Nice shot.

Haiti’s powerful gangs – which at some points controlled more than 90% of the capital and forced more than 1.5 million people from their homes – are coming under increased pressure.

Last month, after four Salvadoran soldiers disappeared in Haiti and were presumed kidnapped, President Nayib Bukele began sending thousands of troops to the country, vowing to crush “evil” gangs.

On Wednesday, he released videos of Salvadoran soldiers patrolling mostly empty streets in Haiti. “Looks like the gangs don’t want to fight us,” he wrote on X.

Also last week, one of Haiti’s biggest and best-known gang leaders, Wilson Joseph of the 400 Marozo group, asked the United Nations to open peace talks.

More such stories are available at bloomberg.com