SAN SALVADOR — President Nayib Bukele announced a military operation on Wednesday to rescue four Salvadoran airmen who disappeared in Haiti after a gang ambush. For the first time, a Salvadoran official said they were kidnapped. Bukele warned Haitian gang leaders that what has happened so far “is nothing compared to what is coming” if the men are not released alive.

The Announcement

Bukele made the announcement in Haitian Creole on social media, featuring a video of Haitian streets teeming with armored vehicles. “We have one goal: to bring our four compatriots home alive,” he said, adding that he wants them returned unharmed.

Bukele said the four are aviation technicians, not combatants, whose main role is medical evacuations. In his account, they were kidnapped after buying food at a market.

Message from President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele:

“To the gang leaders and gang members holding our four compatriots hostage in Haiti:

Our kidnapped men are not combatants. They are aviation technicians who are part of our mission in Haiti, within the framework of an international mission. Our mission consists only of pilots and technical personnel, whose primary job is to carry out medical evacuations and save lives, not to wage war.

However, they were kidnapped in a cowardly manner while returning after buying food at a market in the area.

That is why, today, we have launched a military operation to rescue them. We have a single objective: to bring our four compatriots back home alive, without any harm.

However, I want you, the gang leaders, to understand one thing very clearly: today's attack is nothing compared to what is coming if we do not get all four hostages back alive.

And do not take our word for empty threats. We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too.

We still have time to avoid this.

Return our four compatriots to us alive, without any harm, and everything will go back to how it was before the kidnapping.

The decision is in your hands.”

His message to the gangs was a mix of offer and threat. If the men are freed, he said, things return to how they were before the kidnapping. If not, a stronger operation follows. The Central American leader reminded the gangs that El Salvador defeated its own and said his government could do the same to theirs. “The decision is in their hands,” he said.

Ambush

The four belong to Task Force Libertad II, El Salvador’s contingent in the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force. The Armed Forces say they were returning to camp in an armored vehicle in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, east of Port-au-Prince, when armed groups hit it with gunfire and explosives.

The vehicle burned and all four got out, but contact was lost. Helicopters sent to help took fire, and repeated land and air attempts to reach the men were blocked by the intensity of the fighting.

The Search On the Ground

The Gang Suppression Force says it is continuing ground and air searches in Santo, and that several gang members were killed or wounded in clashes. Four of its own members were also wounded, and residents were told to stay indoors.

Neighbors report bursts of automatic gunfire, helicopters, drones and armored vehicles. Local media say the fighting is with 400 Mawozo, led by Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmò San Jou. The group is one of three gangs that contest the area, and nobody has claimed the attack or the kidnapping.

Bukele gave no details of the rescue operation, including which units are involved, how many troops, where or when. The Armed Forces have said they are working with the force and international forces to establish contact and determine the men’s location.

There is no proof of life, and their whereabouts are unknown.

International Support

At the U.N. Security Council on Monday, U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz said the four are believed to have survived. “We believe all four men survived, but they remain missing,” he said, promising to bring them home.

El Salvador’s U.N. ambassador, Egriselda López, urged the Council to mobilize all available resources to find them.

The ambush is the biggest attack on the force since it began operations, and it comes as El Salvador deepens its presence in Haiti. The Salvadoran Assembly voted on September 29 to extend its participation for a year, until October 2027.

For Bukele, who has presented his crackdown on gangs as a model for the region, the crisis is a test. A successful rescue would support that image, while a prolonged captivity or deaths would put pressure on a government that has promised results.

The force has more than 2,000 troops against an authorized 5,550.

Gangs reportedly control much of Port-au-Prince, and the U.N. says violence has displaced nearly 1.5 million people.