Guatemalan and Salvadorian forces arrive in Haiti to join fight against violent gangs

A group of security forces from Guatemala and El Salvador arrived in Haiti on Friday to reinforce a multinational police force tasked with tackling the country’s rampant gang violence, the Haitian National police announced.

A group of security forces from Guatemala and El Salvador arrived in Haiti on Friday to reinforce a multinational mission tasked with tackling the country’s rampant gang violence, the Haitian National Police announced. The 75 Guatemalan and eight Salvadoran troops were greeted on the tarmac of the international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, by a host of high-ranking officials, video released by the police shows. The officials included the leader of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council Leslie Voltaire, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, and the United States Ambassador to Haiti Dennis Hankins. The troops will join the foreign police force known as the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission — a US and United Nations-backed initiative working with the Haitian police to restore security on the island amid an ongoing battle with the violent gangs. In a statement, Normil Rameau, the acting director general of the National Police, said a “marriage” of the police with the people of Haiti remains “the most effective way to facilitate the total restoration of security and the establishment of lasting peace.” Haiti has been ravaged by intensifying gang violence, which the government has struggled to contain in the aftermath of President Jovenel Moïse’s assassination in 2021. The island nation has also grappled with natural disasters and a worsening hunger crisis.