Salvadoran soldiers launch 1st major gang operation in Haiti

Tel Salvador ropas launched today their first major operation in the Cul-de-Sac plain, northeast of Port-au-Prince, with the aim of dismantling the Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo gangs.

Led by Lanmò San Jou, the 400 Mawozo gang is appointed as responsible for the disappearance of four Salvadoran military.

The military of El Salvador, who began arriving in the Haitian capital on 22 October last, advanced with about ten armored vehicles armed with assault rifles, two weeks after the disappearance of the Salvadoran military after an ambush in the Croix-des-Bouquets district.

In a video circulating on social media, armored men advance through spaces that look like abandoned areas, while gangs lift barricades to prevent them from entering the areas under their control.

Among the armed gangs there were at least ten deaths after the clashes with Salvadoran troops in the Santo and Croix-des-Missions sectors, according to the Haitian press.

The 400 Mawozo gang, one of Haiti's most powerful, is run by Lanmò San Jou, for whom the U.S. State Department has offered a reward of up to a million dollars for information leading to his capture.

In turn, the National Police of Haiti (PNH) announced that it is conducting a wide-ranging operation in several areas of the Cul-de-Sac plain, with the support of the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) under UN mandate.

“ This operation aims to eliminate toll stations, end kidnapping attempts and acts of mistreatment that the population suffers in the hands of terrorist bandits on the Cul-de-Sac plain”, reads in the statement.

The operation takes place in Carrefour Shada, the bridge of Croix-des-Missions and Santo 17, where the high command of the NHP mobilizes several armored units to support the units highlighted on the ground, assured the police.

The institution stated its determination to continue these operations and to work for the restoration of security in areas threatened by gangs, as well as to protect the lives and assets of the population.

Some media also reported that the Viv Ansanm gang coalition forced, under death threats, the residents of the La Plaine sector in Port-au-Prince to go out today to protest the operations of the security forces and the military operation of El Salvador, which they called “invasion.”.