A contingent of Guatemalan and Salvadoran security personnel have arrived in Haiti’s capital to support a long-delayed United Nations-backed mission charged with restoring security amid a violent fight with armed gangs.
According to the mission’s communications officer, the fresh arrivals included 75 Guatemalans and eight Salvadorans.
Leslie Voltaire, president of Haiti’s transitional presidential council, Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, and U.S. Ambassador Dennis Hankins welcomed the troops at Port-au-Prince’s airport.
The new arrivals were made up of 75 Guatemalans and eight Salvadorans, a communications officer for the mission.
Meanwhile, Guatemalan President, Bernardo Arevalo had in September pledged to send 150 military police, three months after initially pledging in a letter to the UN an unnumbered contingent alongside personal equipment.
El Salvador had in August promised 78 soldiers for medical evacuation operations as well as three helicopters much needed by Haitian security forces contending with mountainous terrain and highways scattered with gang-controlled checkpoints.
Kenya is leading the mission, having deployed around 400 police officers in the middle of last year, far short of the 1,000 promised.
However, the mission failed to prevent gangs from seizing new territory and carrying out several atrocities as violence erupted in the last months of 2024, forcing thousands more people to escape their homes.
In recent years, Haiti’s national police force has lost thousands of policemen.
Ten countries have offered nearly 3,100 troops for Haiti, but few have actually deployed.
