El Salvador Sends Over 2,000 Troops to Haiti After Four Soldiers Seized by Gangs

El Salvador has sent more than 2,000 troops to Haiti this week. President Nayib Bukele ordered the deployment to recover four Salvadoran soldiers seized by gangs and to support local forces fighting armed groups. The four, aviation technicians with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force, were taken on Oct. 18 when gangs struck their armored vehicle in Croix-des-Bouquets as they drove back to base from a market. El Salvador announced Wednesday that it would send up to 2,000 troops, possibly more, and the force has reportedly grown toward 2,500. Haiti's government has agreed. Bukele phoned President Donald Trump on Tuesday, and Trump reportedly told him to do what he had to do. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly opposed a larger Salvadoran role, and requests for US drones and transport aircraft were reportedly refused. A nongovernmental organization handed over four badly burned bodies it said were the missing men, but Bukele rejected that, saying the remains included a child and a body in another country's uniform. He said on X Thursday that El Salvador was not seeking profit.

The Daily Caller, on the right, leads with the rescue mission, drawing on BBC, AP and Miami Herald reporting. It stresses the kidnapping, Bukele's description of the men as hostages, the disputed bodies and his Creole message saying this is not an invasion. It does not mention Trump's approval. The New York Times, on the left, offers only a short excerpt, calling the deployment extraordinary on foreign soil and asking in its headline whether Bukele could be Haiti's savior. That puts the focus on Bukele's role rather than the captured soldiers. Both sides report the 2,000-plus troop figure and the link to the missing men. Axios, among alternative outlets, has a distinct angle: US approval, Rubio's reported opposition and the denied equipment, which TRT World repeats.