Nayib Bukele's Salvadoran troops have been in Haiti since last week, ostensibly on a mission to rescue four kidnapped aviation techs who'd been ambushed by gangs back on the 19th. 

At first, it was just a few hundred soldiers, and the president of El Salvador was polite but firm in his request to whoever had his men - give them back or else.

Used to being able to blow off everyone from the United States to the United Nations, Haitian gangs had a good laugh, filmed a couple smack-talkin' 'come at me bro' videos...

...and sent the mixed remains of four charred corpses back via a shady NGO.

There's your guys, they said.

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Not my troops, replied the president of El Salvador. Especially the child's body, and this was a mistake on your part.

...The goal is to free 4 Salvadoran citizens kidnapped by the Haitian gangs. Bukele threatens that El Salvador will eradicate the Haitian gangs if they hurt the kidnapped men: 

“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 4 hostages back alive. Do not take our word for empty threats. We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador and we can finish you too” 

Not 24 hours later, the same gang leader was begging for Bukele to call off his dogs.

Little did any of them realize Bukele was sending 10 times more dogs into the fray. 

By October 30, Bukele had 2,000 Salvadoran troops in the country or on their way, and the you-know-what was fixin' to get real. More importantly, he had the blessing of the United States and the UN's tacit approval to do what he felt he had to do.

There have been organized protests in the major cities against the arrival of the Salvadoran military...

...but they have been few and far between.

Most often the reaction has been one of relief from the locals, greeting the convoys and troops like conquering heroes entering Palermo during WWII.

President Bukele, your name will be forever etched in the memory of the Haitian people. If you succeed in achieving the goal of contributing to the eradication of gangs and restoring peace and security to Haiti, your legacy and that of El Salvador will be remembered with gratitude.

Crazy glad to see them.

  | In the Kenscoff community, the Salvadoran military were welcomed with chants and joy by the population.

#Haiti | The presence of the Salvadoran Troops is already being felt on Haitian soil; in some parts of the country, they are welcomed with music and gifts. The good people are helping to reclaim their country and thank El Salvador for lending their weaponry and freeing them from the gangs.

The gangs, not so much. The troops wasted little time setting up and getting to work.

 Salvadoran Troops Enter Haiti The armed forces of El Salvador, under the command of President Nayib Bukele, are attacking armed gangs in Haiti. 

Over 2,000 Salvadoran soldiers, supported by MD500E and Black Hawk helicopters as well as armored vehicles, are participating in operations against armed gangs, particularly in the Croix-des-Bouquets area and on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince.

The same gang leader is still begging for Bukele to pick up when he calls, and now seems to be terribly concerned about civilian casualties if the fighting 'escalates.'

Guess he's getting a presidential 'busy' signal - cuz Bukele's busy kicking his a**.

...The leader of 400 Mawozo claims to fear an escalation that would lead to more civilian casualties. 

"Dialogue must prevail over force," he pleads, while expressing his willingness to take part in negotiations under international mediation. 

It remains to be seen whether Nayib Bukele will lend an ear to this appeal. 

As 2,000 Salvadoran soldiers are now deployed in Haiti, some are already asking: does the mission aim solely to find the missing, or to deliver a decisive blow to the gangs terrorizing the country?...

President Bukele simply answered with another 'Come out, come out, wherever you are' call.

Thing of beauty. Literally a search-and-destroy mission.

Gather your gangs so we can go fight with them… 

This entire enterprise is fraught with risk - there is absolutely no disputing that. The gangs may be knocked off their feet for the moment, but there's every chance that someone gets their act together...or just gets lucky.

...The operation carries enormous risk. Gangs hold roughly 90% of Port-au-Prince and control critical arterial roads for fuel, medicine, and food. Salvadoran military units must now navigate foreign slums where up to an estimated 15,000 armed Creole-speaking combatants operate along narrow corridors and mountain extraction routes. Many of them are child soldiers.

“The risk of a Black Hawk Down scenario is very high,” said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at the Stimson Center, referring to the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia and the resulting book and movie about a Black Hawk helicopter carrying U.S. forces that was shot down.

The Salvadorans’ initial objective remains unresolved. There has been no proof of life and no ransom demand for the four technicians, who disappeared after an attack in Croix-des-Bouquets, 9 miles northeast of the capital. Security officials familiar with the incident fear the men were killed during or immediately after the ambush.

“The gangs are dangerous,” said Carlos Ruiz Massieu, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Haiti. “They are armed with high caliber weapons and operate largely within an urban context,” he said. The Salvadorans and other forces must do everything to prevent casualties in areas where gang members live among civilians, he said.  

But it is also indisputable that they have never faced a gang-warfare-proven national leader with troops of Bukele's caliber, focused solely on annihilating them. They have only seen stitched-together international missions whose purpose is usually distribution of supplies and protecting relief activities, not hunting down the gangs themselves. 

The Haitian gangs could well have overplayed their hand here and picked the wrong cage to rattle.

I will be delighted to watch it go sideways for them for however long Bukele sticks around.