El Salvador accuses US diplomat David Howell in Haiti
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on La Nouvelle Tribune
El Salvador has sent a diplomatic note accusing US chargé d’affaires David Howell of spreading false information about its troops’ operation against gangs in Haiti. According to Axios, this stance contradicts criticism from the State Department, as Donald Trump fully backs the operation.
El Salvador has sent an official diplomatic note accusing the US chargé d’affaires in Haiti, David Howell, of spreading false information about the intervention of its troops against gangs, according to Axios. The government of Nayib Bukele is thus responding to criticism from the State Department, while President Donald Trump fully backs the operation.
It all stems from the 31 October attack on a convoy of five Salvadoran armoured vehicles near the US embassy in Port-au-Prince, which came under fire. David Howell had then warned Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé that the Salvadoran soldiers were not acting in coordination with the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), backed by the UN. The US embassy in San Salvador subsequently lodged a formal protest with the Salvadoran government, which accuses it of a lack of coordination putting the GSF at risk. San Salvador disputes this version point by point and says the diplomat presented no evidence.
The deployment began at the end of October, after four Salvadoran soldiers went missing in an ambush in Port-au-Prince, as reported in our article on the mission sent to recover them. Donald Trump gave President Bukele his green light during a call on 27 October, and the contingent could reach 2,000 soldiers. The UN has said that most of these soldiers do not operate within the GSF framework and has reminded them of the need to respect international law.
