Salvadoran forces are conducting aerial strikes deep in Haiti, the latest targeting the palatial home of Wilson Joseph, also known as Lanmò Sanjou.
The gang leader commands the 400 Mawozo syndicate based in areas including Croix-des-Bouquets and the Cul-de-Sac Plain in Haiti.
President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele shared a video of the air operation on Tuesday, saying the operation was a promise kept.
“We destroyed the Lanmò San Jou house and the 400 Mawozo gang’s headquarters,” he wrote. “Most of them ran away without even trying to fight. What cowards!”
Bukele ordered a military action in the troubled Haiti following the disappearance of Salvadoran aviation technicians, who were ambushed and abducted in mid-October.
The President’s deployment of more than 2,000 troops and attack helicopters was outside the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force framework.
There is no evidence yet that the CIA has backed El Salvador’s unilateral operation in Haiti, but President Donald Trump seemingly endorsed it when questioned by the press.
“He (Bukele) said that he has a big problem with Haiti. I said, look, you’re running your country, you have to do what you have to do,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago.
Bukele is believed to have his eyes set on Jimmy Chérizier. Popularly known as Barbecue, the top gang leader is a former Haitian National Police officer and heads the paramilitary coalition.
Mathias Saintil, a notorious mob boss, was neutralised on November 6 during a law enforcement operation. He had led the Boston gang in Cité Soleil neighborhood of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
“The gangs won’t be able to sleep!” Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé said in reaction to Saintil’s demise, adding that the battle to liberate Haiti “from the grip of bandits” continues with determination.
