Haiti announces new election dates as 2,000 Salvadoran troops help fight gangs

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s government has announced new election dates as police and soldiers backed by the recent arrival of more than 2,000 troops from El Salvador fight gangs.

The Provisional Electoral Council said late Wednesday that the first round of general elections will be held next July 18 and the second round on Oct. 4.

Haiti has not held elections in more than a decade and is run by an unelected prime minister. The presidency has been vacant since President Jovenel Moïse was killed in 2021.

The council said it expects to publish the final candidate list, including those running for the presidency or the Senate, by mid-January, with May 20 marking the end of voter registration .

The first round of elections was initially scheduled for Dec. 13, but was delayed by gang violence in Haiti’s central region and in Port-au-Prince. Four aviation technicians from El Salvador working with a U.N.-backed gang suppression force went missing on Oct. 18 in the capital after coming under attack .

In response, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele sent more than 2,000 troops to Haiti to help rescue the four technicians, who the Haitian government says were abducted.

El Salvador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late Wednesday that Bukele had spoken with Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé about the security operation to rescue the technicians.

Meanwhile, Haiti’s government issued a statement saying the two leaders are reinforcing cooperation within the framework of the U.N.-backed gang suppression force.

Experts have questioned exactly what role the Salvadoran troops are playing in Haiti.

Romain Le Cour, head of the Haiti Observatory at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, said their rules of engagement, chain of command, objectives and duration “remain opaque.” He questioned what kind of coordination they might have with the gang suppression force, Haitian police and Vectus Global, the private security firm founded by former U.S. Navy SEAL and Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

“Are we witnessing yet another model of deployment, parallel to the multilateral framework? The role of the United States, which supported and facilitated this deployment, also deserves scrutiny,” he said.

He said the number of Salvadoran troops in Haiti will surpass that of personnel in the gang suppression force.

“What does that mean for its authority, its coherence and its future?” he wrote.

Le Cour and others also raised concerns about the safety of Haitian civilians caught in a gun battle between Haitian gangs and the international forces.

On Wednesday, Doctors Without Borders issued a statement calling on “the authorities and all parties involved to spare civilians and ensure access to health care facilities for all the wounded and sick, without distinction.”

The aid agency said it treated 30 patients injured by gunfire or drone explosions from Oct. 18-26, and that it took some of the wounded several hours to reach hospitals run by Doctors Without Borders.

“Roads and bridges are blocked, and any travel is extremely risky,” said Davina Hayles, Doctors Without Borders head of mission in Haiti. “In a capital city where the health care system has collapsed and many facilities are closed, it is essential to ensure there is access to functioning health care facilities like ours.”