Trump Tells Bukele ‘Do What You Have To’: 2,000-Strong Salvadoran Force Lands in Haiti

Foreign soldiers arriving in Haiti is hardly novel—U.S. Marines occupied the country from 1915-1934 and the U.N.’s MINUSTAH kept 9,000 peacekeepers there in 2004-2017—but Bukele’s venture recalls the 1975 Operation Condor era when Washington quietly outsourced hard power to regional allies. The deployment spotlights two 21st-century trends: the rise of mid-sized states acting as proxies so the U.S. avoids boots-on-the-ground headlines, and the meshing of state forces with mercenary outfits like Erik Prince’s Vectus Global. Whether this becomes a turning point or another footnote depends on if a Salvadoran hammer can fix the systemic drivers—economic collapse, political vacancy—that have made Haiti a revolving door for interventions for more than a century. If, in 100 years, hemispheric security is regularly policed by ad-hoc coalitions rather than superpower forces, historians may trace the template back to this modest but symbolically potent green light from Washington.