At this writing on Oct. 27, some 450 Salvadoran soldiers have already landed in Haiti in the past five days, with another 700 reportedly to arrive soon. The first deployment was 100 “special forces” troops deployed on Oct. 22, the day after Bukele announced his “rescue operation.” (As we go to press, the Salvadoran outlet Tendencias reports that there are now 1,000 Salvadoran soldiers in Haiti.)

But these soon-to-be 1,100-odd Salvadoran troops are not deployed as part of the Gang Suppression Force (GSF), launched in September 2025, which is current Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s enlarged and overhauled version of Blinken’s MSS. The Salvadorans sent this past week are commanded unilaterally by Bukele, an egregious departure from his Mar. 10, 2024 tweet (need “a UNSC resolution”) and a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.