Haiti: 400 Mawozo gang seeks talks, police kill Boston gang leader, Bukele threatens to destroy gang boss's house

The 400 Mawozo gang sent AP a statement on November 6 saying it had contacted Haiti's National Commission for Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration "seeking peace and national reconciliation". Gang leader Wilson Joseph told AP on November 1 that he had written to the UN Secretary-General asking for mediators, fearing that Salvadoran troops would escalate the violence.

El Salvador has deployed more than 2,000 troops to Haiti after four Salvadoran personnel went missing in an ambush in the Santo area near Croix-des-Bouquets on October 18. President Nayib Bukele replied on X to a post about Joseph's house: "Where is that house? Give us the exact address, and we'll destroy it."

Boston gang leader killed

Haitian police said they "neutralised" Mathias Saintil, leader of the Boston gang in Cité Soleil. "One less gang leader," Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé wrote.

According to the UN, gangs control up to 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, at least 26 gangs operate around the capital, more than 1.4 million people are displaced, and 1,123 people were killed and 440 injured between July and October 2026. The UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF) has been arriving since April, with a mandate until March 2027; most Salvadoran personnel operate outside it.