El Salvador has challenged the United States State Department over its military operation against gangs in Haiti, after American diplomats privately raised objections to the way Salvadoran troops are fighting there.

Axios reported on 10 November that State Department officials had quietly objected to El Salvador's gang-fighting efforts in Haiti, even though President Donald Trump has offered his full support for the deployment. The friction centred on whether Salvadoran forces were coordinating with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force, known as the GSF.

Diplomatic note and a text message

According to Axios, David Howell, the US charge d'affaires in Haiti, sent a text message to Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime complaining that Salvadoran forces were not coordinating with the GSF and suggesting that GSF soldiers had nearly been harmed. The US Embassy in San Salvador then delivered a formal diplomatic note on 5 November, which reportedly said the failure to coordinate endangered the force and that Salvadoran small-arms fire had struck the US Embassy compound in Port-au-Prince.

El Salvador responded on Monday with a rebuke that questioned the credibility of the top US diplomat in Haiti. Salvadoran officials said it was "ruled out" that their fire had struck the embassy, and said their forces had repelled an attack on GSF troops from Chad. They also denied that three of their soldiers had become casualties.

Support from Trump, questions over authority

Axios cited a source who said President Nayib Bukele had reacted angrily to the note and pointed to his conversations with Mr Trump, saying he had been authorised to act in Haiti by Washington's executive branch. State Department officials told Axios it was unclear who had authorised the note, and the objections have not been confirmed as official US policy. Mr Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have publicly backed El Salvador's role, while Mr Rubio has said the Salvadorans should work with the GSF to avoid friendly fire.

How the deployment began

El Salvador sent troops to Haiti after four Salvadoran aviation technicians attached to the GSF went missing on 18 October, when their armoured vehicle was attacked with explosives near Croix-des-Bouquets, outside Port-au-Prince. The Associated Press reported on 9 November that about 2,500 Salvadoran troops were operating in Haiti, more than the roughly 1,500 personnel of the GSF itself. The United Nations has confirmed that the vast majority of the additional Salvadoran troops are not deployed under the GSF and fall outside the UN support office's mandate. On 8 November, Haitian police and Salvadoran soldiers destroyed a house belonging to Wilson Joseph, leader of the 400 Mawozo gang. Prime Minister Fils-Aime is due in El Salvador on 16 and 17 November to discuss the troops' future.