El Salvador Invades Haiti with Help from the Trump Administration?
Peter Zeihan
5 min
El Salvador in general, does not have any military capability. Get ready for the worst.
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Nayib Bukele
Chapters
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0:00
El Salvador's Paradoxical Leadership
El Salvador is described as having one foot in the failed state camp and one foot out. President Bukele has taken a zero tolerance approach to crime, building the world's largest prison. While he has reduced crime levels, his authoritarianism surpasses previous military junta leaders.
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1:15
Haiti's Historical Instability
Haiti was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to criminalize slavery, leading to isolation. The United States shut it out of everything because other nations still had slavery. The country has never been able to economically develop due to deforestation and corruption.
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2:51
US Support for El Salvadorian Troops
El Salvador has sent troops to Haiti to reclaim people lost to gangs. These troops were transported by U.S. military assets and supplied by the Trump administration. El Salvador does not have any military capability to control its own territory. If 2,000 El Salvadorian soldiers are on the run, this is going to become a bloodbath. Any glitch in getting them to a place where the U.S. can evacuate them will cause disaster. Leaders overreach and then find themselves in a disastrous situation.
Key points
- 0:00
El Salvador, like all of the Central American countries, has one foot in the failed state camp and one foot out.
- 0:00
He's more authoritarian than any of the leaders they've had since the military junta.
- 0:35
Haiti was the first country in the Western Hemisphere to criminalize slavery.
- 0:35
Everybody else in the hemisphere who still had slavery basically made it a persona non grata.
- 0:35
The country can't even send waves of refugees outs on boats because they clear-cut the entire place.
- 0:35
And when it does have a government, it is hideously corrupt.
- 0:35
And when it doesn't have a government, which is basically where we are now, it's run by gangs.
- 0:35
Every few years, an American administration for the last 150 years has gone into Haiti to try to impose order.
- 2:44
All these troops were transported to Haiti by U.S. military assets.
- 2:44
And now the entirety of the logistical tail is also being supplied by the Trump administration.
- 2:44
El Salvador in general, does not have any military capability.
- 4:11
If 2,000 El Salvadorian soldiers are suddenly on the run and there's any glitch whatsoever in getting them to a place where the U.S. can evacuate them, this is going to become a bloodbath.
On the map
Who and where
Places · 6
- El Salvador 9
- Haiti 9
- United States 10
- Central America 1
- Port-au-Prince 1
- Western Hemisphere 1
People · 1
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Nayib Bukele 4
President of El Salvador since 2019
Photo 1
1. Photo: The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · Wikidata · redrawn in our house style (Nayib Bukele)
Organisations · 2
- United Nations 2
- first cabinet of Donald Trump 1
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