Haitian Gang Leader Mathias Saintil Killed: Prime Minister Says 'One Less Gang Leader'
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Haitian authorities confirmed on November 6 that Mathias Saintil, leader of the Boston gang that controls an area of Cité Soleil in the capital Port-au-Prince, is dead. Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé wrote on the social platform X: 'One less gang leader.'
Reuters, citing a report by Haiti's National Network for the Defense of Human Rights, said Saintil was seriously wounded in the abdomen in a drone strike on Thursday night, November 5, in the gang-controlled Boston neighbourhood on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, and died the following day while receiving treatment. Other reporting, citing the Haitian National Police, said he was struck by multiple bullets during a police operation and died in hospital. The two accounts have not been publicly reconciled, and both are presented here.
Reuters described the killing as one of the biggest blows to Haiti's gang leadership since 2024. Saintil's Boston gang is part of the Viv Ansanm coalition, which the United States has designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The killing comes amid an intensified security campaign by the Haitian government: around 2,000 Salvadoran troops have deployed to Haiti since last month, after an ambush in which four Salvadoran members of a UN-backed force went missing. Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's hard-line anti-gang approach has drawn support in Haiti, and demonstrations backing him were reported in parts of Port-au-Prince on November 6.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：海地首都太子港市区航拍。Roosewelt Pinheiro／Agência Brasil 摄，CC BY 3.0 BR，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Aerial view of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo by Roosewelt Pinheiro/Agência Brasil, CC BY 3.0 BR, via Wikimedia Commons.
