Not the Bee drops the quotes from Bukele’s ‘satanic’
Not the Bee
Salvadoran president says “God will grant us victory” over satanic Haitian gangs who kidnapped techniciansRead it where it was published
The word inside the quotes stays the president’s prayer; the word outside becomes the outlet’s verdict. You meet a nation’s name beside the devil, and a rescue that arrives blessed is one you are not invited to question.
Four Salvadoran aviation technicians serving with the UN-backed force in Haiti have been missing since an October 18 ambush. On October 26 Not the Bee headlined Nayib Bukele’s “God will grant us victory” over gangs it called satanic.
What they said
On October 18, 2026, gangs attacked an armored vehicle carrying four Salvadoran aviation technicians with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and the four are still missing.
Not the BeeNayib Bukele, President of El SalvadorOct 23, 2026
“Everyone who has enlisted is a believer, and we have entrusted this mission to God, while Haiti's gangs are satanic, and it's public knowledge that they carry out human sacrifices.”
Post on X replying to user Humberto Salazar, in the English translation printed by Not the Bee
Read it where it was publishedNot the BeeNayib Bukele, President of El SalvadorOct 23, 2026
“God will grant us victory. The Creator of the Universe is with us.”
Post on X, in the English translation printed by Not the Bee
Read it where it was publishedCiberCubaOct 23, 2026
Bukele responds to warnings about his mission to eliminate gangs in Haiti: "God will grant us victory."
The same post, headlined as a reply to a critic, with no devil in it
Read it where it was publishedNPR (The Associated Press)
Bukele says military operation launched to rescue Salvadorans held by gangs in Haiti
Read it where it was publishedAl JazeeraOct 22, 2026
El Salvador’s Bukele threatens Haitian gangs over abducted soldiers
Read it where it was publishedNPR (The Associated Press)Nayib Bukele, President of El SalvadorOct 21, 2026
“Today's attack is nothing compared to what is coming if they do not release the four hostages alive. And do not take our words as empty threats”
Post on X, in the AP’s translation as carried by NPR
Read it where it was published
“God will grant us victory” Inside quotation marks, the line stays the president’s. It comes first, so the operation reads as blessed before the reader learns what happened to the four men.
“satanic” No quotation marks: Bukele’s word now reads as the outlet’s description. The hard word: ‘gangs’ already carries the fact; ‘satanic’ judges a nature that no count or court can show.
“Haitian gangs” A nation’s name sits beside the devil’s. One armed group in one district stands for a whole people: the habit where their one member stands for all of them.
“Everyone who has enlisted is a believer” Our side is defined by its faith, theirs by its devil. People are sorted before any act is weighed.
“it's public knowledge” No source, no case, no date for ‘human sacrifices’. ‘Public knowledge’ stands where evidence would go and leaves the reader to supply it.
“The Creator of the Universe is with us” The highest ally a speaker can name. With God on the mission, a doubt about the mission starts to sound like a doubt about God.
The analysis
The headline carries two of Bukele’s words and treats them differently. “God will grant us victory” sits inside quotation marks, so it stays his. The word “satanic” sits outside them, so it reads as the outlet’s own description of the gangs. The page itself keeps the word inside Bukele’s quoted post, after ten paragraphs, and names the four men three ways: “technicians” in the headline, “four Salvadoran soldiers” in its first news paragraph, “aid-workers” in its link.
The plain facts read differently. On October 18 gangs fired on an armored vehicle carrying four Salvadoran aviation technicians with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force in Croix-des-Bouquets. No group has claimed it; local media point to Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo. The force says clashes since have killed at least 7 gang members and wounded 4 of its own. Burned remains were found; Bukele says they are not his men. teleSUR, citing The Wall Street Journal, reports his government seeking a discreet channel to negotiate.
Bukele’s post answered a critic who compared the mission to Napoleon’s failure in Haiti. The reply sorted people: “Everyone who has enlisted is a believer,” while Haiti’s gangs “are satanic.” That is the holy warrant: the operation made righteous before its record exists. The move is the use of the faith, never the faith. “Haitian” beside “satanic” rides the us-and-them habit: their one armed group stands for a nation, our soldiers stand for belief. The tell: a holy word for one side, a devil word for the other, in one sentence.
The words. Wire headlines give Bukele a verb: “threatens”, “warns”, “launched”. Not the Bee gives him God and gives the gangs Satan. Same week, same four men, same missing facts about where they are.
The timing. The headline ran October 26, three days after the post and two days after Bukele disputed that burned remains found in Haiti were his men’s. It mentions neither the remains nor the dispute.
From the book
The six stages of villainization (From Humans To Monsters)
“Satanic” moves the gangs from what they did, an ambush and a kidnapping, to what they are: Essentialization. “Human sacrifices” with no source pushes toward Dehumanization, and “Haitian” lets the label drift onto a nation.
Chapter 10, The Enemy's Gift
Phase Four: Position Yourself as Savior
Bukele answers a doubt about his mission by casting his troops as believers and God as their ally. The rescuer arrives holding the one weapon that cannot be questioned, and El Salvador’s government holds a mission already blessed.
Chapter 10, The Enemy's Gift
Your move
- The Master Question: this is built to make you feel righteous dread, devils against believers. Why now? It answered a doubt about the mission while four men are still unaccounted for. For fear, ask what your fear enables; for pride, what it conceals.
- Does it touch you? If you have family in Haiti or in El Salvador’s forces, ask what plan this week needs. If not, it is weather: watch it like the marble statue, without carrying ‘satanic’ into your evening or performing it for anyone.
- Your nudge: name the word that pulled you, ‘God’, ‘satanic’ or ‘Haitian’, and the belief it pressed on. A believer may feel shielded and a skeptic may feel contempt; the same line pushes both. Question your own side’s reading too.
Sources Not the BeeCiberCubaNPR (The Associated Press)Al JazeeraCNNThe Haitian Times2U.S. News & World ReportteleSUR English