Bukele: Remains delivered in Haiti are not missing Salvadorans
El Salvador's president said a child's body and a foreign army uniform were among remains handed to his forces in Haiti, rejecting reports they were the four missing technicians.
The story in focus
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele said human remains handed to Salvadoran forces at a Haitian airport are not the four aviation technicians missing since an Oct. 18 gang ambush. He cited a child's body and a foreign army uniform among the remains, disputing earlier reports that the dead were the missing men.
- Bukele said an NGO handed over remains claiming they were four missing Salvadoran air technicians; he said they are not his men.
- He described one corpse as a child's, another as considerably taller than the technicians, and noted a uniform from a different country's army.
- The four men vanished after their armoured vehicle was ambushed on Oct. 18 in Croix-des-Bouquets, an area controlled by armed groups.
- Around 450 Salvadoran soldiers have been deployed, according to Haitian newspaper Le Nouvelliste; more than 100 special forces troops went on Oct. 22, the AP reported.
- The UN said more than 5,700 people were killed or injured by gangs or operations against them between Jan. 1 and Sept. 11 this year.
What Bukele said about the remains
President Nayib Bukele said a nongovernmental organisation delivered human remains to one of Haiti's airports, asserting they were the four missing Salvadoran aviation technicians. He rejected that identification, writing that the dead were not his men.
According to Bukele, the remains included a child, a man considerably taller than the technicians, and a person wearing part of a uniform from an army other than El Salvador's. He posted images of a Gang Suppression Force identification card and a corresponding national ID from Chad. The Associated Press reported that Bukele did not directly address a fourth body.
The ambush and the deployment
The four men disappeared after their armoured vehicle was ambushed on Oct. 18 in Croix-des-Bouquets, an area controlled by armed groups. No gang has claimed responsibility. The men were part of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force; Bukele said they were aviation technicians handling medical evacuations, not combat troops.
El Salvador announced a military operation and warned of a stronger response if the men were not released. It deployed more than 100 special forces troops on Oct. 22, the AP reported, while Le Nouvelliste put the total deployment at about 450 soldiers. Haiti's government called the incident a kidnapping and said the search was its top priority.
Competing accounts of the bodies
The New York Times, citing people close to the Salvadoran mission, reported that bodies found on Port-au-Prince's outskirts on Saturday were thought to be the missing men and were badly burned, requiring examination to identify. The AP reported that an official with knowledge of the investigation said four bodies were recovered without confirmation they were the technicians.
The UN said more than 5,700 people were killed or injured by gangs or during operations against them between Jan. 1 and Sept. 11 this year.
Why did Bukele reject the identification of the bodies?
He said the remains included a child, a man much taller than the technicians, and someone in another country's army uniform, plus foreign identification cards and uniforms.
Sources & further reading
- El Salvador president says bodies found in Haiti are not those of hostages ↗BBC
- El Salvador’s Bukele says bodies found in Haiti are not those of missing Salvadorans ↗ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos
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