El Salvador President Nayib Bukele stated that human remains delivered to Salvadoran forces at a Haitian airport do not belong to the four aviation technicians who went missing after a gang ambush on October 18. Bukele posted on X late Saturday that a nongovernmental organization handed over the remains at the airport and claimed they belonged to the four Salvadorans.
He wrote that the remains instead included those of a child, a man of considerably greater height than the missing technicians, and a person wearing part of a uniform from another army. Identification cards and military uniforms from other countries were also found among the remains. He shared images of identification documents linked to a member of the force from Chad.
“They are not our men,” Bukele wrote. The four Salvadorans serve as aviation technicians with El Salvador’s contingent in the United Nations-authorized Gang Suppression Force. They are not combat troops. Their duties include medical evacuations. On October 18 their armored vehicle came under attack with gunfire and explosives in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, while they were returning to base from a market. The vehicle caught fire and the men exited and contact was lost. Salvadoran helicopters sent to the area later came under fire.
Bukele announced a military rescue operation earlier in the week with the stated goal of returning the four men alive and unharmed. Additional Salvadoran special-forces personnel arrived in Haiti on October 22. Haitian authorities described the safe return of the missing men as a priority. No armed group has publicly claimed responsibility for the ambush.
The Gang Suppression Force confirmed it received remains from a humanitarian organization. As of Sunday it said it was not in a position to confirm whether the remains belonged to the missing personnel. Further identification work, including autopsies, was required. The remains were described in earlier accounts as severely burned.
The ambush marked the first major attack on the Gang Suppression Force since the mission began operations in Haiti this year. The force, authorized by the UN Security Council, supports the Haitian National Police against armed groups that control large parts of the capital and surrounding areas. Troops from Chad, Jamaica and Guatemala also participate in the mission. The Security Council extended the force’s mandate until March 31, 2027.
Bukele has previously stated that the Salvadoran contribution consists only of pilots and technical personnel. He warned gang leaders that a more forceful response would follow if the four men were not released alive. Search efforts have continued amid ongoing fighting in the area.
As of today, Salvadoran officials and the Gang Suppression Force had not announced any change in the status of the four missing technicians beyond Bukele’s statement that the delivered remains were not theirs. Forensic examination of the remains remained ongoing.
