Overview:
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said the human remains handed to Haiti’s Gang Suppression Force did not belong to the four Salvadoran soldiers missing since a gang ambush on Oct. 18. The New York Times first reported the discovery, citing people close to the international mission. The GSF said Sunday it had received burned remains suspected to be those of the missing personnel but could not yet confirm their identities.
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele disputed reports on Saturday, Oct. 24, that four bodies believed to be those of four Salvadoran soldiers missing after a gang ambush in Haiti had been recovered. He said the human remains handed to the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport did not belong to his personnel.
“They are not our men,” Bukele said. “The remains correspond to those of a child, a man considerably taller than our aerotechnicians, and a person who was wearing part of a military uniform that does not belong to our army.”
The New York Times first reported the recovery, citing two people close to the international mission authorized by the United Nations to fight gangs in Haiti. In a post on X, Bukele said the remains did not match the four missing Salvadoran aviation technicians.
According to The New York Times, the recovery was entrusted to Hero Client Rescue, a humanitarian organization led by Scott Reece, a former U.S. State Department security official. The organization, which receives U.S. funding, provides medical evacuation services in Haiti.
In a statement issued Sunday, however, the GSF confirmed it had received burned human remains suspected to belong to the four missing Salvadoran personnel but said it could not yet confirm their identities. Doctors were examining the remains.
The GSF also clarified that a Chadian military identification card circulating on social media belonged to a soldier from the Chadian contingent. Bukele shared an image of the card on X. According to the GSF, the soldier lost the card during the search for the missing Salvadoran personnel, and he remains with his unit.
“On behalf of the entire personnel of the GSF, our thoughts are with the families of four missing personnel, their fellow soldiers, and the Government and the people of El Salvador during these difficult times,” said Jack Christofides, the GSF’s special representative.
For now, the identities of the recovered remains had not been officially confirmed, and the fate of the four missing Salvadoran personnel remained unknown.
Soldiers missing after ambush
The four Salvadoran personnel went missing on Oct. 18 after an ambush in Santo, an area of Croix-des-Bouquets northeast of Port-au-Prince. El Salvador’s armed forces said the men were returning from a supermarket when their vehicle was attacked and caught fire. They escaped the vehicle before losing contact with their base.
Neither Haitian security authorities nor the gangs operating in the area had publicly confirmed whether the Salvadoran personnel were alive or being held captive.
The U.N. system in El Salvador condemned the attack in an Oct. 24 statement and expressed solidarity with the missing personnel’s families.
“The United Nations system in El Salvador joins the call made by the spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General for their immediate and safe return,” the statement said.
Additional Salvadoran troops join search
The GSF has intensified its search with the arrival of additional Salvadoran troops. About 450 Salvadoran soldiers arrived in Haiti between Oct. 22 and Oct. 23 to help locate the missing personnel.
Bukele has said his immediate priority is to bring the four men home alive and unharmed. He also warned the Haitian gangs responsible for the ambush that they could face consequences similar to those imposed on gangs in El Salvador if the soldiers were not returned.
The arrival of additional troops marks a reported shift in El Salvador’s profile in the mission. Bukele had previously described the country’s role as focused on aviation support, medical evacuations and technical assistance rather than direct combat against gangs.
As of Oct. 25, the GSF continued security operations in Santo, where the Chen Mechan and 400 Mawozo gangs operate.
