The president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, contradicted a report from the New York Times published on Saturday, which claimed to have located the bodies of four Salvadoran military technicians who went missing in Haiti after an ambush, as reported by Reuters from San Salvador and Port-au-Prince.
The American newspaper had reported, citing two sources close to the security mission, that four severely burned bodies were recovered on the outskirts of the Haitian capital and handed over to a Salvadoran military team at the international airport. The newspaper itself acknowledged that autopsies would be necessary to confirm the identities.
Hours after that post, Bukele responded with a direct message on X: «They are not our men».
The president explained that a non-governmental organization delivered the remains at the airport, claiming they belonged to the four aeronautics technicians, but upon examination, it was determined that they did not correspond to them.
The remains belong to a child, a man of a considerably greater height than that of our aerotechnicians, and a person who was wearing part of a uniform from an army that is not ours, he wrote. He added that among the remains, identification cards and military uniforms from other countries were also found.
As evidence, Bukele shared photographs of a credential from the Gang Suppression Force (GSF) and a national identity card from Chad in the name of Sossal Kamis Alhadj, a private with identification number T-1426, suggesting that at least one of the bodies delivered could belong to a Chadian soldier.
The four Salvadoran aerotechnicians disappeared on October 18 when their armored vehicle was attacked with gunfire and explosives in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets, northeast of Port-au-Prince, while returning to their base from a market.
The vehicle caught fire and all four managed to escape, but all contact with them was lost. This was the first significant attack against the GSF since the mission began operations.
Local media linked the ambush to the Chèn Méchan and 400 Mawozo gangs, which dominate that area, although no group has publicly claimed responsibility.
Bukele had announced days earlier a military operation with elite troops deployed in Haiti to rescue the four compatriots "alive and unharmed," with approximately 100 special forces arriving in Port-au-Prince on October 23.
The searches focused on Croix-des-Bouquets, Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, Santo, Marassa, and Shada, in coordination with the National Police of Haiti.
The GSF operates with the authorization of the UN Security Council and has a ceiling of 5,500 personnel, although at the time of the incident it had only about 2,000 soldiers from six contributing countries. This Sunday, the Council extended its mandate for an additional six months, until March 31, 2027.
Haitian gangs have markedly expanded since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, taking control of large areas of Port-au-Prince and displacing between 1.4 and 1.5 million people.
With Bukele's version, the whereabouts of the four Salvadoran aerotechnicians remain officially unconfirmed.
«All those who have enlisted are believers, and we have entrusted this mission to God», affirmed the Salvadoran leader days before receiving remains that he claims do not belong to his officers.
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