Bukele says bodies handed over in Haiti are not missing Salvadorans

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele says human remains handed over to Salvadoran military personnel in Haiti do not belong to four Salvadorans missing after a gang attack. His announcement leaves the men’s whereabouts unresolved as efforts to find them continue.

“They are not our men,” Bukele wrote on X, responding to reports that recovered bodies could belong to the missing aviation technicians. He said a nongovernmental organization had delivered the remains at the airport, presenting them as those of the four Salvadorans.

According to Bukele, the remains included a child, a man considerably taller than the missing technicians and a person wearing part of another country’s military uniform. He also said identification documents and military clothing from other countries were found among the remains. Those details were the basis of his public rejection of the proposed identification.

The statement followed a New York Times report suggesting that four bodies recovered outside Port-au-Prince could be those of the missing Salvadorans. That report said the remains were badly burned and that examinations were needed to establish their identities. The competing accounts leave a distinction between the recovery of bodies and confirmation of who they were.

The four Salvadorans disappeared after an attack on their armored vehicle while returning to their base from a market outside the Haitian capital, Reuters reported. They escaped the burning vehicle during the ambush, according to that account. Haiti’s government has described their disappearance as a kidnapping.

Bukele has emphasized that the missing men are aviation technicians rather than personnel assigned to combat operations. He has described the Salvadoran contingent’s work as supporting medical evacuations and saving lives. Their disappearance has nevertheless drawn El Salvador more directly into a search operation amid Haiti’s gang violence.

El Salvador sent additional military personnel to Haiti to help locate and rescue the men. The Associated Press reported that more than 100 special forces troops were deployed on October 22, following an announcement of a military operation. Haitian authorities have said finding the technicians is their highest priority.

The missing Salvadorans were serving with the United Nations-authorized Gang Suppression Force, part of the international effort to confront organized armed groups in Haiti. Reuters described the ambush as the force’s first major attack since beginning operations in the country that year. The incident highlights the risks facing personnel supporting the mission as well as those directly engaged in security operations.

Bukele’s denial does not establish what happened to the missing men or identify everyone whose remains were recovered. The immediate questions remain separate: determining the identities of the dead and locating the four Salvadorans. Further findings from the identification process and the search operation will be needed to resolve those uncertainties.