At least some of the human remains found in Haiti do not appear to belong to four missing Salvadoran soldiers, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.
The information partially supported the earlier claim of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that “they are not our men.”
The four aviation technicians, members of the U.N.-approved, U.S.-supported Gang Suppression Force, went missing last week after an ambush in gang-controlled territory east of Port-au-Prince.
They had apparently lost their way on Oct. 18 when they came under fire at Croix-des-Bouquets. Gunmen with explosives ignited their white Toyota SUV. They managed to escape the vehicle, the Salvadoran military said, but haven’t been heard from since. It’s the greatest single loss among international forces in Haiti since they deployed in 2024.
The Gang Suppression Force, of which Salvadorans are members, confirmed Sunday that it had received, through a “third-party humanitarian organization,” remains that were “suspected of being those of the four personnel from the Salvadoran contingent currently missing.”
“At this stage, the GSF is not in a position to confirm that the remains are those of missing personnel,” the force said.
Bukele, who has sent more than 500 special-forces troops to Haiti to join the search, said they didn’t match.
“The remains correspond to a child, a man of considerably greater height than that of our air technicians, and a person who was wearing part of a uniform from an army that is not ours,” Bukele posted on X.
The person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, largely corroborated Bukele’s claim. It was “fairly certain,” they said, that at least some of the remains “were not those of the Salvadoran soldiers.”
The remains of roughly three bodies were recovered, the person said, “almost fused together.” DNA testing was being conducted outside Haiti.
The leader of one of Haiti’s most powerful criminal organizations said the Salvadorans were killed in territory controlled by Chen Mechan, an allied gang.
In a video posted Sunday, 400 Mawozo leader Joseph Wilson, also known as “Lanmò San Jou,” describes their deaths as a “mistake” he wouldn’t have made. He addressed Bukele and the Haitian government.
If they had come into his area, he says, he would have captured them and forced the authorities to make the foreigners leave Haiti before letting them go.
The Gang Suppression Force, staffed largely by African and Latin American troops, deployed this year to help outgunned Haitian authorities establish enough security to allow elections.
Haiti’s presidency has been vacant since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse. The National Assembly shut down after the last senators’ terms expired in 2023. A transitional presidential council was dissolved in February, leaving the government to be run by an appointed prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé.
In the absence of elected leaders, heavily armed gangs have taken control of 90 percent of Port-au-Prince, the capital, and are spreading into the countryside, according to the U.N. Mission in Haiti.
At least 5,700 people were wounded or killed in gang-related violence or security operations this year through Sept. 11, according to U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk. The violence has forced 1.5 million people, about 12 percent of the population, from their homes.
The Gang Suppression Force replaced the Multinational Security Support Mission, seen as largely ineffective, in April. It has been authorized at 5,500 troops, more than twice as many as its predecessor, and has been given more aggressive rules of engagement.
Aoife Walsh contributed to this report.
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