Bukele disputes the identity of bodies delivered in Haiti
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele denied that four bodies handed to his forces in Haiti were those of four missing aviation technicians. An earlier account said the badly burned remains might belong to the men and required forensic examination. The technicians disappeared after an armed-group attack; a Salvadoran rescue contingent is searching for them.
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Bukele rejects the delivered remains’ identification
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele denied that four bodies delivered to Salvadoran forces in Haiti belonged to four missing aviation technicians. He said a nongovernmental organisation brought the remains to an airport and claimed they were the missing men. The denial followed their disappearance after an October 18 attack.[1], [2]
Bukele said the remains included a child, a person substantially taller than the technicians and someone wearing another army’s uniform. He also described identification documents and military uniforms from other countries. Images he shared included a Chadian identity card and an identity document for the international security force in Haiti.[1]
The earlier account called for forensic examination
An earlier New York Times account, citing people close to the Salvadoran mission, said the bodies might be those of the missing men. It described badly burned remains requiring medical examination for identification. Another person cited by the newspaper said the identity card shared by Bukele belonged to a soldier who had previously lost it after being injured.[1]
The search follows an ambush on the technicians
The technicians were serving with the United Nations-backed Gang Suppression Force, the international mission confronting armed gangs in Haiti. They were returning to camp in an armoured vehicle when armed groups attacked them in Croix-des-Bouquets, an area of Haiti. No gang had claimed responsibility for their abduction.[1]
El Salvador sent a military contingent to Haiti on Thursday to search for the four. Bukele described their principal work as medical evacuation and saving lives. The Salvadoran armed forces said helicopters and repeated efforts to reach them during the initial rescue attempts had been obstructed by fighting.[1]
