El Salvador confirms more than 2,000 soldiers in Haiti to find its four air technicians

El Salvador's government confirmed on Wednesday, October 28, the deployment of "more than two thousand soldiers" to Haiti, as part of an operation to find four Salvadoran air technicians missing since a gang ambush on October 18 in Croix-des-Bouquets.

The announcement came in a statement from El Salvador's Foreign Ministry posted on its X account, according to the Associated Press and El Diario de Hoy. It reported a phone call between President Nayib Bukele and Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé about the rescue operation and the continued presence of the Salvadoran mission in Haiti.

A sharply larger contingent

According to the statement, quoted by the AP, Bukele highlighted "the forcefulness of the operation" (translated), which it said is "backed by various countries and international organizations," without naming them. El Salvador says it will also keep supporting security operations against armed gangs in Haiti.

The figure is higher than estimates from previous days. On Tuesday, October 27, a Haitian security official told Reuters about 1,000 Salvadoran soldiers had been sent in several waves. According to the EFE agency, cited by Infobae, the contingent stood at about 1,300 troops after 690 soldiers arrived that same day.

The Haitian government reported the call in an official statement on Wednesday, October 28, according to Infobae. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral coordination and operational cooperation in the face of the security crisis.

The four still not found

The four Salvadorans, whom the San Salvador government calls "air technicians," are members of the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force (GSF). According to the AP, their armored vehicle was hit by gunfire and explosive devices as they returned to camp in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets; a fire broke out and the occupants had to get out. Haiti's government described the incident as a kidnapping.

As of Wednesday, October 28, their fate had not been officially established, according to El Diario de Hoy. On Saturday, October 25, human remains were handed over at the airport by an NGO that said they belonged to the four men. Bukele denied it, saying, according to BBC Mundo, that the remains included those of a child, a man much taller than the technicians and a person wearing another army's uniform. The GSF said it was not "in a position to confirm" that the remains belonged to the missing personnel.

Several questions remain open. Reuters noted on October 27 that it was unclear who would command the new contingent or how long it would stay in Haiti. According to El Diario de Hoy, the reinforcement reportedly falls outside the GSF's UN mandate; the force includes troops from El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mongolia, Sri Lanka and Chad. Neither the GSF nor the UN had publicly addressed the chain of command in the sources reviewed.