Hunt Resumes for Missing Salvadoreans in Haiti After Identities of Returned Bodies Are Unconfirmed

The case of four El Salvadorean technicians who disappeared in Haiti remains a mystery after the bodies of four individuals who were said to be the men proved to be stand-ins. The four missing civilians, who were part of a UN mission to carry out medical evacuations from gang-infested regions, vanished on October 18. They are believed to have been abducted by Haiti’s notorious 400 Mawozo or Chen Mechan gang members, though that is unconfirmed. On Saturday, four bodies were delivered to the El Salvadorans by a former U.S. State Department security official, Scott Reece, who operates Hero Client Rescue. Mr. Reece told the New York Times that he was notified to retrieve the remains and transport them to the international airport for handover to Salvadorean forces. The bodies had been badly charred and their identities were not confirmed before delivery. On Saturday, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said the bodies were not those of his countrymen.“An NGO delivered human remains at the airport, claiming that they belonged to our four air technicians,” Mr. Bukele said. “However, 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. Among the remains, identification cards and military uniforms from other countries were also found.”The Gang Suppression Force – Haiti issued a statement on Sunday confirming receipt of the bodies, but saying, “At this stage, the GSF is not in a position to confirm that the remains are those of the missing personnel.” “The GSF stands firm and determined and will communicate further information through its official channels once verified information becomes available,’ it added.The owner of the ID card delivered to the Salvadorean president also showed up in a video to say that he had lost his card while conducting a search of the missing Salvadoreans. The private, Sossal Kamis Alhadj of Chad, is a member of the UN’s Gang Suppression Force and is present with his unit.Three days after their disappearance, Mr. Bukele, who has successfully tamped down gang violence in his country, announced a military rescue operation, aided by U.S. logistical assistance, to bring the four men home. He also warned the unspecified Haitians that they would face severe consequences if they didn’t return the individuals, whose armored vehicle was ambushed while they were on a food run to a local market in the gang-controlled area of Crois-de-Bouquets, about six miles outside the country’s capital of Port-au-Prince.“I want you, the gang leaders, to understand one thing very clearly: today’s attack is nothing compared to what is coming if we do not get all four hostages back alive,” he said. “And do not take our word for empty threats. We have already finished with the gangs in El Salvador, and we can finish with you too. We still have time to avoid this.”The acting prime minister of Haiti, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, has not offered comment on the situation. French news outlet Radio Metronome reported from Haiti that Mr. Fils-Aimé left the country over the weekend to attend a family wedding in Mexico. He was due to return Sunday, according to the prime minister’s office. Haiti was supposed to hold elections in December to replace Mr. Fils-Aimé’s caretaker government but the elections — a decade in waiting — were postponed after Haitian election officials working with the UN Integrated Office in Haiti said they cannot guarantee the minimum safety requirements to protect voters from gangs. Groups like 400 Mawozo, which roughly translates to 400 “Simpletons” in Haitian Creole, has a violent history of kidnappings. One of its former military commanders, Joly “Yonyon” Germine, is currently serving a life sentence in a U.S. federal prison for taking hostage 16 American Christian missionaries in 2021. He previously had pleaded guilty to gun trafficking and money laundering.Along those lines, Dominican Republic leader Luis Abinader, whose country borders Haiti, announced late Saturday that his military forces were shoring up the border to prevent gang activity from spilling over. Mr. Abinader said he had spoken with Mr. Bukele about “logistical and intelligence collaboration for operations against criminal gangs in Haiti,”“We maintain permanent monitoring of what is happening in the neighboring country. My responsibility is to secure our border and protect our people,” he said.

Hunt Resumes for Missing Salvadoreans in Haiti After Identities of Returned Bodies Are Unconfirmed

Hunt Resumes for Missing Salvadoreans in Haiti After Identities of Returned Bodies Are Unconfirmed

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