SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Haiti’s National Police agency says it has found the charred remains of a vehicle that four Salvadoran aviation technicians were traveling in when they were attacked more than two weeks ago deep in gang-controlled territory, but no sign of the missing men.
The attack on Oct. 18 prompted Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to send more than 2,000 troops to Haiti to help find the missing technicians. That deployment has raised questions about who is in charge of the soldiers as they work alongside an international effort to quell the gangs terrorizing the Caribbean nation.
Haitian authorities said late Tuesday that they found the vehicle on the outskirts of the capital in the neighborhood of Santo in the Croix-des-Bouquets community, which has been under the control of violent gangs, though police said they met no resistance there.
Authorities posted pictures of the charred vehicle and said the operation that took place early Monday was carried out by Haitian police, the U.N.-backed gang suppression force and Salvadoran troops.
The U.N. has said that the Salvadoran troops are operating outside of the framework of the U.N. gang suppression force and stressed that they should follow international law. Haiti’s prime minister has said foreign forces are under Haitian command, but Bukele has not confirmed that for the Salvadoran soldiers.
In a statement late Tuesday on X, Bukele invoked Haitian hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines and said that those who betrayed the liberator “still exist in Haiti.”
“Some are gang members, others finance the gangs or supply them with weapons, and some among them are doing everything they can to prevent the Haitian people from gaining their freedom,” Bukele wrote.
He posted hours after Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé spoke publicly for the first time since the attack, saying that Haiti is in charge of any foreign forces in the country and that they are not replacing the state.
Bukele promised to rid Haiti of its “traitors.”
“We can help you defeat them, but we are not your enemies,” he wrote. “We are people with the same courage as you. We must stand up, take back control of our communities, and put under our control those who are making us endure all this pain, all this suffering.”
As Haitian police and soldiers, along with foreign forces, battle gangs in Port-au-Prince and beyond, one gang leader called for dialogue.
Wilson Joseph, best known as Lanmò Sanjou and leader of the 400 Mawozo gang, told The Associated Press on Monday that he wrote the U.N. secretary-general and requested that the organization deploy a delegation to Haiti for dialogue.
Joseph said he was concerned about the killing of civilians given the surge in fighting.
