The Gang Suppression Force (GSF, for its initials in English) has reported the receipt of human remains whose identity has not yet been verified and that could correspond to the four Salvadoran soldiers from the contingent deployed in Haiti, missing after an armed attack that occurred last Sunday in Croix-des-Bouquets, in the west of the Caribbean country.
According to the organization, this Sunday, the remains were delivered by an external humanitarian entity and, for now, the mission teams have not been able to establish whether or not they belong to the missing Salvadoran soldiers.
"Our thoughts are with the families of the four missing personnel members, their fellow soldiers, as well as with the Government and the people of El Salvador during these difficult times," stated the special representative of the GSF, Jack Christofides, in a message on behalf of all the personnel of the multinational force.
The GSF has expressed its recognition of the cooperation of the Haitian and Salvadoran authorities, as well as the countries that contribute troops to the mission, and has emphasized the importance of maintaining close coordination with the security forces of Haiti to confront the armed gangs that endanger the population and the future of the country.
On the other hand, the force has specified that the Chadian identification card whose image has been circulated on social media corresponds to a member of the Chadian contingent and was lost during the search efforts for the Salvadorans. The soldier, the GSF clarified, remains with his unit and is not among the missing.
The organization has reiterated that it will continue "firm and determined" in its mission and that it will only disseminate new information through its official channels when it has corroborated and verified data.
The GSF statement was made public after the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, denied this Saturday that the human remains delivered by a non-governmental organization (NGO) corresponded to the four Salvadoran soldiers missing and kidnapped by criminal gangs in Haiti a week ago.
"They are not our men," Bukele stated in a social media post, before detailing that the "remains correspond to a child, to a man of a considerably greater height than that of our soldiers, and to a person wearing a uniform of an army from another country."
The kidnapping took place during an ambush recorded on October 18 against a GSF vehicle in the Santo area, in the metropolitan area of Croix-des-Bouquets, near the capital, Port-au-Prince. Since then, the multinational force has developed tracking operations supported by aerial means that, so far, have resulted in the death of "several" alleged gang members and four international personnel injured.
Currently, the GSF has just over 1,500 personnel deployed in the country, a figure much lower than the 5,550 agents authorized by the United Nations for this international mission.