President Bukele defends Salvadoran forces in Haiti against allegations of criminal acts

By Maryam Ashalem de Andres

ISTANBUL (AA) - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Saturday defended his country's forces deployed in Haiti against allegations of criminal acts, rejecting claims that they had carried out airstrikes against civilians.

"Our mission doesn't even have bombs at its disposal," Bukele wrote on US social media company X, questioning how the alleged attacks could have taken place before the arrival of the Salvadoran attack helicopters.

Bukele said the helicopters arrived in Haiti on Oct. 29, one day before the allegations were reported by Drop Site News, and had not flown a single mission as of Saturday.

He added that the arrival had been widely covered by the media and documented in videos and social media posts.

The allegations were raised by the United Nations Association-Haiti (UNA-Haiti) in an open letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Oct. 30. It accused Salvadoran forces of conducting aerial bombardments, helicopter gunship attacks and heavy-weapons operations in densely populated areas near the capital, Port-au-Prince, including Croix-des-Bouquets, Canaan and La Plaine du Cul-de-Sac.

UNA-Haiti demanded an investigation into alleged civilian casualties, saying children were being killed by foreign forces rather than armed gangs.

Bukele rejected the accusations and accused non-governmental organizations of spreading false information while exerting influence over international organizations.

He described the organizations as lobbying groups for criminal gangs operating under the guise of humanitarian organizations.

El Salvador deployed troops to Haiti following an Oct. 18 gang ambush in which four Salvadoran aviation technicians serving with a UN-backed force went missing. Bukele presented the deployment as a mission to rescue the personnel.

The allegations of aerial attacks have not been independently verified.

Mariam Ashalem De Andres