President Nayib Bukele has refuted the claim that Salvadoran forces carried out “indiscriminate bombing” of civilians in Haiti during El Salvador’s ongoing rescue operation.
Bukele reacted to an October 28 letter addressed to the UN Secretary General António Guterres by Harvey Dupiton, founder of the United Nations Association – Haiti, UNA-Haiti.
Dupiton alleged aerial bombardments, helicopter gun attacks, and heavy weapons assaults in civilian neighborhoods in Croix-des-Bouquets, Canaan, and the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac.
“Children are being killed not by gangs, but by foreign bombs,” he wrote. “This is not a rescue; this is not security. This is the slaughter of innocents.”
In a four-point demand, Dupiton wants El Salvador to stop “offensive bombing operations in Haiti,” and an independent UN probe into “civilian deaths” caused by Salvadoran troops.
The UNA-Haiti also called for a Security Council clarification that El Salvador has no right to wage unilateral war in Haiti, as well as the protection of the people from gangs and external forces.
In his response on X, Bukele faulted the reference to bombardments and gunships, stating that his country’s mission does not have bombs at its disposal.
The President said the military’s attack helicopters did not arrive in Haiti until October 29, a day after the organisation sent an SOS to the United Nations.
Bukele accused “these NGOs” of lying with impunity, calling them “nothing more than lobbying firms for criminals and cartels, masquerading as humanitarian organizations.”
El Salvador has deployed over 2,000 soldiers and 7 helicopters to Haiti to free four missing Salvadoran Air Force technicians who were kidnapped in a gang ambush near Port-au-Prince.