Tuesday 3 November 2026
Haiti's 400 Mawozo gang leader tells the AP the four missing Salvadoran technicians are dead, and asks the UN to mediate
Wilson Joseph, the leader of Haiti's 400 Mawozo gang, told the Associated Press on Monday that the four Salvadoran aviation technicians attacked on October 18 are dead, in his first interview with a major international news organization. The technicians have been listed as missing since the attack in Plaine du Cul-de-Sac, near Port-au-Prince, and Joseph said the attack happened in territory held by another gang, Chen Mechan. No government or United Nations official has confirmed his statement, and the four men remain officially missing. Joseph also confirmed that he wrote to the United Nations secretary general asking the UN to send a delegation for dialogue and mediation. United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said late Monday that the UN had received a letter with Joseph's signature, and that receiving it does not constitute endorsement of its contents, recognition of its author or a position by the United Nations. The United States offers a reward of 1 million dollars for Joseph, who is under indictment in the United States on hostage taking charges.
Joseph's letter, dated November 1, says he raised a white flag on August 20 and wants a peaceful solution to the national crisis, through dialogue between the international forces in Haiti and 400 Mawozo. "I remain convinced that dialogue must prevail over force," he wrote. "The protection of civilians, particularly children and vulnerable families, must be at the heart of any international initiative." He told the AP he fears an escalation after El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele deployed about 2,000 troops to Haiti following the attack on the technicians, and he said his message for Bukele is that Haitian politicians are the fathers of the gangs and do not want the violence to stop. Asked what he wants in exchange for laying down guns, he declined to say, and said he would raise it when he sits down with a peace commission.
The fighting he wants mediated is already underway. A United Nations backed gang suppression force, working with Haitian police and soldiers and with Vectus Global, the private security company founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, has been fighting armed men in Plaine du Cul-de-Sac since the October 18 attack. More than 5,700 people were killed or injured across Haiti from January to mid September, according to the United Nations. 400 Mawozo, which translates roughly as 400 Simpletons, operates mainly in Croix-des-Bouquets, and Joseph is on the UN Security Council's Haiti sanctions list, placed there in December 2023. His statement about the technicians is a claim by an interested party in an active fight, made to a reporter, and it stands unconfirmed this morning. El Salvador has not announced any change in the status of its four men.
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