By UNA - HAITI, October 28, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To All Media, United Nations Member States, and Civil Society Organizations His Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations United Nations Headquarters, New York, NY 10017
CC: Members of the United Nations Security Council
SUBJECT: THE BOMBING OF OUR PEOPLE MUST STOP — UNA-HAITI CONDEMNS REPORTED SALVADORAN MILITARY OPERATIONS IN HAITI AND CALLS FOR AN IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION
Your Excellency,
We publish this open letter because private diplomacy has failed to stop the bombs.
The United Nations Association - Haiti (UNA-Haiti), representing a large corps of the Haitian Diaspora community, today publicly condemns the actions of the Republic of El Salvador in Haiti. We condemn the indiscriminate bombing of innocent civilians in our country.
For one week, since October 22, 2026, Salvadoran forces deployed under President Nayib Bukele have conducted aerial bombardments, helicopter gun attacks, and heavy weapons assaults in civilian neighborhoods in Croix-des-Bouquets, Canaan, and the Plaine du Cul-de-Sac. Our families tell us they are hiding under beds. Children are being killed not by gangs, but by foreign bombs. This is not a rescue. This is not security. This is the slaughter of innocents.
This appeal is deeply personal. I have spent many years participating in the NGO community at the United Nations in New York, where I have worked within the ideals of the Charter and the promise of meaningful civil-society participation. I am also a son of Haiti, from Croix-des-Bouquets. When I hear of fear, aerial bombardment, and heavy fighting in the neighborhoods from which I come—where families hide under beds and children live in terror—I cannot treat these events as distant matters of diplomacy. They concern my community, my homeland, and the lives of families who deserve safety and dignity.
LET US BE CLEAR TO THE WORLD:
• This violates Haitian sovereignty: Haiti did not invite El Salvador to bomb Haiti. No legitimate Haitian authority can invite another state to indiscriminately bomb its own people. This violates Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
• This violates UN Resolutions: UN Resolutions 2699 (2023), 2793 (2025), and 2829 (2026) authorized a Gang Suppression Force to SUPPORT the Haitian National Police under UN oversight. They did NOT authorize El Salvador to launch its own independent war, outside GSF command, with its own rules of engagement. President Bukele himself said in 2024 that any mission needed a UN resolution, host country consent, and expenses covered. He now violates his own standard.
• This violates international law: Indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas is a war crime. Collective punishment of a population already victimized by gangs is not counter-terrorism.
A QUARTER -CENTURY OF ENGAGEMENT CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY, NOT ANOTHER CYCLE
Our community has always been suspicious of foreign forces in Haiti. We have been right to be suspicious. From the occupation to MINUSTAH and cholera, foreign armies have always promised security and delivered suffering. We know the pattern. This is a breach of our sovereignty and a violation of the UN Charter.
For more than a quarter-century—over 26 years—Haiti has experienced successive phases of international engagement, including UN peacekeeping, political missions, and multinational security initiatives. These efforts have differed in mandate and duration; they should not be described as one uninterrupted military occupation. Nevertheless, the continuing breakdown of public security and public confidence obliges both Haitian authorities and international partners to confront the limits of approaches pursued to date.
In our view, both successive Haitian authorities and international institutions have failed to deliver the enduring improvement that Haitian families were promised. This is a political and moral judgment about outcomes, not a denial of individual humanitarian contributions. The response cannot be to exclude Haitian communities yet again from decisions made in their name.
THE UNITED NATIONS MUST SPEAK WITH US AS INTERLOCUTORS
Mr. Secretary-General, our beloved country is nothing more than a collapsed state with a society in total disarray. We ask the United Nations to recognize us from civil society and the diaspora as genuine interlocutors in shaping Haiti’s future. We are not merely an audience for decisions already reached, nor should our views be filtered exclusively through ofocials whose legitimacy and effectiveness are contested. We request direct dialogue with your ofoce, the relevant UN presence in Haiti, and the Security Council’s Haiti stakeholders, through an open, transparent process that includes grassr
This request is not a claim that UNA-Haiti speaks for every Haitian or holds a United Nations mandate. It is a request for a credible seat at the table for diverse Haitian voices, with safeguards against token consultation and political capture.
OUR RESPONSIBIITY TO PROTECT OUR COUNTRY
When Haitian institutions and international interventions do not adequately protect people, civil society has a responsibility to organize lawful, peaceful, practical protection: humanitarian relief, documentation of abuses, advocacy, community dialogue, and support for accountable institutions.
We use “our responsibility to protect” in that civic sense. We do not claim the legal powers of the UN’s formal Responsibility to Protect doctrine, nor do we call for vigilantism or violence.
Mr. Secretary-General, You cannot remain silent while bombs fall in the name of the United Nations. The Haitian Diaspora has been a faithful partner of the United Nations. We have believed in the Charter. We have defended multilateralism in our communities. Do not abandon us now.
WE DEMAND:
• An immediate public order to stop all Salvadoran offensive bombing operations in Haiti.
• An independent UN investigation into civilian deaths caused by Salvadoran forces since October 18, 2026.
• A formal Security Council clarification that El Salvador has no right to wage unilateral war in Haiti.
• The protection of the Haitian people, not just from gangs, but from those who claim to be saving us from gangs.
Haiti wants peace. But peace does not come from the sky in the form of bombs. Peace comes from justice, sovereignty, and respect for Haitian life. We will not be silent while our country is bombed. The Haitian people are not gang members.
Stop bombing us.
Respectfully,
Harvey Dupiton
Founder, United Nations Association – Haiti (UNA-Haiti) Head of UNA-Haiti Re-Organization Committee Chair of NGO Committee on Private Sector for Development UNA-Haiti | www.unahaiti.org | Press: press@unahaiti.org #HaitiIsNotATarget • #StopBombingHaiti • #HaitiSovereignty
Posted Nov.5, 2026