El Salvador now has about 1,300 soldiers in Haiti after 690 more arrived on Tuesday, October 27, a government source told Le Nouvelliste. The source said the deployment was carried out in coordination with the Haitian government and that the troops' equipment arrived on three planes in the days before.

“It is a friendly country that is helping. It is not an invasion,” the source said. In an editorial, Le Nouvelliste wrote that Haiti's top officials describe the operation as cooperation between friendly countries, carried out with their agreement, and that an air bridge now links Haiti and El Salvador.

Juno7, citing Reuters, reported that a Haitian security official put the number of Salvadoran soldiers sent in recent days at about 1,000, and that a U.S. military official confirmed U.S. C-130 aircraft had been made available to move them. Salvadoran media reported that a Colombian Air Force C-130H also flew between San Salvador and Port-au-Prince with personnel and equipment.

The build-up follows the disappearance of four Salvadoran aviation technicians serving with the UN-authorized Gang Suppression Force after a gang attack in the Santo area of Croix-des-Bouquets on October 18. Their fate is still unknown: human remains recovered in recent days have not been formally identified as theirs, and it is unclear who will command the new contingent or how long it will stay.