The Uruguayan Ministry of Defense has confirmed that it has opened an investigation into an assault in Haiti involving at least five Uruguayan troops deployed in the Caribbean nation as United Nations peacekeepers

The investigation, which has expanded to include a U.N. inquiry, was sparked by a cell-phone video that began circulating in Port Salut, a coastal town in southern Haiti where Uruguayan navy troops were deployed. The one-minute video shows a young man with his shorts down being subdued by several men in military uniforms. The victim is on a mattress, facing down, while several men hold his arms and hands behind his back. The uniformed men speak Spanish, but it is garbled on the tape and not understandable. At the beginning of the video the victim is slapped in the face. He screams several times while the perpetrators laugh. The laughter grows louder as a naked man approaches the victim from behind. The young man is subsequently released and the video ends. Leonardo Galante, a spokesman with the Uruguayan defense ministry, has confirmed that top Uruguayan military officials have already received two internal reports regarding the incident and are waiting for results of an investigation launched by the U.N.