Haitian police and the private security group Task Force regained control of the Silvio Cator National Stadium in Port-au-Prince on November 12, 2026, after two years of gang control. Security was then handed over to Salvadoran soldiers.
Haitian security forces regained control Thursday, November 12, of the country's main stadium that had been under gang control for two years, forcing the national football team to play elsewhere.
The Haitian National Police said in a statement that it had taken "full control" of the venue with the Task Force, a private security group serving the government, after which it left the stadium under the guard of Salvadoran soldiers.
The Silvio Cator National Stadium in Port-au-Prince is a 10,000-seat arena. Gang violence had previously forced Haiti's national football team to play its home World Cup qualifying matches in Curaçao rather than in the country.
The operation is taking place amid the deployment to Haiti of about 2,000 Salvadoran military personnel, ordered by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele. The contingent was sent to search for four Salvadoran military personnel who went missing after an ambush in Port-au-Prince on October 18.
The missing military personnel are part of the UN-backed multinational Gang Suppression Force. The force distanced itself from the actions of units deployed for the search operation. Bukele also said that Salvadoran military personnel had destroyed the "headquarters" of the 400 Mawozo group, one of Haiti's main groups.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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