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Haitian forces retake the national stadium from gangs after two years, with Salvadoran troops left on guard
- What happened
- Haitian police said on Thursday they had taken full control of the country’s main stadium, held by gangs for two years, with help from a private security group.
- Why it matters
- It is a rare gain in Port-au-Prince, where a UN report counts at least 1,167 people killed between July and September.
- What’s next
- Salvadoran soldiers now guard the stadium, as questions grow over El Salvador’s role and whether its tough-on-gangs model can work in Haiti.
How this story developed
- 17:37First report
- 18:372nd source
- 18:37Confirmed
- 17:37First reportFrance 24
- 18:372nd sourceDW World
- 18:37LatestConfirmedWas: Single source
Full story
Back in state hands
Haitian security forces regained control on Thursday of the country’s main stadium, which gangs had held for two years, France 24 reported. The gangs’ hold on the venue had forced Haiti’s national football team to play its matches elsewhere.
The Haitian National Police said in a statement that it had taken “full control” of the stadium together with the Task Force, a private security group working for the government, and then left it under the guard of Salvadoran soldiers. France 24’s senior reporter Catherine Norris Trent said retaking it would be a significant step in an area of the capital that had become a “devastated wasteland”.
El Salvador’s growing role
Earlier this week Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime credited “the commitment of the Salvadorean forces in the fight against gangs” for a major gain, DW reported. El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said a joint task force had destroyed the headquarters of the 400 Mawozo gang, and posted an as-yet unverified video of helicopters firing on a large property.
Salvadoran troops have been stationed in Haiti since early 2025. Last month Bukele sent more than 2,000 troops and special forces, officially to rescue four Salvadorans ambushed on 18 October who have not been found. Fils-Aime said the two countries were working with the UN-backed Gang Suppression Force to restore state authority.
Doubts about the model
A UN report released on Thursday found that at least 1,167 people were killed and 459 injured between July and September 2026, more than half of them in ground or air operations by security forces against gangs, sometimes supported by a private military company using drones, DW said.
Experts quoted by DW question whether Bukele’s iron-fist approach, which jailed gang members on a vast scale in El Salvador, can be repeated in Haiti.
“Haiti does not currently have the conditions to replicate the Salvadoran model: Its prisons were emptied in 2024, its justice system is largely paralyzed and criminal groups resemble militias more than gangs.”
Romain Le Cour Grandmaison, Haiti expert, Global Initiative, DW World