Haiti to send 400 police officers to Brazil for training as gangs seize more territory
Port-au-Prince, Haiti (AP)-The Government of Haiti said on Monday that it planned to send 400 police officers to Brazil next month for training while the violence of the gangs overwhelms the country in the Caribbean difficulty.
Currently, Haiti has only 10,000 police officers and 1,300 soldiers protecting a country of nearly 12 million people, said Fritz Alphonse Jean, head of the presidential transitional council.
In total, 700 Haitian police officers and soldiers will be trained by foreign countries in the coming months and will then join a mission led by Kenyan and supported in its fight against gangs.
“Haiti is weak and we need special training,” said Jean at a rare press conference held for international media.
Last week, 150 Haitian soldiers were deployed in Mexico for training as gangs which control up to 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, encroach on more territory.
From October 2024 to June 2025, more than 4,800 people through Haiti were killed by the violence of the gangs. Hundreds of others have been injured, kidnapped, raped and victims of trafficking, according to the United Nations.
Gang Violence has also moved more than 1.3 million people in recent years, noting that the government is trying to make sure that Haitians are able to return home soon. The government has started distributing money to some of the tens of thousands of people piled up in schools and makeshift shelters.
Jean directs a council responsible for organizing the general elections by February 2026, but the violence during gangs threatens this deadline.
“We do everything possible so that we can organize elections,” he said, refusing to provide a date.
Haiti has not held any general elections for almost a decade, with its last president, Jonenel Moïse, killed in his private residence in July 2021. Gang violence has since increased the day after the murder.
