Haiti to send 400 police officers to Brazil for training as gangs seize more territory

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government said Monday it plans to send 400 police officers to Brazil next month for training as gang violence overwhelms the troubled Caribbean country.

Currently, Haiti only has about 10,000 police officers and 1,300 soldiers protecting a country of nearly 12 million people, said Fritz Alphonse Jean, leader of the transitional presidential council.

A total of 700 Haitian police officers and soldiers will be trained by foreign countries in upcoming months and will then join a Kenyan-led, U.N.-backed mission in its fight against gangs.

“Haiti is weak, and we need special training,” Jean said during a rare press conference held for international media.

Last week, 150 Haitian soldiers were deployed to Mexico for training as gangs that 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 across Haiti were killed by gang violence. Hundreds more have been injured, kidnapped, raped and trafficked, according to the United Nations.

Gang violence also has displaced more than 1.3 million people in recent years, with Jean noting that the government is trying to ensure that Haitians are able to return home soon. The government has started distributing money to some of the tens of thousands of people crowded into schools and makeshift shelters.

Jean is leading a council tasked with organizing general elections by February 2026, but ongoing gang violence is threatening that deadline.

“We are doing everything possible so we can hold elections,” he said, declining to provide a date.

Haiti hasn’t held general elections in almost a decade, with its last president, Jovenel Moïse, slain at his private residence in July 2021. Gang violence has since surged in the aftermath of the slaying.