Tonight, the Belize National Football Team, the coaching staff, and the other delegates representing Team Belize are at a hotel in Port Au Prince, Haiti. They're there to play their first match against the Haitian National Team as part of the FIFA 2022 World Cup Qualifiers. That match is scheduled for Thursday, but, tonight, the Belizean delegation and the Football Federation of Belize are strongly considering an emergency exit.
That's because the team's chartered bus was intercepted by a group of Haitian insurgents on motorcycles who were armed with assault rifles. They were being escorted by Haitian police officers to their hotel after arriving at the airport, but, there is major civil unrest unfolding in Haiti at this time.
Mass protests and gang violence have been erupting in that country for months. That's because the current President, Jovenel Moïse [pronounced jov-nel Mo-eez], is under siege from his political opponents who assert that his term in office has ended and that he is occupying the office without a mandate.
The extended unrest is once again reaching a boiling point, and that's the dangerous environment that Team Belize has been inserted into.
A press release from the FFB today says that it is expressing "its disappointment and disgust" that the team's bus was intercepted, and that the lives of the delegation were threatened in this manner. The police escorts were able to get the insurgents to disperse and allow the team to safely go on their way, but the Belizean football officials are very concerned about their safety. This evening, via Zoom teleconference, FFB's Marlon Kuylen told 7News that they have let FIFA know they aren;aren't happy:
Marlon Kuylen, Executive Member, FFB
"We had 4 police escorts, our bus and so when the armed group surrounded, they engaged in conversation, discussions with the group and after about 10-15 minutes, tense moments the bus was release and enroute to our hotel. The players are quite shaken up, they don't want to leave the hotel. We have training sessions scheduled, we have told them to stay put, we received extra security at the hotel. The players they can't focus as you can imagine. With the mental state that they are in is not one that is conducive to going on a football field to try to play and the question come up is "what if we do play, what is we get over all this?" and we will. How can we be guarantee with safety when we leave the stadium? So these are the things that are very concerning to us and we've reported our discontent to FIFA, firstly for being put in this position, because they are normally good at organizing events they make sure that they are held in places where it is safe. So we've made it known that we are not happy and that since our top priority is the safety of our delegation that we want to leave immediately. The commissioner who is the organizer of the game is arriving in Haiti tomorrow, he will assess the situation and discuss it with the officials there and decide what route we are going to take. In the meantime though we are making arrangements for our transportation to get out."
Reporter
"This game that is schedule for Thursday may not happen?"
Marlon Kuylen, Executive Member, FFB
"It may not happen. Because we are telling them that we don't want to play the game, that we want to leave and ideally we also ask them that we want our points. They may say the Haitian federation is not at fault. They could say to give them an opportunity we will schedule the game somewhere else or for another time, but we are saying that want to leave that country now and we want our 3 points."
Kuylen tells us that the FFB is expecting a response from FIFA tomorrow. We'll keep following this matter, and we'll update you about Team Belize accordingly.
