Last night, we told you how the Belize National Football Team, the Jaguars, had a scary experience in Port-au-Prince, Haiti yesterday. They arrived to play their first match in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers against the Haitian National Team, and while they were being transported to their hotel from the airport, they were intercepted by armed insurgents on motorcycles.
At this time, sustained civil unrest is occurring in Haiti, and there has been an upsurge in violent protests. So, the safety of the Belizean delegation was threatened when the Haitian insurgents, armed with assault rifles, surrounded their chartered bus. After about 10 to 15 minutes, the Haitian police escorts were able to defuse the situation, and the armed men dispersed, which allowed the team to reach their hotel rooms safely.
It left the team shaken up, and they are refusing to leave the hotel, much less to train for their match against Haiti, which is still in limbo at this time. As we told you, the FFB is pushing for the team to exit Haiti as soon as possible, and that Belize is given its 3 points toward the qualifiers. We are told that this would happen if Haiti decides to forfeit the match, but that they can choose to disagree on the grounds that they had nothing to do with the threat to the safety of the Belizean delegation.
This evening, the FFB sent out a press release to note that a FIFA official is on the ground in Haiti to assess the situation. After his official report is submitted, the respective authorities at CONCACAF and FIFA will make an informed decision on the matter.
The FFB is thanking everyone who reached out to them in solidarity with Team Belize for this unfortunate incident.
