In a renewed push to combat the gang-fueled violence plaguing the country, the Haitian government announced Friday that it has deployed 150 soldiers to Mexico for military training. The move is part of a broader agreement between the two nations that will see a total of 700 Haitian soldiers trained as part of efforts to rebuild the nation’s armed forces.
“This departure marks a historic milestone in the reconstruction of the Haitian Armed Forces and is part of a policy of strengthening national security capabilities,” the government said in a statement. “It illustrates the government’s firm determination to restore … state authority throughout the country.”
The soldiers will spend three months in Mexico before returning to join the Haitian National Police in operations targeting the gangs that have seized near-total control of the capital, Port-au-Prince. They are expected to work alongside Kenyan police officers recently deployed as part of a U.N.-backed multinational mission, which has faced criticism for being underfunded and slow to take shape.
From October 2024 to June 2025, more than 4,800 people were killed by gang violence in Haiti, with thousands more injured, kidnapped, raped, or trafficked, according to United Nations data. The surge in violence has overwhelmed local authorities and displaced tens of thousands of residents.
Earlier this month, around 30 Haitian soldiers were also sent to Martinique, a French Caribbean territory, for two weeks of specialized training—another signal of Haiti’s intensifying effort to professionalize and expand its military ranks.
Haiti’s armed forces were originally disbanded in 1995 after years of human rights abuses and repeated involvement in coups, most notably following the ousting of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The army was reinstated in 2017 by President Jovenel Moïse, who was assassinated in 2021.
At the time of its reinstatement, the army had only a small number of active personnel. By 2023, the force had grown to about 2,000 soldiers—still far fewer than the 7,000 troops it had before disbandment. The current size of the military remains unclear.
With the country’s national police stretched thin and heavily outgunned, the government is betting on a revamped military to help restore order and reclaim control from violent criminal networks that have brought daily life in Haiti’s capital to a standstill.
