# Haiti police retake Téléco hub after gang takeover briefly disrupted air and internet links
On Aug. 26, 2025, Haitian police said they had regained control of the Téléco telecommunications hub in Kenscoff, a rare operational win in a capital where heavily armed gangs have repeatedly outmatched the state. The site had been seized last week by gang fighters and, according to police, the takeover briefly disrupted air traffic and internet connections.
Police said the recapture began before dawn on Monday and lasted about two hours. Michel-Ange Louis Jeune, spokesperson for Haiti's National Police, said the operation reflected the approach of the country's new police chief, André Jonas Vladimir Paraison, who was appointed earlier this month. The message from police was meant to be simple: even in the middle of a security collapse, authorities are still able to push back in some places.
The raid yielded a haul of weapons and ammunition, according to police. Jeune said officers found numerous guns, including automatic weapons with scratched-out serial numbers, and more than 1,000 bullets. He did not say whether anyone was killed in the operation. That lack of detail did not lessen the symbolism of the event, because the telecom site had been seized on camera by gang members who openly taunted the government and threatened to destroy the communications system.
In those videos, a gang member known as Didi told officials to negotiate and warned that the network would be burned if calls did not come. Another clip showed a fighter switching off equipment, dismantling a server and stacking circuit boards outside the facility. The footage made the seizure impossible to dismiss as rumor. It also showed how gangs in Haiti now use control of infrastructure not just for money or mobility, but as leverage over the state itself.
The takeover had already caused concern in the aviation sector, although Haiti's civil aviation agency later said the disruption was only minor because it had taken measures to work around the crisis. Even so, the episode underscored how fragile the country's infrastructure has become in areas where gangs can move freely and strike key sites. The group blamed for the attack, Viv Ansanm, has been designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization this year.
The operation came as Haiti's authorities and a U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police continue to struggle to push gangs back from Port-au-Prince. The capital is widely described as being about 90% controlled by gangs, and the attackers have repeatedly targeted Kenscoff this year in an effort to extend that hold. Earlier in the month, gangs raided an orphanage in the same community and kidnapped eight people, including an Irish missionary and a 3-year-old child, who remain missing.
Police presented the Téléco recapture as a sign that the pressure campaign can still work, even if only in bursts. Godfrey Otunge, the Kenyan commander of the multinational force, attended the news conference and urged patience. Whether the operation marks a turning point or only a temporary setback for the gangs is unclear. But in a city where power, communications and movement are constantly under threat, even a short-lived success becomes part of the public record.
