Law enforcement authorities have identified over 7,000 people who stormed the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida, for the Copa América soccer tournament final this month, the Qatari outlet BeIN Media reported on Tuesday, and many may face fines, prison, or even deportation.
The Copa América is a quadrennial regional tournament pitting the national men’s teams of the Western Hemisphere against each other. The United States hosted this year’s tournament, which concluded with a final in which Argentina defeated Colombia 1-0. It is the world’s oldest soccer tournament.
The tournament faced multiple security challenges this year involving violent fans. During the semifinal match between Colombia and Uruguay in Charlotte, North Carolina, Uruguayan players were caught brawling with Colombian fans in the stands. The captain of the Uruguayan team later stated that the players felt forced into the altercation after the Colombian fans began attacking the players’ families, including children in attendance, and security at the game did nothing to stop them.
The final in Miami faced what was an unprecedented situation for the Hard Rock Stadium. Hours before the final match on July 14, thousands of people who did not possess tickets organized to storm the stadium. Violent mobs used physical force to overpower the minimal security presence at the stadium, stampeding through barricades, preventing fans – some who had paid thousands of dollars for tickets – from taking their seats.
Some fans wearing Colombian soccer jerseys were filmed crawling into the stadium’s ventilation system to sneak in. One fan, a Salvadoran man wearing an Argentine jersey, told an Argentine news outlet that a woman in a Colombian jersey pistol-whipped him, stormed through the barricades, and entered the stadium with a gun, seemingly unimpeded by security.
"¿QUÉ HACEN CON UN ARMA AQUÍ?" | El dramático testimonio de un hincha salvadoreño de la Selección argentina: dijo que un grupo de aficionados quiso golpearlo y que una mujer lo atacó con un arma de fuego durante el ingreso al estadio. pic.twitter.com/CnPx3mlWNw
— TN - Todo Noticias (@todonoticias) July 15, 2024
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), the association in charge of the tournament, delayed the match for an hour in an attempt to expel the unticketed fans and allow rightful patrons to take their seats, but security failed to subdue the mob and the match began anyway. An estimated 8,000 people are believed to have illegally attended the match without tickets.
Of these, BeIN reported, over 7,000 have been identified using biometric cameras.
“The identified fans now face severe consequences. They could face criminal charges leading to hefty fines or even imprisonment,” BeIN reported.
The BeIN report appears to be based on an initial report by Colombian journalist Javier Hernández Bonnet on July 19 in which he described the “easily” identified 7,000 people as mostly American residents.
“The majority live in the United States. There is a great number of residents, not all from Florida, they came from different parts of the country,” Hernández said, citing anonymous police sources. “There are also Colombians who came from Canada.”
Hernández said that police expect that, as they legally process those identified in the mob scene, many could lose their visas and their permanent residence if they have it.
“It is possible that, if that person hooked their family to bring them to the United States, they may also ‘dismiss’ [deport] the family.”
Processing the criminals could take up to a year and a half, Hernández predicted, adding, “a year and a half from now we will have news of Colombians who lost their achievements such as a green card or residency.”
He noted that this official source “did not believe that many illegals [migrants] were there, because they are the ones who carry themselves well.”
The identification of 7,000 interlopers is particularly shocking in contrast to the small number of arrests on the day of the event. Police confirmed that they had arrested 27 people in the immediate aftermath of the siege of the stadium. Among those 27 was the president of the Colombian soccer federation, Ramón Jesurún, and his son Ramón Jamil Jesurún, who allegedly attempted to sneak into the match through a tunnel and, once caught, physically assaulted security personnel.
Jesurún is a vice president of CONMEBOL.
North America will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the largest soccer tournament in the world, raising alarm about the possibility of similar situations arising at Hard Rock Stadium and other chosen venues, such as New Jersey’s Metlife Stadium – expected to host the World Cup final. Some have called for the United States to lose hosting duties for the World Cup, which others have blamed CONMEBOL, not American police authorities, and noted that FIFA is a distinct entity.
The 2022 World Cup, the last edition of the tournament, took place in the repressive Islamist emirate of Qatar, where no such mob scenes were documented. Qatar did document the mysterious deaths of multiple journalists and incidents of state violence against international reporters.
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