FIFA has forced the Haiti national team to change their players' jerseys only days before the competition starts (actually kicking off today, Thursday, with Haiti playing their first group stage match on Sunday, against Scotland). The reason is that it featured, over the right hip, silhouettes depicting the Battle of Vertières, in 1803, a war between the French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue against France that ended in the independence of Haiti. Specifically, the moment in which revolutionaries tore the white band of the French flag to create Haiti's new flag, a moment celebrated every May 18 as the Haitian Flag Day.
Saeta, the manufacturer of the jerseys, confirmed in a statement that FIFA determined that "certain visual elements could be interpreted differently under its equipment regulations and ultimately requested modifications to the design", and that they are working with the Haitian Football Federation to make new jerseys in time for their World Cup debut.
Images and references to the old jersey have disappeared from all FIFA websites and online stores. Saeta said they remain proud to have contributed for an "historic moment for Haitian football" (only the second time the country qualifies for a World Cup after 1976) and also stated that their original design "was intended as a tribute to the men and women who contribute every day to Haiti's future and was not intended as a political statement."