SANTO DOMINGO — October 3, 2026 — Santiago Matías, the Dominican media mogul and streamer better known as “Alofoke,” has ignited controversy after publishing a series of posts about Haiti in which he called for the Dominican Republic to invade its neighbor and subsequently used language about controlling Haitians and turning them into “slaves.”
The controversy began Friday, October 2, when Matías wrote on X that the Dominican Republic should “invade Haiti and control the entire island before they take control first.” Dominican outlet 7Días independently reported the post, describing the ensuing reaction online as divided between support and criticism. The outlet noted that Matías did not explain what he meant by Haitians potentially taking “control.”
The Clima Nacional RD reported that Matías’s comments came in aftermath of a football match in Santo Domingo in which Haiti defeated the Dominican Republic 4–1. The match drew a substantial Haitian crowd and was followed by heated discussion on Dominican social media.
At a press conference, Kelvin Cruz, Dominican Republic’s The Minister of Sports, says he will prohibit Haitian team from playing in the country in the future, claiming there was vandalism at the stadium after Haiti won 4-1.
Matías’s verified X account provided for this article show that his comments went considerably further.
In one post, written in Spanish, Matías stated:
“Invadimos Haiti, instalamos hoteles en sus playas, controlamos el comercio y los convertimos en nuestros esclavos como lo son en esta parte de la isla.”
Translated literally, the statement reads approximately: “We invade Haiti, install hotels on its beaches, control commerce, and turn them into our slaves, as they are in this part of the island.”
Matías responded to the criticism by writing that Haitians are “stuck in the 1700s” and “depending on RD to eat,” followed by a crude reference to reproduction, asking, “Why don’t they give 29 to the Haitians?” in response to a post concerning the arrest of a Haitian national accused in the killing of a 78-year-old Dominican woman.
One of the Dominican Republic’s biggest digital-media figures
Matías started AlofokeMusic in 2006 after identifying a lack of mainstream coverage for Dominican urban music and subsequently expanded into radio, music production and digital media. His Alofoke Radio Show began in 2013, and the business eventually developed into Alofoke Media Group.
His recent move into marathon reality streaming dramatically expanded that audience.
The first La Casa de Alofoke accumulated more than 328 million YouTube views during its month-long 2025 run, according to figures reported by Listín Diario, with more than 1.5 million devices watching its finale live.
Its successor became even larger. La Casa de Alofoke 2 was subsequently recognized for an exceptionally long continuous livestream, and Matías’s streaming operation later pushed the record further with Planeta Alofoke. Guinness World Records currently lists Planeta Alofoke as the holder of the longest live-stream (video) record, at 1,272 hours.
His influence has also received unusually high-level recognition from YouTube itself. In his official 2026 letter outlining the platform’s future, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan singled out Santiago Matías by name, pointing to his use of Super Chat to allow viewers to influence outcomes in his reality programming.
Forbes República Dominicana has meanwhile described Matías as the architect of a media group whose productions attract enormous audiences, reporting that Alofoke Radio Show’s YouTube presence had surpassed eight million subscribers.
