América de Cali hosted Tigre of Argentina on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, at Pascual Guerrero in the fifth matchday of Group A of the Copa Sudamericana, and the city moved in with a security plan built for a tense night.
Natalia Zuluaga said a “robust” operation had been arranged to guarantee safety and peaceful coexistence for everyone attending the match. Around 500 police were assigned to the event, and more than 900 people in all were handling security and logistics at the stadium.
The scale of the deployment reflects what had happened in Cali in the two days before kickoff. Several América fans caused disturbances in different parts of the city, adding to concern around the game and pushing authorities and organizers to review conditions at Pascual Guerrero before Tigre arrived.
The most serious episode came on Thursday, when a disturbance involving América supporters interrupted a Copa Betplay match between Boca Juniors de Cali and Deportivo Cali. After that disruption, supporters from one of Deportivo Cali's bars attacked América fans, and the same América supporters later went to the club's headquarters in Cascajal, where they argued with players.
Zuluaga said authorities had met with Conmebol and América de Cali organizers to inspect the stadium and make a diagnosis of security conditions. That coordination was meant to ensure the setting was ready for Tuesday night's crowd, but it also showed how quickly the focus around América - Tigre had shifted from the football itself to control, order and the risk of another flare-up.
For América, the match was part of an important continental night. For Cali, it was a test of whether a larger security presence could hold the line after a string of supporter incidents that had already spilled beyond one stadium and into the city streets.
