🔗 Share this article

The United States has enforced penalties on a group of several persons and entities alleged of hiring Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a armed faction in Sudan the United States claims of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Disclosing the measures on Tuesday, the American treasury stated the network was largely composed of Colombian nationals and companies.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to the Sudanese warzone to combat beside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force implicated in terrible atrocities encompassing targeted ethnic killings and mass abductions.

Revelation of Role

The participation of ex-soldiers initially emerged in 2024, following an inquiry which found that over three hundred ex-military personnel had been hired to engage in combat – an discovery that prompted an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience acquired during years of internal conflict, training on advanced weaponry, and high-level combat training.

Activities in Sudan

In the Sudanese theater, the mercenaries have reportedly trained child soldiers, taught fighters to pilot drones, and participated in direct battles. A mercenary was quoted as saying that working with child soldiers was "horrific and irrational" but added that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was a retired Colombian officer, a individual with dual citizenship and retired Colombian military officer operating from the UAE. The Treasury accused him a pivotal function in recruiting and deploying former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Oliveros, was penalized as well.

Also on the penalty list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who officials alleged ran a firm linked to managing finances and payments for the recruitment operation. "In 2024 and 2025, US-based firms linked to Duque carried out multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be targeted, with the firm she operated alleged to have wire transfers connected to Duque and his businesses.

"Washington reiterates its demand for outside forces to cease providing financial and military support to the belligerents," the department stated.

Expert Analysis

Elizabeth Dickinson, with the International Crisis Group, described the measures as a "major" development, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the correct approach".

It was also noted that, the Colombian government ratified a law endorsing the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce years of participation by its nationals in international fights and change its security approach.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, stating that "restrictions are needed but not enough for addressing the growing mercenary trade".

"This is a shadow economy and centered in the Emirates, which is difficult to penalize," he stated. The Emirati government has been frequently alleged of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, allegations it disputes. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," he advised.