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The US government has imposed sanctions on a group of several persons and entities accused of recruiting Colombian mercenaries to support and educate a armed faction in Sudan that Washington accuses of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Disclosing the restrictions on this week, the American treasury stated the operation was primarily made up of Colombian nationals and companies.

Numerous of ex-soldiers from Colombia have reportedly travelled to the Sudanese warzone to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group linked to terrible atrocities including massacres based on ethnicity and mass abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The participation of ex-soldiers was first uncovered in 2024, following an report which found that hundreds of retired troops had been hired to engage in combat – an event that led to an rare mea culpa from officials in Bogotá.

These South American veterans have long been considered as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their extensive battlefield experience acquired during decades of civil war, training on Western military gear, and superior tactical education.

Activities in Sudan

In Sudan, the Colombians have reportedly trained underage fighters, taught fighters to pilot drones, and engaged in frontline combat. An individual involved was quoted as saying that working with child soldiers was "horrific and irrational" but noted that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Targeted Persons

Among those penalized was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and former army officer operating from the Dubai. The Treasury accused him a pivotal function in hiring and sending mercenaries to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the penalty list was Mateo Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who the Treasury stated oversaw a company accused of processing money and salaries for the recruitment operation. "In 2024 and 2025, US-based firms linked to Duque carried out multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the government release noted.

Individual Mónica Muñoz was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the firm she operated said to have conducted money transfers linked to Duque and his companies.

"Washington reiterates its demand for external actors to stop giving financial and military support to the belligerents," the Treasury said in a statement.

Reaction

A senior analyst, from a conflict think tank, called the measures as a "major" step, saying that "identifying the recruiters is the proper strategy".

Furthermore, the Colombian government ratified a statute approving the global treaty against mercenarism, seeking to reduce decades of Colombian involvement in foreign conflicts and change domestic defense strategy.

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, noting that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing widespread use of contractors".

"It operates in the black market and operating from the Emirates, which is difficult to penalize," he said. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "Expect more Colombian mercenaries," he advised.