🔗 Share this article

The United States has imposed sanctions on a operation of four people and four firms charged of hiring former Colombian soldiers to support and educate a militia force in Sudan that Washington accuses of genocidal acts.

Network Composition

Disclosing the sanctions on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the operation was primarily made up of Colombian nationals and companies.

Scores of ex-soldiers from Colombia have reportedly travelled to the Sudanese warzone to operate with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group implicated in severe violations such as targeted ethnic killings and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The involvement of Colombian fighters first came to light the previous year, following an investigation which revealed that hundreds of former soldiers had been recruited to participate in the war – an event that led to an unusual statement of regret from officials in Bogotá.

These South American veterans have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their extensive battlefield experience gleaned from decades of civil war, training on Nato equipment, and elite military instruction.

Activities in Sudan

In the Sudanese theater, the mercenaries have reportedly trained child soldiers, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary was quoted as saying that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Named Entities

Among those sanctioned was a retired Colombian officer, a dual Colombian-Italian national and retired Colombian military officer located in the United Arab Emirates. The Treasury alleged he played a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was penalized as well.

Also on the penalty list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in managing finances and payments for the recruitment operation. "In 2024 and 2025, American entities associated with Duque carried out several money transfers, worth millions," the official announcement stated.

Individual Mónica Muñoz was the fourth individual to be targeted, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted money transfers linked to Duque and his companies.

"The US once more urges external actors to cease providing funding and arms to the combatants," the department said in a statement.

Reaction

An expert, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, described the sanctions as a "major" step, saying that "targeting the enablers is the correct approach".

She added that, the Colombian government ratified a law ratifying the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb its citizens' long history in foreign conflicts and reshape national security policy.

Another expert, a authority on private military contractors, urged more caution, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing the growing mercenary trade".

"It operates in the black market and based out of the Emirates, which is difficult to penalize," he said. The United Arab Emirates has been frequently alleged of providing arms to the militia, claims it rejects. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.