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The US government has enforced penalties on a network of four individuals and four companies charged of recruiting former Colombian soldiers to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Revealing the sanctions on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was largely composed of Colombian citizens and firms.

Numerous of former Colombian military personnel have reportedly travelled to the Sudanese warzone to operate with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force linked to terrible atrocities including ethnically targeted slaughter and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The participation of ex-soldiers initially emerged the previous year, prompted by an investigation which revealed that more than 300 former soldiers had been contracted to engage in combat – an revelation that resulted in an unusual statement of regret from the Colombian government.

Former Colombian military have widely regarded as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their considerable warzone knowledge resulting from a long-running domestic war, training on Nato equipment, and high-level combat training.

Reported Actions

In the Sudanese theater, the Colombians have reportedly trained minors, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. One source remarked that instructing minors was "awful and crazy" but noted that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was a dual national, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and former army officer operating from the Dubai. The government accused him a key part in enlisting and transporting former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His spouse, Claudia Oliveros, was penalized as well.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who officials alleged ran a firm implicated in handling funds and payroll for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States associated with Duque conducted numerous wire transfers, amounting to millions," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the fourth individual to be targeted, with the company she managed said to have conducted wire transfers associated with Duque and his companies.

"Washington reiterates its demand for external actors to cease providing financial and military support to the combatants," the agency said in a statement.

Reaction

Elizabeth Dickinson, from a conflict think tank, labeled the sanctions as a "major" milestone, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go".

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

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for combating rampant mercenarism".

"It’s an illicit economy and based out of the Emirates, which is relatively sanction-proof," he commented. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, allegations it disputes. "This trend will probably continue," he advised.