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The United States has imposed sanctions on a group of four people and four firms accused of hiring former Colombian soldiers to support and educate a Sudanese paramilitary group which the US alleges of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Revealing the measures on this week, the American treasury stated the scheme was primarily made up of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to Sudan to combat beside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group linked to terrible atrocities encompassing massacres based on ethnicity and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The involvement of Colombian fighters was first uncovered last year, following an report which revealed that hundreds of retired troops had been contracted to participate in the war – an discovery that led to an rare mea culpa from officials in Bogotá.

These South American veterans have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their vast combat experience resulting from decades of civil war, familiarity with Nato equipment, and high-level combat training.

Role in the Conflict

In the Sudanese theater, the Colombians have reportedly trained child soldiers, taught fighters to pilot drones, and fought directly on the frontlines. A mercenary remarked that instructing minors was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Named Entities

Among those targeted was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a individual with dual citizenship and retired Colombian military officer based in the United Arab Emirates. The government accused him a pivotal function in hiring and sending ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was penalized as well.

Also on the penalty list was Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in handling funds and payroll for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States linked to Duque engaged in numerous wire transfers, worth millions," the official announcement stated.

Citizen of Colombia Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw alleged to have money transfers connected to Duque and his companies.

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

Reaction

An expert, from a conflict think tank, described the actions as a "major" development, noting that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the correct approach".

Furthermore, the Colombian government has enacted a statute ratifying the anti-mercenary convention, seeking to reduce years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and reshape national security policy.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, saying that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing the growing mercenary trade".

"It’s an illicit economy and based out of the UAE, which is difficult to penalize," he commented. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, allegations it disputes. "Expect more Colombian mercenaries," the expert cautioned.