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The United States has enforced penalties on a group of four people and four firms alleged of enlisting former Colombian soldiers to combat alongside and instruct 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.

Hundreds of ex-soldiers from Colombia have been recruited to go to the conflict in Sudan to fight alongside the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a faction linked to horrific war crimes such as massacres based on ethnicity and widespread kidnappings.

Revelation of Role

The role of these mercenaries initially emerged the previous year, after an investigation which revealed that over three hundred retired troops had been contracted to participate in the war – an revelation that resulted in an unusual statement of regret from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

Colombian ex-soldiers have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their vast combat experience gleaned from years of internal conflict, training on Nato equipment, and high-level combat training.

Reported Actions

In Sudan, the mercenaries have been accused of teaching child soldiers, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. One source remarked that working with child soldiers was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those sanctioned was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a individual with dual citizenship and ex-soldier located in the United Arab Emirates. The Treasury alleged he played a central role in hiring and sending ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the penalty list was Duque Botero, a individual with Colombian and Spanish citizenship who officials alleged managed a business accused of processing money and salaries for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States linked to Duque conducted several money transfers, amounting to millions," the official announcement noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be penalized, with the firm she operated said to have conducted wire transfers connected to Duque and his operations.

"The United States again calls on outside forces to halt the flow of financial and military support to the combatants," the Treasury announced.

Reaction

An expert, with the International Crisis Group, described the measures as a "highly important" development, saying that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the right way to go".

It was also noted that, the Colombian government ratified a statute approving the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, designed to limit its citizens' long history in foreign conflicts and change its security approach.

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

"This is a shadow economy and centered in Dubai, which is difficult to penalize," he commented. The UAE has been widely accused of arming the RSF, claims it rejects. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," the expert cautioned.