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The United States has levied restrictions on a group of four people and four firms charged of recruiting former Colombian soldiers to combat alongside and instruct a Sudanese paramilitary group that Washington accuses of acts of genocide.

Operation Structure

Disclosing the sanctions on this week, the American treasury stated the scheme was largely composed of Colombian citizens and firms.

Scores of retired Colombian troops have reportedly travelled to Sudan to operate with the RSF paramilitary group, a force linked to severe violations encompassing massacres based on ethnicity and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries initially emerged last year, prompted by an report which found that more than 300 retired troops had been contracted to fight – an event that led to an unprecedented apology from the Colombian government.

Colombian ex-soldiers have long been considered as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their vast combat experience acquired during years of internal conflict, knowledge of Western military gear, and elite military instruction.

Reported Actions

In the Sudanese theater, the contractors have reportedly trained underage fighters, taught fighters to pilot drones, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary was quoted as saying that training children was "horrific and irrational" but added that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Targeted Persons

Among those sanctioned was a dual national, a dual Colombian-Italian national and ex-soldier located in the UAE. The US authorities accused him a pivotal function in recruiting and deploying former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was similarly targeted.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in handling funds and payroll for the recruitment operation. "In 2024 and 2025, American entities associated with Duque carried out multiple financial transactions, amounting to millions," the Treasury statement said.

Individual Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the company she managed said to have conducted financial transactions linked to Duque and his operations.

"The US once more urges external actors to cease providing monetary and weaponry aid to the belligerents," the department said in a statement.

Reaction

A senior analyst, from a conflict think tank, called the sanctions as a "very significant" milestone, saying that "targeting the enablers is the right way to go".

It was also noted that, the Colombian government ratified a law endorsing the global treaty against mercenarism, aiming to curb years of participation by its nationals in international fights and change its security approach.

Sean McFate, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, saying that "restrictions are needed but not enough for combating rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and centered in the Emirates, which is largely insulated from sanctions," he commented. The United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly implicated of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "Expect more Colombian mercenaries," McFate warned.