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The Washington has imposed sanctions on a network of four individuals and four companies charged of recruiting South American contractors to fight for and train a armed faction in Sudan the United States claims of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Revealing the restrictions on this week, the Treasury stated the scheme was largely composed of Colombian nationals and companies.

Numerous of retired Colombian troops have allegedly journeyed to the Sudanese warzone to combat beside the RSF paramilitary group, a faction accused of severe violations including massacres based on ethnicity and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries initially emerged last year, after an inquiry which found that hundreds of former soldiers had been recruited to engage in combat – an event that led to an unusual statement of regret from the Colombian government.

Former Colombian military have widely regarded as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge acquired during years of internal conflict, training on advanced weaponry, and superior tactical education.

Role in the Conflict

In the Sudanese theater, the contractors have allegedly instructed minors, provided drone warfare training, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary previously stated that working with child soldiers was "awful and crazy" but commented that "sadly, that is the nature of conflict".

Sanctioned Individuals

Among those targeted was a retired Colombian officer, a citizen of both Colombia and Italy and retired Colombian military officer based in the UAE. The US authorities alleged he played a key part in hiring and sending ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was penalized as well.

Also on the restricted list was Mateo Duque Botero, a dual Colombian-Spanish citizen who the Treasury stated ran a firm implicated in processing money and salaries for the recruitment operation. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States linked to Duque engaged in multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement stated.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted money transfers linked to Duque and his businesses.

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

Expert Analysis

Elizabeth Dickinson, with the International Crisis Group, labeled the actions as a "very significant" step, saying that "identifying the recruiters is the proper strategy".

She added that, Colombia recently passed a law endorsing the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, designed to limit years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and transform national security policy.

A mercenary specialist, a scholar on the subject, urged more caution, stating that "sanctions are necessary but insufficient for combating rampant mercenarism".

"This is a shadow economy and based out of the UAE, which is relatively sanction-proof," he said. The UAE has been repeatedly implicated of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "This trend will probably continue," the expert cautioned.