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The US government has enforced penalties on a group of four individuals and four companies alleged of recruiting South American contractors to fight for and train a armed faction in Sudan that Washington accuses of committing genocide.

Operation Structure

Announcing the measures on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was primarily made up of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Numerous of retired Colombian troops have been recruited to go to the Sudanese warzone to operate with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group linked to horrific war crimes including massacres based on ethnicity and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The involvement of Colombian fighters initially emerged last year, following an inquiry which revealed that over three hundred former soldiers had been hired to engage in combat – an revelation that resulted in an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

Colombian ex-soldiers have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their vast combat experience gleaned from decades of civil war, familiarity with Nato equipment, and high-level combat training.

Role in the Conflict

In the Sudanese theater, the mercenaries have been accused of teaching child soldiers, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and fought directly on the frontlines. A mercenary remarked that working with child soldiers was "terrible and insane" but commented 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 United Arab Emirates. The US authorities accused him a pivotal function in enlisting and transporting mercenaries to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was also sanctioned.

Also on the sanctions list was Duque Botero, a dual national who authorities say oversaw a company linked to handling funds and payroll for the scheme. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States linked to Duque carried out multiple financial transactions, worth millions," the official announcement noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the final person to be sanctioned, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted money transfers associated with Duque and his operations.

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

Analyst Commentary

Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, described the sanctions as a "major" development, saying that "calling out those who are doing the contracting is the proper strategy".

It was also noted that, the Colombian government recently passed a law endorsing the International Convention Against the Recruitment and Use of Mercenaries, seeking to reduce its citizens' long history in foreign conflicts and reshape its security approach.

Another expert, a scholar on the subject, urged more caution, stating that "penalties are required yet incomplete for combating the growing mercenary trade".

"It’s an illicit economy and based out of the Emirates, which is relatively sanction-proof," he said. The United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly implicated of arming the RSF, an accusation it has denied. "Expect more Colombian mercenaries," he advised.