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The United States has enforced penalties on a group of four people and four firms charged of enlisting former Colombian soldiers to combat alongside and instruct a armed faction in Sudan which the US alleges of genocidal acts.

Network Composition

Disclosing the restrictions on this week, the US Treasury Department stated the scheme was mostly comprised of individuals and businesses from Colombia.

Scores of ex-soldiers from Colombia have reportedly travelled to Sudan to combat beside the Sudanese RSF militia, a faction implicated in terrible atrocities including massacres based on ethnicity and large-scale abductions.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries was first uncovered last year, after an investigation which found that over three hundred retired troops had been hired to engage in combat – an discovery that led to an unprecedented apology from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

These South American veterans have historically been seen as among the world’s most sought-after mercenaries due to their vast combat experience resulting from a long-running domestic war, training on Nato equipment, and superior tactical education.

Role in the Conflict

In the conflict, the mercenaries have been accused of teaching underage fighters, instructed militiamen in drone operation, and engaged in frontline combat. A mercenary was quoted as saying that training children was "terrible and insane" but noted that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Named Entities

Among those sanctioned was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a individual with dual citizenship and former army officer based in the Dubai. The government said he had a central role in recruiting and deploying ex-military personnel to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Oliveros, was similarly targeted.

Also on the sanctions list was Mateo Andrés Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated oversaw a company implicated in processing money and salaries for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States connected to Duque carried out several money transfers, worth millions," the government release noted.

Colombian national Mónica Muñoz was the fourth individual to be penalized, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted wire transfers linked to Duque and his companies.

"The US once more urges outside forces to stop giving funding and arms to the belligerents," the agency said in a statement.

Analyst Commentary

A senior analyst, with the International Crisis Group, called the sanctions as a "very significant" step, saying that "targeting the enablers is the right way to go".

She added that, Colombia ratified a law approving the anti-mercenary convention, aiming to curb years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and reshape its security approach.

A mercenary specialist, a authority on private military contractors, urged more caution, noting that "penalties are required yet incomplete for addressing rampant mercenarism".

"It operates in the black market and centered in the UAE, which is difficult to penalize," he commented. The Emirati government has been repeatedly implicated of arming the RSF, allegations it disputes. "More contractors from Colombia are likely," the expert cautioned.