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The Washington has enforced penalties on a operation of four individuals and four companies charged of hiring South American contractors to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group the United States claims of acts of genocide.

Group Makeup

Revealing the restrictions on Tuesday, the Treasury stated the operation was primarily made up of Colombian nationals and companies.

Numerous of former Colombian military personnel have been recruited to go to Sudan to operate with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a force linked to terrible atrocities encompassing targeted ethnic killings and widespread kidnappings.

Discovery of Participation

The role of these mercenaries was first uncovered last year, following an investigation which found that more than 300 former soldiers had been hired to engage in combat – an revelation that resulted in an rare mea culpa from Colombia’s foreign ministry.

These South American veterans have long been considered as some of the most in-demand contractors globally due to their considerable warzone knowledge gleaned from years of internal conflict, knowledge of Western military gear, and superior tactical education.

Activities in Sudan

In Sudan, the mercenaries have reportedly trained child soldiers, provided drone warfare training, and participated in direct battles. An individual involved remarked that training children was "horrific and irrational" but commented that "regrettably, war operates that way".

Targeted Persons

Among those targeted was Álvaro Andrés Quijano Becerra, a dual Colombian-Italian national and former army officer based in the UAE. The Treasury alleged he played a key part in hiring and sending former Colombian soldiers to Sudan. His wife, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, was penalized as well.

Also on the sanctions list was Duque Botero, a dual national who the Treasury stated managed a business implicated in handling funds and payroll for the network. "In 2024 and 2025, companies in the United States associated with Duque conducted numerous wire transfers, totalling millions of US dollars," the official announcement said.

Citizen of Colombia Mónica Muñoz Ucros was the other individual to be penalized, with the entity she oversaw said to have conducted money transfers connected to Duque and his businesses.

"Washington reiterates its demand for outside forces to halt the flow of funding and arms to the combatants," the department said in a statement.

Reaction

An expert, with the International Crisis Group, described the actions as a "highly important" step, saying that "identifying the recruiters is the correct approach".

It was also noted that, Bogotá recently passed a statute ratifying the anti-mercenary convention, seeking to reduce years of participation by its nationals in overseas wars and transform national security policy.

Sean McFate, a scholar on the subject, called for greater wariness, noting that "penalties are required yet incomplete for combating widespread use of contractors".

"It operates in the black market and operating from the Emirates, which is difficult to penalize," he commented. The UAE has been widely accused of supplying weapons to the paramilitary group, an accusation it has denied. "Expect more Colombian mercenaries," the expert cautioned.