The US government has imposed sanctions on four Colombians and four companies they help run for forming a “transnational network” to profit from Sudan’s civil war.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a statement identifying Álvaro Andres Quijano Becerra, Claudia Viviana Oliveros Forero, Mateo Andres Duque Botero, and Mónica Muñoz Ucuros as participants in a program to recruit former members of the Colombian military to fight in Sudan.
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Once in the East African country, the ex-soldiers were allegedly used to train the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group embroiled in a power struggle with Sudanese government forces.
“RSF has demonstrated time and time again that it is prepared to target civilians, including infants and young children. RSF atrocities deepen conflict, destabilize the region, and create conditions for terrorist groups to grow,” Treasury official John K. Hurley said in a statement.
The Treasury added that the conflict is “creating the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
Fighting has intensified in Sudan since war broke out in April 2023, with more than 12.4 million people forced from their homes and a growing number of displaced people both within its borders and in surrounding areas. More than 3.3 million people have fled Sudan as refugees.
Just this week, a United Nations committee called for a cessation of hostilities, citing a long list of human rights violations by the RSF and its allies.
These include ethnically motivated killings, torture, targeting of humanitarian workers, and the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
On January 7, the US State Department announced that it had determined that the RSF committed genocide against ethnic groups in Sudan as part of an armed operation, but also highlighted human rights violations on both sides of the conflict.
A Treasury statement on Tuesday cited the determination of genocide, adding that the fighting threatens U.S. interests in Africa.
“The civil war in Sudan risks destabilizing the region and turning the country into a safe haven for those who threaten the United States,” the statement said.
More than 300 Colombian recruits
The Treasury Department has previously sanctioned RSF leaders and organizations, but Tuesday’s sanctions spotlight the role Colombians played in the fighting.
According to the US government, hundreds of Colombian veterans have flown to Sudan since September 2024 to intervene on behalf of the RSF.
Many begin by training RSF fighters, including child soldiers. Information on the operation of drones, artillery and military vehicles will also be provided to RSF forces.
Additionally, the U.S. Treasury Department has accused Colombian nationals of taking direct part in the fighting, including during the 18-month siege of El Fasher, the capital of North Sudan state and a city captured by the RSF in October.
“Colombian fighters are taking part in numerous battles across Sudan, including in the capital Khartoum, as well as in Omdurman, Kordofan and El Fasher,” the Treasury statement said.
“The presence of Colombian fighters in Sudan would not be possible without the support of numerous individuals and companies, primarily from Colombia.”
In a letter to the UN Security Council in September, Sudanese government representatives estimated that between 350 and 380 Colombian mercenaries had arrived in the African country to take part in the fighting. Most of them were “veterans and officers of the Colombian military,” he said.
Colombia has a reputation as an international market for mercenaries.
Experts often point to the role of Colombia’s own internal conflict in creating unemployed fighters. Colombia has been mired in fighting since 1964 between multiple forces, including right-wing militias, left-wing rebel groups, criminal networks, and its own army.
Accusations of human rights abuses are also rife in the conflict, with at least 450,000 people killed, according to a government truth commission.
Two of the sanctioned individuals, Quijano Becerra and his wife, Oliveros Forero, run a Bogotá-based employment company called International Services Agency, according to a Tuesday statement from the U.S. Treasury Department.
According to the Treasury Department, the company held “group chats” and “town halls” to recruit Colombian fighters for Sudan, “including drone operators, snipers, and translators.”
The organization is said to be concealing its operations through a Panama-based company called Global Staffing, also known as Talent Bridge.
The Treasury Department also sanctioned Duque Botero and Muñoz Ucuros, who ran another Bogotá-based employment company for similar purposes.
The company, called Maine Global Corp., allegedly employs Colombians and works with Global Staffing to exchange currency to ensure payments to fighters. A fourth company, Comercializadora San Bendito, was accused of facilitating wire transfers.
The Ministry of Finance estimated that the amount of payments processed in 2024-2025 would amount to “millions of US dollars.” All four companies mentioned in the Treasury statement were subject to sanctions, along with their leaders.
Sanctions freeze any assets a person or entity has in the United States. It also makes it illegal for U.S.-based companies to do business with designated individuals.
