Dangerous new hired guns have arrived on the battlefield of Mexico’s cartel wars: Colombian mercenaries.
Former combatants in Colombia’s long-standing internal conflict are increasingly being lured to Mexico by criminal groups to train hitmen, build bombs, and fight bloody turf battles.
Eleven Colombians were arrested in Michoacán state last week in connection with a roadside bomb attack that killed eight members of Mexico’s National Guard. Colombia’s foreign ministry stated that all the detained men had previously served as soldiers.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X that a cartel known as Los Reyes had “hired the Colombian mercenaries to confront the Mexican state.”
The phenomenon highlights the growing intensity of Mexico’s cartel warfare as well as the expanding role of Colombian combatants in conflicts globally. Recruited via private companies and even via TikTok, Colombians have fought in Sudan, Yemen, and Ukraine.
More than 300 Colombian fighters have died defending Ukraine from Russian attacks, Colombian officials say.
Haitian authorities allege that 26 Colombian mercenaries participated in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise. Colombians were also implicated in the 2023 killing of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
Many of the fighters are former military personnel with meager or no pensions and limited training for activities other than war.
“You have this pool of human resources that is poorly compensated and not utilized to their full potential,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, a Colombia analyst with the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank. “They’re being swept up with these attractive offers, both by states, by defense companies, and also by criminal groups.”
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Source: Los Angeles Times
