MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian gov't targets mercenary market

Foreign powers recruit Colombian military people and “take them to wars that have nothing to do with them or with us,” Murillo underlined

Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo filed a bill before Congress Wednesday to legislate against the creation, financing, and training of mercenary groups in the country. The initiative took into account the involvement of 26 Colombian nationals in the July 7, 2021, murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, among other notorious incidents.

The leftwing government of President Gustavo Petro thus seeks to establish “clear rules” against the local recruitment and financing of mercenaries by labeling these activities as punishable crimes.

“What we seek is a clear framework that prohibits these activities in Colombia. Neither the training nor the financing of people who can be recruited as mercenaries in foreign conflicts should be allowed,” Murillo said.

“We have seen international networks come to our country and recruit individuals with military training, who end up signing dangerous contracts and fighting in foreign armies,” he also explained. Hence, the government needs effective tools to combat these activities in a move to protect vulnerable citizens.

The minister also explained that some people who wished to disengage from these arrangements ended up realizing they had fallen into a trap. “We are aware of families who are worried about the fate of their loved ones who have fallen in combat or are missing. Until now, the government has not had the appropriate mechanisms to manage these situations,” Murillo underlined. Retired Colombian servicemen have been involved in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Murillo also noted. “We have tried to make claims through the Foreign Ministry and embassies, but the lack of solid instruments has prevented us from acting with the necessary forcefulness,” he elaborated.

Murillo's bill seeks to approve the United Nations' International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries, of Dec. 4, 1989. “We need tools to confront organizations that instrumentalize people who are well educated, well trained in military and security matters, recruit them, and take them to wars that have nothing to do with those people or with us,” he stressed.

If approved, the bill would allow Colombia to criminalize, prosecute, and extradite, if necessary, these mercenaries, as well as create specific crimes for acts committed by these people to combat such activities and adopt public measures accordingly.