The man you see here in the fighting between Russia and Ukraine is Iván Pérez, a 27-year-old Colombian who, after finishing his military service in the Marines, joined the Ukrainian troops. The aging prime minister asked Colombia to stop sending mercenaries who fight alongside the militias. For decades, all armed conflicts on the planet have had recurring guests: Colombian mercenaries.
This is a well- known phenomenon, particularly in the case of former Colombian military personnel, who have also been seen fighting in Ukraine. I know of relatives whose husbands and children went to Russia because they offered more money, you know what I mean? It was a matter of money that, at teatime on the battlefield, Colombians were attacking Colombians.
You see, I’ve been studying the war in Ukraine in depth for years. I’ve been in the country, I’ve spoken to soldiers of all kinds, and there’s one nationality I’ve encountered more than any other, and it’s always surprised me, because they’re not people who come from some nearby European country , no.
I’m referring to Colombians, and yes, it turns out that Colombia has become the factory of mercenaries for the whole world. The man you see here in the fighting between Russia and Ukraine is Iván Pérez, a 27-year-old Colombian who, after finishing his military service in the Marines and without having many opportunities to study in Colombia, joined the Ukrainian troops to fight Vladimir Putin’s soldiers .
Did you hear that right? If Spain exports YouTubers and Cuba doctors, Colombia’s main export these days, along with coffee and that product we’re all thinking about, is mercenaries. This is a well-known phenomenon, particularly in the case of former Colombian military personnel , who have also been seen fighting in Ukraine or in dubious armed operations in Haiti or even in drug-controlled areas in Mexico.
And don’t think we’re talking about an anecdotal event. Obviously, the mercenary profession is a rather opaque service. It is the second oldest profession in the world, followed by the first. Both are quite opaque, but it is estimated that Colombia has become one of the main countries of origin. Basically, wherever there is a conflict, there is a Colombian.
It is estimated that there are between 100 and 2000 in Sudan, around 2,500 in the Ukrainian armed forces and hundreds more on the Russian side. Yes, you heard right. Moreover, we have already seen small skirmishes in municipalities in Donbas where Colombians were fighting against Colombians. Although in the case of the Ukrainian armed forces they are not mercenaries as such, but in most cases they are directly integrated into the Ukrainian army.
That is, they have the same rights, the same obligations, the same uniform, and the same rank as a soldier born in KIF. But they’re also in other places you’d never expect. For example, there are more than 2,000 in the United Arab Emirates. In fact, this country is a hub for Colombian mercenaries. So, if you want to hire a buddy to watch your back, go to Dubai, but those aren’t the only services they offer.
The most well-known case involving Colombian mercenaries occurred in the early hours of July 7, 2021, when a commando entered the private residence of the then-president of Haiti, Jovenel Moí, and assassinated him. According to the investigations, the assassination was carried out by a group of 26 Colombian mercenaries.
Yes, we’re talking about them being hired to assassinate the president of Haiti himself, a death that, as we saw in previous videos, plunged the country into absolute chaos. This seems like something out of a movie, well, actually a series, the last season of Yellowstone, which I highly recommend to everyone, but the most worrying thing is that more and more Colombian ex-soldiers end up serving as hitmen for criminal groups, mainly drug cartels, especially not Colombian ones, but Mexican ones.
I have already told you about how Mexican cartels have increased their power in recent years and their military arm. Well, the war in Ukraine has helped in this process because the highest figures indicate that up to 7,000 Colombians have participated in the conflict at some point. And although many do it out of conviction, to defend democracy, freedom, to help an invaded country, many others do it simply for money and many of them do not return home, they end up offering their services to the highest bidder.
drone operator services, explosives or assassination services are highly valued by drug traffickers. The 11 Colombian hitmen arrested in Mexico had ties to military forces. Mexico arrested 11 former Colombian soldiers during an operation in the western state of Michoacán , which was carried out after an explosion that killed eight Mexican soldiers.
Authorities seized more than 40 explosives and other weapons in the operation. According to the investigations, those arrested are part of a cell working for the Reyes cartel. As you can see, we are facing a phenomenon that nobody is talking about, but that is happening right in front of our noses. Colombian mercenaries are everywhere.
And the question you’re all probably asking yourselves now is, why? I mean , why Colombia and not another country? Why has Colombia become the world’s mercenary factory ? Is this a passing phenomenon, or have we reached the point where Colombian ex-soldiers are going to be the new Swiss of the 21st century, but in reverse? Today we’re going to answer these questions.
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And now, let’s look at a little history. I am Fonseca. Welcome to Only FS. When we think of Colombia, music like this immediately comes to mind. I want to tell you my dreams, so you can wake me up. Yes. For those of you watching this video from outside Colombia, it turns out there’s a famous singer named Fonseca, but he’s not bald.
This is the one that has won over the female audience. So I’ve stayed with you. I’d like to tell you that I’ve come out ahead , but anyway, the truth is that if we had to put a soundtrack to the history of this country, we’d have to go for something like this. War, war, war is my shepherd. And that’s why I have fewer female fans than a white guy.
Then I complain that the handsome Fonseca is the one who gets the girls. Seeing is what I earn, I’ll do it by force. In short, this is the reality. To speak of Colombia is to speak of violence. Violence, cumbia rhythm, but violence nonetheless. Silver or lead. And I’m not exaggerating at all. Colombia’s own independence was won with gunfire.
And you’ll say, well, a country having a war of independence isn’t anything unusual, right? But in its first 100 years as a country, Colombia had more civil wars than any other country in Latin America. 13 civil wars. 13. Grab it and you’ll see how it grows. And almost all of it is about the same issue: liberals versus conservatives.
But the mother of all massacres came in 1948, the trigger being the assassination of Jorge Eliecer Gaitán, who was the most popular liberal candidate in the country. Literally Bogotá, the capital, burned, and from Bogotá the fire spread throughout the rest of Colombia. Hundreds of bandit groups fighting throughout the country.
That period lasted until 1956 and was given a name as short as it was descriptive: violence. We had the great opportunity to repatriate the Germán Guzmán archive. We brought it from Mexico, from the University of Texcoco. It constitutes the most important documentary record of the history of violence in Colombia, of that fratricidal confrontation between liberals and conservatives, which according to the most expert analysts could produce some 183,000 deaths. And peace did not come until
the so-called Venidor pact was signed. And yes, I’m referring to the Venidor that you all know, the Spanish version of Las Vegas. In Spain, liberal and conservative leaders came together and sat down to agree on a system of political alternation to return to democracy after the military dictatorship of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla and proclaim their opposition to war.
Not war, not war, not crazy war. But don’t think that all the violence ended in Venidor. Society was already hooked. Yes, it is true that the two traditional parties had made peace, but this is 1956, in the middle of the Cold War, and socialist formations were already appearing to the left of the Liberal Party .
Colombia was not going to be an exception to the rest of the world. The problem, the problem is that the Venidor pact left these socialist factions out of the agreement. So, what solution did they find in a country accustomed to solving everything with gunfire? Exact. Taking up arms is how all these groups that look like a word search puzzle that you all know were born.
The FARK, the LN, LPL, the M19, each representing a different branch of the Colombian far left. Are you from the Popular Jewish Front? Go to hell. That? Popular Jewish Front. We are from the People’s Front of Judea. But all together they kicked off the biggest internal armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere.
A conflict that left Colombia in the limbo of Civil War from the 1960s to the present day. We are talking about 60 years of conflict, the figures, well, listen up, more than 260,000 dead, tens of thousands of disappeared, almost 7 million, mind you, 7 million displaced, rapes, kidnappings, false positives and countless personal tragedies.
And this is only what has been reported. And of course, we’re not just talking about guerrillas. Gentlemen, I’m going to tell you who I am. I am Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria. Exact. As you all know, since the 70s and 80s a new player entered the scene : the drug cartels. It’s not for nothing that we all know what ” plata o plomo” means or who Pablo Escobar was.
And all Colombians are fed up with being told, “Ah, Colombia,” every time they travel to another country. Uh . and they make a joke. Very sorry. I know it’s a horrible stereotype that you have to swallow and that it’s quite unfair because the vast majority of Colombians have nothing to do with cocaine. But that’s just how things are.
The Andean snow became the fastest way to get rich for all sides of the conflict, and the Medellín and Cali cartels were born to take their piece of the pie from the world’s leading Harry Potter production country. It’s happening on the dark side. Black magic. No, you old fool. White magic. And this is where the story took an unexpected turn, because Pablo Escobar died in December 1993.
The Medellín cartel, sorry, ended up decapitated, and the Cali cartel was dismantled a few years later. And you’d say, ” Problem solved, right?” No, because the tropical creatine business was still there, and when the big bosses fell, someone else took over. And who caught it? Well, no, not all drug traffickers were solely motivated by profit.
The baton was taken up by all those who had a rifle, namely, the FARK, the ELN, the au. Basically, all sides of the conflict ended up with their hands covered in flour. It’s not cocaine, it’s flour. I think I’m going to give my wife a little package so she can make some rolls for some sandwiches with awesome ham, really good ham.
Oh, papaya of Celaya. Oh, Papantla, your children fly. Let’s go, [ __ ]. As a result, Colombia went from simply having a drug trafficking problem, which is bad enough, to a narco-guerrilla problem, because the entire country has been able to finance its own ideological conflict with the cocaine consumed by Americans.
And that’s what started to catch Uncle Sam’s attention. The United States, in particular, fears that Colombian drug trafficking will continue to flood its streets with cocaine. At the same time, there is a latent risk that the Colombian state will collapse in the face of the power of illegal organizations.
It is in this context that what would become known as Plan Colombia was born. That’s why , since 2000, the United States opened its wallet, and opened it a lot, in Nacho Vidal-like amounts. Billions of dollars were used to buy cocaine, but billions of dollars also ended up in the hands of the Colombian army.
As a result, the Colombian generals found themselves almost unwittingly leading the largest army in all of Latin America. And here you’ll have to excuse me, but I have to make a correction, and it’s a big one, a thorn in our side that the team behind this channel has had for a year now. At the time we made a video titled “War Returns to Colombia” and I admit that we really messed up .
I want to thank everyone who corrected us in the comments because this is truly a thorn in our side that we’ve had for almost a year, and today is going to be the best moment to remove it. The number one mistake we made, and the biggest one, is that I said that in 2002 the Kawan agreement was signed where the FARK accepted a truce and that’s why the violence decreased.
Well, no, that’s not true. The Kawan process began in 1998 with Andrés Pastrana and ended in February 2002. And it didn’t end well, it ended disastrously because it wasn’t a peace agreement, it was a dialogue process. A dialogue process that failed spectacularly because the FARKs never signed a truce.
What they did was take advantage of the 42,000 km² of launch zone that Pastrana gave them to strengthen themselves, continue kidnapping, and well, you sucked, it’s Friday, who wants [ __ ] and drugs? I have it for cachupi. Hey, those who see money, don’t forget the triple P. What is the triple P? Silver lead, Chinese part.
I mean, they practically created their own kingdom. In fact, during the kawá there were more than 700,000 displaced people and 18,000 deaths. In other words, violence increased, it didn’t decrease. So why did violence decrease since 2002? Well, the opposite of what I said. In August 2002, Álvaro Uribe came to the presidency with his democratic security policy and with the money from Plan Colombia, which came from the United States, he modernized the army and declared open military war on the FARC. In other
words, peace did not come through an agreement, but through a war won by the State. It is important that this is clear. However, there were many reprehensible things in the process, such as the false positives that the Uribe government tried to hide, that is, civilians killed by the army who were passed off as guerrillas.
Because? Were they collateral casualties? Or was Uribe a monster who ordered the killing of civilians? Well , let me explain. What the JEP, the special body created to analyze war crimes in Colombia, said was that it was not the fault of the war against the guerrillas themselves, but of the incentives put in place by the government.
Basically, the more guerrillas they killed, the more the soldiers were paid. The result was the same as in the wars of feudal Japan, where the same incentives existed. Some soldiers killed civilians, who were, well, easier to kill, and passed them off as guerrillas in order to earn more reward money. And many of the cases came to light because the dead were dressed as guerrillas, but they were wearing suits three sizes too big for the dead person’s body or even their boots were on backwards.
Come on, you could tell they had disguised their tongues. Six people were killed between 2002 and 2008 as part of an unprecedented global strategy that involved disguising dead civilians as guerrillas killed in combat with the army to make the country believe that the FARC was being militarily defeated. This macabre practice is known as false positives, a phenomenon that skyrocketed during Álvaro Uribe’s government as part of his democratic security policy.
Error number two. I said that Juan Manuel Santos signed a truce with the FARC in 2016. It wasn’t a truce, it was the final peace agreement signed on November 24, 2016 at the Colón Theater in Bogotá. A definitive agreement with demobilization and surrender of weapons. It’s something completely different, although in practice it has left much to be desired, but well, that’s a topic for another video.
Error number three and also important, I said that the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, the AUC, were created in 1987. Lie, they were created in 1997, that is, 10 years later. In 1987, there were simply scattered paramilitary groups, but the AUC as such was founded by Mr. Carlos Castaño in April 1997.
And while we’re at it , one more clarification about the M-19. In the video I said they laid down their weapons in 1990 and this is correct, but I did n’t explain who signed the agreement. It was Virgilio Barco, who was the president, and Carlos Pizarro, who was the commander of the M19. Pizarro was murdered by the Medellín cartel just a month and a half after signing it.
I mention this because, ironically, that M19 agreement is still considered today the most successful peace process in Colombian history, and Gustavo Petro’s political career stems directly from it, something I did say correctly in the video. I’ll make a note of this. In any case, I apologize for all the mistakes. I’m so sorry , I made a mistake and it won’t happen again .
Keep in mind that when we make videos about countries with as many historical layers as Colombia, it’s very easy to make a mistake, but hey, the commitment of this channel and my own is always to correct ourselves when we make a mistake. So again, thanks to the Colombians who put it in the comments. You are the best facters in the world and by the way a hug to all the audience we have in Colombia who send us a lot of love every day and you are the best.
In any case, the conditions that caused the conflict are still there. Despite its natural riches, Colombia remains one of the most unequal countries in the entire American continent. Unemployment, inequality, corruption, and violence as a way to solve problems. All of this continues to push thousands of Colombians, unfortunately, to fuel the conflict, a conflict that for many has become a lucrative business thanks to drug trafficking and a lack of opportunities that even the army is not exempt from.
The best Mountain Blade mod. To understand why Colombia exports so many mercenaries, we first have to understand one thing: how the Colombian army works, and I’ll tell you in advance that it has a very special characteristic. Pay attention. Colombian soldiers retire after 21 years of service. And you might ask, “Do they charge a lot of money? Do they charge a little money?” Well, they’re getting roughly 70% of what their last salary was. Let me explain the play.
You join the army at 18 or 22 years old and retire at 40 with a lifetime pension. Sounds great, right? Well, that’s precisely the problem. Think of it this way. At 40 years old, these people have families, children, a mortgage to pay, a lot of responsibilities, and they are 40 years old, which is not old, it is more or less the age I am, I mean that they are in top form, at least they have another 20 years of perfectly useful active service left.
And here’s the catch: retiring at 40 with a lifetime pension sounds great until you start doing the math. The average pension for veterans is around 2 million Colombian pesos. You might say, “That’s a lot, that’s not much money. Two million pesos seems like a lot, right? Well, it ‘s roughly between 400 and 600 a month.
It’s not enough. And here’s the real problem. These people have been trained for war, not for civilian life. And the Colombian state barely has any programs to reintegrate them. The result? Every year you have thousands of young men trained to fight, without jobs and with a laughable pension. In short, this is what’s happening.
For decades, all armed conflicts around the world have had recurring guests: Colombian mercenaries. Let’s do the math. The pension is two million pesos. Mercenary work, however, is offered literally through WhatsApp groups and pays around ten million pesos a month, that is, five times more. Now tell me what you would do.
It’s a sum that tempts any veteran, no matter how risky the job is, or precisely because of the risk. And to make matters worse , the high command that Those who commanded these soldiers often also make the leap. Where to? To leadership positions within the mercenary companies themselves. In other words, the boss who trained you in the army is now the boss who recruits you for the war in Sudan.
And even if it wanted to, the Colombian state doesn’t have an easy solution, because in the end, mercenary activity is all about money. Hmm. Honor to your comrades, but not to your country. And yes, it’s true that the work is very dangerous, but it’s not much more dangerous than patrolling the same regions where those men had been operating for 20 years.
And although we ‘ve focused on the military, they aren’t the only ones, because as you can imagine, after 60 years of war, the entire Colombian society has become accustomed to violence. Soldiers, guerrillas, paramilitaries, civilians— everyone has experienced it. You’ve all experienced it, and for many, it’s their only profession, and they also have much more experience than others from different countries.
It’s a well-known phenomenon, particularly in the case of… Colombian ex-soldiers , who have also been seen fighting in Ukraine or in dubious armed operations in Haiti, or even in drug-controlled areas of Mexico. We’re talking about mercenaries, a booming, multi-million dollar global business that is often murky and also involves many Latin Americans.
And now look at the result of all this. In the last four years, thousands of Colombian ex-soldiers have ended up training child soldiers in Sudan, others killing each other on both sides of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and a group of 26 hired to assassinate the president of AIT. And you might say, “But how did all this start?” It’s as if Colombians woke up one day and said, “Come on, let’s fight other people’s wars.
” Well, no, like almost everything in Latin America, this whole thing has a name and surname. Do you remember Plan Colombia? That plan where the United States sent military aid to Colombia? Well, it comes from here. Curiously, the United States was the first country to promote it. The use of Colombian mercenaries.
Yes, you heard right. Uncle Sam himself. And you might ask, why would the United States need Colombian mercenaries when they have everything? The best troops, the best training, the best technology, the best equipment— I mean, when it comes to killing, they have more than enough resources.
Well, precisely for that reason: because the death of an American soldier is a tragedy, but the death of a Colombian mercenary, obviously, isn’t. It sounds awful, but a Colombian mercenary doesn’t generate a headline in an American newspaper. So the United States resorts to private contractors because outsourcing war allows them to wage war without their society seeing coffins with American flags at the airport.
So, at least from the United States’ point of view, it’s a good solution. Well, that’s what they did in Colombia. Uncle Sam hired private companies for all kinds of jobs, from training special forces to fumigating coca plants with chemical defoliants. And then… As time went on, thousands of Colombian soldiers and police officers discovered a fantastic job called mercenary.
Things took a leap in 2005. That year, the infamous company Blackwater entered the scene, founded by Eric Prince, a veteran of this channel we’ve discussed several times and about whom my opinions of him have steadily declined. Anyway, this man founded Blackwater, which was something like the Apple of mercenary companies, and began recruiting former Colombian soldiers and police officers for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
And why Colombians? It’s simple: in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Americans were training the local troops, but compared to a newly trained Iraqi or Afghan , the Colombians were in a different league. They practically had war in their blood. They were the Caribbean version of Rambo. And by the early 2010s, the snowball was rolling on its own.
The more Colombians went abroad, the more they recruited their former army comrades. And those comrades, in turn, recruited others. They recruited their own kind. Basically, we’re talking about a word-of-mouth network, and everyone was in the same boat. The advantage [clears throat] is that this word-of-mouth also served to filter out the scammers, because in theory, a veteran knows which companies are reputable and which destinations are less risky than others.
I say in theory because in practice, this system is far from perfect. My friends from Arabia, before we continue, if you’re new to this channel, let me remind you that we release new videos every week. The news tells you the news, I tell you the story. If you’re interested in international politics, geopolitics, a bit of economics, and all seasoned with a healthy dose of dark humor and sarcasm, this is the place for you.
So, you know what to do: subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss any of our updates. And now, let’s get on with today’s story . You know that the United Arab Emirates is known as the Arabian Sparta, but be warned, this wasn’t always the case. In fact, 30 years ago, the Emiratis were just a handful of shepherds with oil. Becoming the only Arab country with a professional army worthy of the name cost them two things: money and borrowed expertise.
From whom? From other armies. 842 of the best-trained men from the Army and Police are now part of the UAE Armed Forces . In 2012, more than 800 Colombian Special Forces soldiers left the army. And where did they go? To the United Arab Emirates, and they weren’t the only ones, because hundreds of thousands of Colombians will end up passing through Dubai one way or another.
The offer was ideal: plenty of money, payment in dollars, formal contracts, a country without armed conflict. The problem, the problem is that there was indeed an armed conflict. A truce in Yemen. The United Arab Emirates declared this Sunday the suspension of the military campaign on the city of Aludeida, home to one of the country’s main ports.
It is estimated that more than 2,000 Colombians were sent to Yemen, to the war in Yemen to fight the Iranian-backed Khuti militias. Most of it through companies linked to retired Colombian Colonel José Óscar García Báez. One of the key figures in this whole plot, the UAE, is a group of former Colombian military personnel .
And the thing is, mercenaries are the perfect cannon fodder for a nation like the United Arab Emirates. Think about it this way. It’s a small country, with a small population, and it also has a lot of money. Basically, the Imiratis have absolutely no desire to risk their lives in a conflict. However, as we saw in my video about the Emirates, this country wants to play in the big leagues of geopolitics.
The result, just as Saudi Arabia acquired its football teams, the UAE opened its wallet and started buying the best players, but in real life, the best players in Arma 3. This is their strategy, and mercenaries have been present in many of our videos without us even realizing it. The Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia asked Colombia to stop sending mercenaries who fight… along with the militias.
I ‘m appealing to the Colombian people. The participation of Colombian mercenaries in the Sudanese war is becoming increasingly blatant. A conflict that, in case you missed it, has generated one of the biggest humanitarian crises on the planet. The UN figures, listen up, speak of 150,000 dead, women and children kidnapped and raped, and almost 13 million people forced to flee their homes.
The worst displacement crisis in the world. The worst. And Colombians are neck-deep in all of this, supporting the proxies of the war, namely, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. War is a business. A mercenary recounts lucrative contracts, the siege of the phaser, and the training of child soldiers to go and die. But anyway, regarding the civil war in Sudan, we already have a video on the channel where we discuss it in depth.
In any case, this isn’t the only country that has appealed to the country of Fonseca, not bald and handsome. Russia denounces the high number of Colombian mercenaries in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. The Russian diplomat in Bogotá, Nikolay Tabdumatse, previously denounced that Ukraine is recruiting mercenaries in Colombia through its embassy and in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
As we would say in Castile, it’s time to talk about [ __ ], you know. The Kremlin complaining about the use of mercenaries is like Noroña complaining about bad smells. He only needed to send one of his North Koreans to make the statement. It seems they prefer human trafficking or taking prisoners out of jail to send them to the front lines.
And by the way, there are quite a few Colombians who have also ended up in the Russian army’s meat grinder. I know of relatives whose husbands and sons went to Russia because they offered more money, you know? It was about money, and when it came down to it on the battlefield, they were… Attacking Colombians with Colombians.
Yes, there are battles in Ukraine where only Spanish is spoken. [sigh] Ukrainians are going to need subtitles to understand them. What’s happening in this country is surreal. I swear, this has been the first war I’ve experienced up close, and at times I’ve even witnessed it firsthand. And it’s a story that will one day be enough for movies and books.
I hope someday I can tell you about all the surreal things I’ve seen in Ukraine. But while it’s true that Putin hasn’t recruited that many Colombians, it’s also true that he’s recruited many other Latinos, especially Cubans, as I already told you in a previous video. But in Ukraine, that is, in the Ukrainian army, Colombians are currently the largest group of foreign fighters.
We’re talking about up to 25% of the total, one in four. I mean, in KIF there are even Colombian flags at the makeshift memorials to honor the fallen. That said, both The presence of foreigners at large in Ukraine also has its dark side. For example, last summer, a joint operation by Mexican and Ukrainian intelligence uncovered a plan by drug cartels to send their members to Ukraine for drone warfare training.
Yes, you heard right. Criminals were recruiting Colombian mercenaries returning from the war in Ukraine to use drones for terrorist purposes. Armed groups are increasingly incorporating drones into their confrontations. Since 2024, 449 attacks against law enforcement using these devices have been recorded. And be warned, because this has a very perverse logic.
For a Mexican cartel, a Colombian veteran of Ukraine is the perfect shortcut to military knowledge they couldn’t otherwise acquire: FPVs, suicide drones, mines, fortifications, and they even speak the same language. And what’s worse, many of these people, after surviving the hell of Ukraine, might go on to work for the cartels.
so that the guerrillas and narco-guerrillas would go from being the Hearts of Iron to the Crusader Kings. Gustavo Petro’s government is the first administration that has said it will take this issue very seriously. In fact, they have signed the international treaty that prohibits mercenaries. The problem, well, I think you can already imagine, is that, like almost everything the UN does, it’s useless.
Consider this: only about 38 states have ratified this convention, and none of the major ones— I mean, not the United States, not Russia, not China, not France, not the United Kingdom, not one. And signing papers is useless if you don’t change what’s happening inside. That is, the system that continues to push Colombia toward inequality and violence.
Colombia’s illegal armed groups grew during Petro’s administration, financed by drug trafficking, illicit gold mining, and, taking advantage of the ceasefires to seek peace agreements, Colombia’s illegal armed groups increased their membership by 45% and expanded their reach. its territorial control in the last four years.
And I’ll give you another statistic so you can put a face to what’s coming. Back in 2021, around 10,000 Colombian soldiers were retiring every year. Every single year. But this number is going to increase. Why? Well, because in the first decade of the 2000s, thanks to Plan Colombia—remember that plan where the United States sent military aid?—the army grew by 250,000 men.
In case you’re not keeping up with the math, the early 2000s is 20 years ago. Yes, it hurt to do the calculation too. We’re getting older, but the important thing is this. Those 20 years are exactly the time needed for that entire generation to start retiring en masse. And nothing suggests that the second oldest profession in the world is going to be short of work.
An old and controversial doctrine that dates back to when the first British colonies were founded in America in the 15th century maintains that the United States is A nation destined to expand its territory and dominion. The so-called Manifest Destiny is an idea that has circulated for centuries, but it has returned with force after Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
So, this national security strategy includes what has been called the Trump coronary to the Monroe Doctrine. What does it consist of? Well, a much tougher version of the fight against drugs and crime throughout the Americas. A huge, almost impossible objective. And if we go by history, we already know what the United States does when it wants to get involved and deploy troops. Use mercenaries.
Don’t believe me? Well, we have a very recent example. The Trump administration is preparing to use private military contractors to protect oil and energy assets in Venezuela instead of deploying US troops, according to two sources familiar with the plans. I don’t think it will surprise you if I tell you that Trump is delighted with the idea of US companies hiring their own private security.
Two birds with one stone: it helps stabilize Venezuela, and besides, Uncle Sam doesn’t spend a dime. Public treasury. A scenario in which Colombian mercenaries are bound to be in higher demand for obvious reasons. One, they’re right next door. Two, they’re used to fighting in the jungle. And three, they know the groups operating in Venezuela inside and out, mainly because they also operate in Colombia.
So, at this point, it’s your turn. Do you think there’s a solution to the [cough] mercenary problem in Colombia, or is a solution needed? Keep in mind, it’s also a very lucrative industry. Will we continue to see Colombians fighting all over the world, or will they be replaced by other nationalities? You can leave your answer in the comments, and as always, don’t forget that here at Solo Fonseca we release new videos every week.
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Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
