Sicarios from Central America have seen opportunity in Mexico. Now they’re coming from Colombia.

Mexican drug cartels continue to use foreign mercenaries to recruit them into their criminal activities in the country. The most recent case occurred on May 30, when at least 10 former Colombian military personnel were arrested following an attack on Mexican soldiers in Los Reyes, Michoacán, where a landmine claimed the lives of 10 soldiers.

“A bomb just exploded against the Mexican Army in Michoacán, resulting in some deaths. The Army went and captured the possible perpetrators of the explosive, most of whom are former Colombian military personnel,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro confirmed a week ago. “We are exporting mercenaries to the mafia; the mafia is contracting Colombian violence.”

This Tuesday, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, stated that they have detected a pattern in which organized crime organizations, primarily the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and in some cases, but rarely, the Sinaloa Cartel, are recruiting foreigners.

“A pattern of recruitment of this type of profile by criminal groups in our country has been detected, so we are already communicating and coordinating with Colombian authorities to prevent these recruitment activities from continuing,” said the security official.
García Harfuch said that according to the exchange of information with Colombian authorities, among those detained in that country were nine former military personnel and three civilians with military training in the use of weapons. “There are nine former military personnel and three people with military training, but those detained by the Serena are not active military personnel,” said the federal official.

Harfuch clarified that these detained former Colombian military personnel entered through Mexico City International Airport; however, he added that in coordination with Colombian authorities, checkpoints have been implemented and at least 69 people have already been returned after interrogation. Some confessed that they had indeed been “copied by some criminal groups, who were immediately rejected.”

However, it’s not just the military. Since last March, the Colombian President has denounced that dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) act as a private army for Mexican drug cartels.