Sixty percent of the “white tsunami” of cocaine flooding Europe and the United States comes from Colombia. Always out to appropriate the most modern technology and techniques, Mexican and Colombian drug gangs are sending fighters to Ukraine “to learn First Person View (FPV) drone tactics—and using that knowledge in deadly new ways back home,” writes the [Danish website Dagens.com on Aug. 27.](https://www.dagens.com/technology/cartels-are-learning-drone-warfare-in-ukraine-then-taking-it-home The higher-level control of both the Ukraine fighters, as well as the Colombian and Mexican narco killers—especially in the British and American intelligence services deployed by Anglo-American financial interests—is a matter that the Dagens.com article doesn’t take up, but warrants serious investigation.
Ukraine says 20,000 international mercenaries have joined its ranks. They come from the nearby Caucasus and as far afield as the Indian Subcontinent, East Asia and South America. They are different from Russian private military company Wagner, the soldiers North Korea recently sent to fight for Russia against Ukraine, and U.S. contractor Blackwater, founded by mercenary tycoon Erik Prince. The last often operate as extensions of their governments’ foreign policies. The “only-for-profit” ones are even worse.
Colombia has probably become the largest exporter of mercenaries. “Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine’s International Legion of Territorial Defense has opened its doors to volunteers from around the world, including dozens, if not hundreds, of former Colombian military personnel,” writes Radio France International. “One event that highlighted this phenomenon was the arrest of two Colombians, returning from Ukraine during a stopover in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2024.” They were sent to Moscow where they were imprisoned.
“Young former soldiers and former officers, do not sell yourselves out. Fight for your homeland, do not die in foreign wars,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro insisted on Aug. 17, 2025, on X. He was responding to a message from Sudanese Prime Minister Kamil Idris, addressed to Colombians, calling for an end to Colombian mercenaries in Darfur and more generally in Sudan.
