Jalisco Cartel Using Fake Bodyguard Job Ads to Recruit Former Colombian Soldiers to Produce Landmines

The Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) is actively recruiting Colombian soldiers in order to handle the installation and production of explosives, more concretely landmines, according to testimony from a former Colombian soldier.

The former member of Colombia's armed forces was allegedly recruited by the Jalisco cartel in 2023. Known as "El Pascual," the former soldier spent six years in the Colombian military before being offered a bodyguard and private escort job in Mexico.

According to the report by Mexican news outlet Animal Político, El Pascual was approached by a current member of Colombia's armed forces that offered him about $1,700 to work as a security guard in Mexico.

"I saw an opening online where they were offering to cover for housing and for personal and travel expenses. It was a very attractive offer," El Pascual told Animal Político. "I had all the qualifications they were looking for and I was told that was enough to work for the company."

A week after being contacted, El Pascual traveled to Guadalajara, Jalisco, before he was taken to another property in the state where other former Colombian soldiers were also being held. According to his testimony, the individuals that transported him gave the recruited soldiers a camouflage shirt, a water bottle and asked them to walk to a nearby mountain.

"After a few hours, they told us 'Welcome to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación,' truth is that I had been lied to but I did not realize it until we were in the mountains," he said.

According to El Pascual, the recruited soldiers were tasked by cartel members to kill civilians, mutilate farmers and to bury explosives in nearby fields. It was in one of those fields that two Mexican soldiers died last December from exploding landmines.

As El Pascual recounts, the explosives used by the Jalisco cartel are similar to those used by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). CJNG recruited Colombian soldiers due to their experience combating and detecting explosives used by the guerrilla group.

"Soldiers in Colombia have knowledge in all sorts of equipment, including explosives. We know how to activate and deactivate them, as well as how to produce them. That is why we are so sought after by Mexican cartels," El Pascual said.

Wilson Restrepo, another former Colombian soldier, told Animal Político that the explosives are made with aluminum cylinders, PVC pipes, C4 explosives, cables, batteries and remote controllers.

Restrepo added that the materials used to produce explosives are transported to Michoacán with the help of Jalisco state police members. Explosives and powder are also provided by members of the military stationed in Jalisco, according to Restrepo.