Although the Colombian military successfully rescued 15 hostages last week from Marxist rebels by posing as humanitarian-aid workers, the impersonation could pose future harm to actual humanitarian-aid workers, reports the online daily-news site MinnPost.com.

Michael Barnett, a professor who teaches classes on humanitarianism at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, said the impersonation would make life more difficult for aid workers, as combatants in Colombia may now suspect them of actually being members of the military or friendly with the government.

“I don’t want to be melodramatic,” Barnett said. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that aid workers are going to get shot. But it does mean that you’re going to have a lot more difficult time getting access to populations at risk. It does mean you’ve got to go through a lot more hoops. It means that you probably have to go through more searches and more background checks.”