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<a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1102-02.htm" eudora="autourl">
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/1102-02.htm<br>
</a>Published on Wednesday, November 2, 2005 by Inter Press Service
<br><br>
Foreign Veterans, Police Recruited for Iraq by U.S. Contractors <br><br>
by Ángel Páez<br><br>
<br>
LIMA, Peru - "Piraña", a former Peruvian army sergeant who
fought the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) Maoist guerrillas in the
jungles of Peru in the 1990s, decided at the last minute not to travel to
Iraq with around 200 former members of the military and police recruited
by the U.S.-based private security firm Triple Canopy. <br><br>
"My mom convinced me not to go," Piraña told IPS on condition
of anonymity. "She told me she would prefer to see me poor but alive
rather than dead for a handful of dollars." <br><br>
Complaints from the families of former soldiers and police officers hired
to work as security personnel in Iraq by private military contractors
triggered a scandal in Peru. <br><br>
"There is no work here, and when you do find a job, you earn
pathetically low wages. I'm a factory watchman, and I earn the equivalent
of eight dollars for a 12-hour day. To work in Iraq they were going to
pay me 35 dollars a day, plus other benefits. It was really tempting,
despite the risks," said Piraña, 29. <br><br>
"I have three kids, and my wife helps out selling food in the
street, but we just don't earn enough. I saw the ad in the newspaper and
applied. They quickly accepted me because of my combat experience in the
army. I went through the training and everything, but my mom found out
and persuaded me to change my mind," he added. <br><br>
Ads seeking former members of the armed forces and police officers
interested in working as security personnel in exchange for
"excellent wages" began to appear in newspapers in Lima last
August. Hundreds of people applied. <br><br>
The ads were run by Triple Canopy, a private security and special
operations firm founded in 2003 in the state of Illinois by former
members of the U.S. army's elite Delta Force. Thanks to the company's
contacts in the George W. Bush administration, it quickly won lucrative
contracts with the State Department. <br><br>
The firm provides bodyguard and site security services to U.S.
infrastructure and personnel involved in the reconstruction of Iraq,
which has been occupied by the United States since March 2003. <br><br>
The growth of Triple Canopy reflects the boom currently enjoyed by
"private armies" and the outsourcing of war. <br><br>
One of Triple Canopy's first contracts was a six-month 90-million dollar
deal to protect a dozen offices of the Iraqi interim government, which
are frequent targets of attacks by the resistance to the U.S. invasion
and occupation. <br><br>
"We don't hire mercenaries," said Jorge Mendoza, manager of the
local company Gun Supply, which provided the training to 200 Peruvians on
behalf of Triple Canopy. <br><br>
"These are people with experience in security missions, who know how
to handle weapons, but they aren't going to fight in Iraq. Of course it's
very dangerous work, but no one forced them to take the job. Triple
Canopy guarantees them insurance and indemnification in case of
accidents, attacks or death," he told IPS. <br><br>
"They are paid in accordance with the job they are going to do. The
salaries go up to 50 dollars a day," added Mendoza. <br><br>
Triple Canopy has also hired former soldiers and police officers in El
Salvador, Colombia and Chile, although they are paid more than the wages
promised the Peruvians. <br><br>
That did not deter the 380 Peruvians who have already flown to Iraq,
however. <br><br>
Families of Peruvians recruited by Triple Canopy complained about the
terms under which their husbands, sons or brothers were hired. <br><br>
For example, anyone wanting to sue the firm would have to do so in a
court in Virginia, because the new recruits' contracts were signed under
the laws of that state, where the company relocated its headquarters in
June, "to be closer to our main customer, the U.S. government,"
according to a press release on the Triple Canopy web site. <br><br>
A copy of the contract, obtained by IPS, shows that the Peruvians are
being hired for one year, from Oct. 15, 2005 to Oct. 14, 2006. It also
stipulates that neither Triple Canopy nor the U.S. Government are
responsible in case the employees are injured or killed in the line of
duty. <br><br>
The contract also states that the insurance policy covering the company's
personnel will not provide coverage in case of an incident that occurs
when employees are off-duty or outside their place of work. If employees
are attacked by insurgents at home, for instance, they will receive no
compensation. <br><br>
Triple Canopy spokespersons said the Peruvians would be working in the
heavily fortified "Green Zone" in Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi
government offices are located. The high security area has been targeted
by numerous rebel attacks. <br><br>
"I believe the training, of no more than 15 days, was insufficient,
but nearly all of them went to Iraq anyway," said Piraña. <br><br>
"They were in a hurry to send the people over, they wanted
everything to move really fast," said the former sergeant, who
returned to his job as a watchman. <br><br>
The complaints by the families of the new private security recruits
forced the Peruvian Foreign Ministry to act. Ambassador Jorge Lázaro, in
charge of Offices of Peruvian Communities Abroad, announced that he had
launched an investigation to determine whether the contracts violated the
rights of the new recruits. <br><br>
"Peruvians are free to work wherever they want, but the government
must ensure that the contracts respect the international agreements to
which the state is a signatory," Lázaro said in a news briefing.
<br><br>
The press, meanwhile, reported that 200 of the Triple Canopy recruits had
been trained in FAME, the army's weapons and munitions factory. <br><br>
According to a contract between the army and Gun Supply, to which IPS had
access, the army provided the trainers with the ammunition needed for
target practice. <br><br>
The army, which has suffered drastic budget cuts, accepted the
arrangement with Gun Supply, which represents Triple Canopy in Lima, as a
means of obtaining much needed cash. <br><br>
The 150,000 dollar deal was approved by army commander General Luis
Muñoz, who apparently did not consult either the Defense Ministry or the
Foreign Ministry - a move that could cost the general his post. <br><br>
A parliamentary commission summoned Defense Minister Marciano Rengifo,
who admitted that the contract with Gun Supply was a mistake and that he
had ordered an investigation into the matter to identify who was
responsible. <br><br>
But despite the scandal, the arrangement was not canceled. <br><br>
Gun Supply's Mendoza told IPS that the firm had been commissioned by
Triple Canopy to hire another 600 former soldiers and police officers.
"That is what we have been asked to do. At least for the time being,
the army has not tried to cancel the contract. If it does, there will be
a penalty." <br><br>
The companies involved in the deal have interesting contacts in Peru. The
owner of Gun Supply is a state contractor who has sold ammunition to
President Alejandro Toledo's personal bodyguard detail. He is also the
son of the security chief at the U.S. Embassy in Lima. <br><br>
Gesegur, another company contracted by Triple Canopy to recruit security
personnel in Peru, is also a well-known state contractor, with ties to
the National Intelligence Service (SIN). <br><br>
During the regime of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), SIN was headed by the
then president's powerful security chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, who is in
prison today and facing trial for a number of crimes involving a vast
network of corruption that he orchestrated during the Fujimori years.
<br><br>
Gesegur also had ties to the National Intelligence Council, which
replaced SIN after Toledo took office. <br><br>
"I'm a weapons specialist with several years of combat experience; I
was perfect for the job," said Piraña. "But if I left and I was
killed, my children would have been left up in the air. I can ensure you
it wasn't cowardice. I'm not afraid of war. My mom just made me realize
it's more important to stay alive." <br><br>
Mendoza said the government has not ordered Gun Supply to stop training
Peruvians to be sent to Iraq. "They recognize that it's a job
opportunity. You take it or leave it, it's as simple as that. One
thousand dollars a month in Peru is good money." <br><br>
Copyright © 2005 IPS-Inter Press Service <br>
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