"No women, no beer, no fiesta," a Peruvian mercenary said gloomily as he manned his post inside the Iraqi capital's ultra-protected Green Zone.
Around a thousand of his countrymen along with a handful of Chileans make up a security detail in this immense fortified sector of Baghdad, which houses the Iraqi government's offices and the US and British embassies.
The South Americans comprise a "third rung" of security, behind Iraqi regular soldiers and a unit of Georgians, members of the US-led coalition forces from the former Soviet republic.
The Peruvians are employed by the private US security firm Triple Canopy based in Virginia.
About a year ago, the Peruvians replaced the famed Nepalese Gurkhas who had served in the British army, but not because the South Americans were judged more competent. They replaced the Nepalese because they were cheaper.
A Western private security operative from a modern army -- such as an American, a Briton or a South African -- can earn US$8,000 to US$16,000 per month, one private security official said. The Gurkhas were earning around US$3,000 per month. The Peruvians earn about one-third of that.
Other firms employ Colombians, Mexicans or Panamanians. The South Americans, who are all former soldiers aged between 25 and 40, mostly come from poor, rural areas. Their missions last one year, with a break after six months for home leave.
In their position as the third line of defense, the Peruvians are not typically exposed to grave danger. Most have never left the Green Zone and some ask: "What's the Red Zone like?" in reference to the rest of Iraq.
Indeed, their primary enemy is the heat, as most are posted in exposed guard posts. Boredom is their other key enemy.
"There is nothing to do here," one man said.
"We watch television," said another. "But we'd like to be able to go out a bit at night."
PHISHING: The con might appear convincing, as the scam e-mails can coincide with genuine messages from Apple saying you have run out of storage For a while you have been getting messages from Apple saying “your iCloud storage is full.” They say you have exceeded your storage plan, so documents are no longer being backed up, and photos you take are not being uploaded. You have been resisting Apple’s efforts to get you to pay a minimum of ￡0.99 (US$1.33) a month for more storage, but it seems that you cannot keep putting off the inevitable: You have received an e-mail which says your iCloud account has been blocked, and your photos and videos would be deleted very soon. To keep them you need
The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery was not readily available to verify these claims. The demolitions came after Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz called for the destruction of
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
The death toll from a shooting in western Afghanistan rose to 11 on Saturday, after gunmen targeted civilians at a picnic spot in Herat, the provincial authority said. Bullet marks were visible on a wall of the Sayed Mohammad Agha Shia shrine, while bloodstains marked a blanket abandoned at the scene. “Eleven people have been recorded dead and eight others wounded from Friday’s incident, with the condition of two of the wounded reported as critical,” Herat’s information office said in a statement. The update raises a toll of seven killed provided on Friday by the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs
RSS