IRAQ: Recruiting in Honduras for Private Security in Iraq

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras-- Honduras' Labor Ministry announced an
offer on Tuesday it had been asked to relay by a U.S. firm willing to
pay comparatively high salaries to recruit 2,000 Hondurans to work as
security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assistant Labor Minister Africo Madrid said the company, Triple
Canopy, had contacted the government, saying it wanted Hondurans with
military training and was willing to pay 10 times the going rate for
similar jobs in Honduras.

"The company Triple Canopy contacted us to recruit Hondurans with
military or security training, to take them to Iraq or Afghanistan,"
Madrid said.

"The company requires specialized personnel to work as bodyguards for
high-level executives in those countries," he told reporters.

The firm is offering salaries of $2,500 to $4,000 per month. In
Honduras, a security guard usual makes $250 per month or less.

Madrid reported that "few men have shown interest so far in this
offer, and we suppose that is a result of the war situations in both
these nations."

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