Private company
Defion Internacional
Private Military Contractor based out of Lima, Peru
Defion Internacional is a Lima, Peru based Private Military Company that recruits and trains security personnel, logistics personnel, administrative personnel and professional services personnel to provide worldwide services. It has offices in Dubai, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Iraq. Their main contracts have been with Triple Canopy, Inc. and the U.S. Department of State involving the war in Iraq.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
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Defion Internacional is a Lima, Peru based Private Military Company that recruits and trains security personnel, logistics personnel, administrative personnel and professional services personnel to provide worldwide services. It has offices in Dubai, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Iraq. Their main contracts have been with Triple Canopy, Inc. and the U.S. Department of State involving the war in Iraq. They employ static guard forces, logistical and administrative professionals along with English professors for their American contracts.2
Controversies and legal
Controversy
Contracts
Defion Internacional recruits, vets and trains (when needed) personnel on a global level for different companies.
Defion Internacional came on the personnel services scene by recruiting and training security guards for Triple Canopy contracts, involving the war in Iraq. These contracts have placed up to 3,000 security guards in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Some guards were paid as little as $1000 a month. The security guards were also provided with transportation, housing, food, medical care and life insurance. Triple Canopy no longer uses Defion's personnel services.
Investigations
The Secretary of Foreign Relations in Peru, Ambassador Jorge Lazaro, met with Defion President/CEO Mr.Juan Manuel Duran and Vice President M. Villacruces, two of Defion Internacional's representatives, to investigate. The Ambassador says that there are loop holes in the Peruvian laws which allows their citizens to work abroad as security guards in a conflict zone. A United Nations working group also visited Peru and interviewed Mr. Duran.
Contracts before these with the U.S. involving traveling to the sites had been reviewed and publicised by the media at the time and the Peruvian travelers were being advised by Ministry of Foreign Affairs specialists. There have not been any complaints from the Peruvian government or the workers. The media in Peru interviewed security guards returning from Iraq and the security guards reported being pleased with the work and the majority have returned to work for their third year.
Juan Manuel Duran says that the security guards work in the Green Zone, and at the time of the reports, the bombings and attacks had occurred outside of that area; accordingly, none of the hired Peruvians were affected.
The Andean Commission of Jurists director, Enrique Bernales Ballesteros, says that the contracts are illegal due to United States' laws, and that the Geneva Convention prohibits the hiring of people to involve them in foreign conflict. However, this claim was refuted by constitutional lawyers in a subsequent a Congressional investigation.
From Wikipedia’s article on Defion Internacional, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
Links
- WikipediaDefion Internacional
- WikidataQ5251643
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1WikidataDefion Internacional on Wikidata
- 2WikipediaDefion Internacional on Wikipedia
- 3