Due to the crisis in Venezuela, there are more and more pirates in Caribbean waters

Piracy is not a new phenomenon in Caribbean watersnor on the Venezuelan coast. Centuries ago, attacks by criminals on ships carrying treasure or important personalities were commonplace.

With the consolidation of national states and the improvement of security features, the pirates are gone. However, the economic and social collapse of Venezuela resulted in what seemed impossible: the return of this threat.

Those who suffer the most are the people of Trinidad, the largest and most populous of Trinidad and Tobago, which is attached to the northeast coast of Venezuela. Those who cross the waters of the Gulf of Paria – shared by both countries – become habitual targets of the new pirates.

"There are about 50 fishermen in the city who have had friction with them, whether they are stolen or kidnapped. Our only possibility is to fish in the dark, so that they do not see us or buy bigger engines to be able to go faster than them, "said the fisherman Trinidadian Gerry Padarath in an interview at BBC. "We are all afraid of them now."

Many of these criminals were also fishermen years ago. But The nationalization policy promoted by the governments of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro has destroyed the industry.

When the companies that hired them closed, the economic meltdown was added. Hyperinflation and widespread scarcity have led some people to seek alternative livelihoods.

They already had the boats and the waters of the Caribbean knew them perfectly. They just lacked weapons, one of the few things that is not uncommon in Venezuela where organized crime continues to grow.

Candy Edwards is another victim who spoke with the British network. Some time ago, he was fishing in the area with two friends when he was intercepted by Venezuelan pirates.

"They got on board and tied us up, and then they took us to Venezuela and locked us in a cage in a forest.. They asked for a ransom of $ 35,000 to free us. The community here in Icacos (Trinidad) gathered what it could and released us after seven days. But I was so scared that I did not go back to the sea for a year, "he said.

According to a report on piracy in the world prepared by the NGO One Earth Future, in 2017, 71 badaults of this type were recorded in the Caribbean, most of them on the Venezuelan coast. This represents an increase of 163% over the 27 of 2016.

In the "Ocean Beyond Piracy" report, The Oceans Beyond Piracy the NGO compares this situation with that experienced in Somalia after the civil war and famines. Groups of former fishermen and small smugglers engaged in piracy of large cargo ships transiting through the Horn of Africa.

Only the intervention of the cruisers of the US Navy has temporarily interrupted the actions of these buccaneers of the twenty-first century. The situation in Venezuelan waters is not as serious as that of Somalia. In particular, because the South Americans still do not have the powerful fast boats or the weapons that the Africans had.

But they are already equipped to launch increasingly risky operations. In the last two years, piracy has been reported in Honduras, Nicaragua, Haiti and Saint Lucia. But nowhere has there been as much as on the coast of Venezuela.

The most spectacular act took place in March 2016, when a group of masked Venezuelans killed a German sailor and injured the captain of a mighty yacht in the bay of Wallilabou on the island of Saint Vincent. This is the same place where a good part of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series was shot with Johnny Depp, at the head of the cast.

The famous British businessman Sir Richard Branson, who has several large yachts in Necker, his private island, has also had the reconciliation of his fleet of several pirate ships in recent months. Their guards pushed them away.