New pirates of the Caribbean – BBC News Ukraine

While Venezuela's economy collapses, the wave of anarchy covers the southern part of the Caribbean. This is the coast of Trinidad and Tobago. According to journalist Colin Freeman, local fishermen live in fear of Venezuelan pirates exchanging arms and drugs for basic necessities.

If your vision of a tropical paradise is based on what you saw in tourist brochures, the west coast of Trinidad will not be disappointing. Paradise beaches and coconut trees? There is a lot here. Sleeping villages, full of fishermen sleeping under palm trees? And that's it. Relaxed atmosphere? Hmm … Actually, no

Just take a closer look at some villages like Fullarton and you'll notice that some things seem inappropriate. First, why do so many fishermen have 200 horsepower engines on their boats while 75, is more than enough?

The answer is simple, says fisherman Jerry Padarat from his beach hammock, "The pirates are in the area."

"We are all afraid now," he says. "In the village of about 50 fishermen who have had problems with them, they fly or fly or steal.Our only chance is to catch fish in the dark so they do not see us, or to buy big engines so we can beat them. "

Stay … Pirates? In the Caribbean? It was 300 years ago, is not it? At a time when people such as Black Beard and Kaliko Jack posed a real threat in these waters. Until now, the only pirate I saw in Trinidad was the image of Captain Henry Morgan. On a bottle of rum.

Jerry Padorat thinks very differently. He shows his hand to the sea, where a different coast can be seen through much of the dirty brown water. It is the mainland of Venezuela, which is 20 km from Trinidad to the nearest point.

In a happier time, ferries were brought to Trinidad by groups of wealthy Venezuelan tourists.

Most pirates are former fishermen used to fishing for tuna, octopus and shrimp in the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea. However, under the reign of the late President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the fishing industry has accompanied a good, catastrophic nationalization program, which has driven many companies to leave the country . It is However, they have access to boats and weapons easy to find in the streets of Venezuela, where anarchy reigns more often.

Unfortunately, this reminds us of the proliferation of piracy in Somalia ten years ago, where unemployed fishermen were taking up arms to hunt on a ship that has passed by the coast of a country that was in a state of chaos. But while Somali pirates hunted big cargo ships, Venezuelan pirates usually attacked other Trinidad fishermen, who were not much richer than them.

One of their victims was Candy Edwards, whom I met. in the village of Ikacos, where long wooden pyrotechnics lay on the beach. He went fishing with two friends when they stopped the men's boat with automatic machines.

"They jumped on board and tied us up," he said. "Then they took us to Venezuela and locked us up in a cage in some kind of forest and demanded a ransom of $ 35,000 to free us." The community here in Iquacos collected money and sent us back seven days later, but I was so scared that they did not go back to sea during the year. "

We hear a lot of similar stories these days on the southwest coast of Trinidad, but kidnappings and robberies are not the only ones to worry people. bring cocaine and weapons to Trinidad, fueled by murderous gangs on the island.Of course, the gang problem has existed for nearly two decades and, if you do not accidentally get lost in the slums of the capital, Trinidad and Tobago, the port of Spain, it is unlikely you will see it, but the more Trinidad affects the anarchy that is spreading from Venezuela, the more the situation will deteriorate on the island.

Again, not all fishermen in Trinidad are absolutely innocent victims. My local assistant and I had a nervous and expressive look when we asked for one hacking abduction that had taken place a few days earlier.

"I can not talk to you now, too many people are watching," murmured a woman. She explained everything later on her phone.

"This kidnapping was due to the money of the drug that someone owed to cartels," she said. "The drug problem worsens – at the time you left, the boom of the boat with drugs"

I can not say that I was sad about it. to have missed this sensational news. Enough people in Fullerton thought wrongly that I was a policeman. But that explains the feeling of nervous tension. And then I started thinking about these 200 horsepower fishing boats. Did they really only have to escape the pirates? Or are they used for other activities?