US Army attack on the coast of Venezuela affects fishing communities

Güiria, Venezuela (AP) – In the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela, an idyllic section of the Caribbean coast is an open secret that ships that start from their ports can transport drugs or fish.

Residents claim to ignore who is the owner of the illegal burden, but they know when the business goes well because people go out to eat, the hair and nails fix and buy meat. They also admit that none of this has happened since the United States Army attacked one of those ships earlier this month.

Few details are known about the deadly attack released on September 2 against a ship that, according to President Donald Trump’s government, departed from Venezuela by transporting drugs and 11 members of the band of Aragua, which has fed speculation. Peninsula fishermen told The Associated Press that they do not completely blame those who enter illegal trade, since, today, living only fishing in Venezuela is to accept a life of poverty.

The fishery ships of the impressive peninsula have been reconfigured to smuggle migrants, traffic human, wildlife and fuel. These so -called “other businesses” have flourished from the economic crisis that began in Venezuela a decade ago.

“There is no revolution here,” said Retiree Alberto Díaz, referring to the self -styled socialist movement that the deceased Hugo Chávez launched in Venezuela in 1999 with the promise of improving the life of the poor using the country’s oil. “Here what there is hunger, sacrifice, pure pain.”

While walking through the neighborhood of Güiria, where one of the victims of the attack lived, Díaz lamented the decline of the local fishing industry, which once offered jobs with decent wages and a way so that people could “feel happy.”

Speculations abound

Speculations about the attack continue to circulate in Venezuela, and people ask who died and if their deaths are part of a plan to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro. Some people have questioned the statements of their government that the video of the attack, published by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, was created with artificial intelligence and that a ship of that size cannot be ventured on the high seas.

But the fishermen of the Peninsula, who know their trade, immediately recognized some characteristics of the video ship. They said it was a 12 -meter long fishing boat known in Venezuela as “Peñero” with four powerful and expensive engines. They estimate that each of them had at least 200 horsepower, a power five times greater than that typically used in local rocks.

“Fishing does not give to buy such an engine,” said fisherman Junior González during a break while repairing a ship along the coast of Guaca. Only a handful of the approximately two dozen sardine processing plants continue to function in this community after years of overweight, failed restoration and the general crisis of the country.

González explained that the engines he uses cost between $ 4,000 and $ 5,000, while one of the type required to reach Trinidad and Tobago – the alleged destination of the attacked ship – is sold for $ 15,000 to $ 20,000.

“Small -scale drug traffickers”

The Trump government has not yet explained how the army evaluated the load of the ship and determined the alleged affiliation of the passengers to the band before the attack. Last week, national security officials told members of the Congress that the boat was attacked several times after changing course.

The attack, which occurred after an accumulation of US maritime forces in the Caribbean, marked a paradigm shift in the way in which the United States is willing to combat drug trafficking in the western hemisphere. The country’s army failed three other people on Monday after attacking a second ship that, according to Trump, transported drugs from Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, said that the authorities already investigate the first attack, but has not provided more details. He, Maduro and other government officials have repeatedly said that Venezuela is not a key participant in global drug trafficking.

Several fishermen and a local leader who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from the Maduro government told the AP that the ship attacked on September 2 departed from Venezuela from San Juan de Unare, another fishing community on the north coast of the Peninsula. They said that men on board were from that city, as well as Güiria.

While some fishermen complement their income with drug trafficking for despair, Christopher Sabatini, a researcher at Chatham House in London, said the Trump government “has completely exaggerated” the scope of their illegal activities when linking them with the Venezuelan band Train de Aragua and considering them an immediate threat to the United States.

“If you look (the ships), they could never make the Caribbean trip to the United States,” he said. “These are small -scale fishermen – and now, small -scale drug traffickers – that do not represent the core of the problem.”

Everyone knows what happened

On Sunday, González, his father and his brothers were the only fishermen on the coast, dotted with tied ships, since the recent policy changes have restricted the frequency with which crews can fish sardines. In communities such as Guaca and the Morro of Puerto Santo, the new rules could reduce the income of a fisherman to less than $ 100 per month, which is not enough to cover a week of groceries in the current economy of Venezuela.

Drug trafficking, in contrast, pays thousands at once.

“He has no food this week,” said Kira Torres, pointing to a member of her husband’s fishing crew, who returned last week to El Morro de Puerto Santo without sardines, so they did not earn money.

Torres said the community has leaders of the ruling party that coordinate the delivery of government subsidies, including food rations. However, they have not received them in months.

She admitted that some Peninsula fishermen resort to drug trafficking by “easy money), but ultimately, they do it because they have no other option.

“Many make the mistake because they have a lot of need,” said Torres, pointing out reasons such as hunger or having a sick relative. “The need forces everything, and since the government does not come here to help, how does one do?”

The impact of illegal trade in different parts of the Peninsula is clear: business quickly deducts that drug trafficking succeeded when people suddenly pay for goods and services with US dollars and euros. They buy more than a handful of things in convenience stores and give themselves the pleasure of eating a hamburger with fries.

The owner of a restaurant and bakery, Jean Carlos Sucre, has noticed this pattern in Güiria and is concerned about the future. He points out that the recent American attack has only worsened the “suffocating” conditions that already faces its business due to the galloping inflation of Venezuela, which has caused a significant fall in its weekly sales.

“The one who is working illegally is not sailing because of the fear that the gringos will grab it, I imagine. Here everyone knows what happened, but very few speak … This week I sold ten hamburgers of the 90s I sold (before the attack).”

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This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.