US military strike off the coast of Venezuela disrupts life in impoverished fishing communities

GÜIRIA, Venezuela (AP) — On Venezuela’s Paria Peninsula, an idyllic stretch of Caribbean coast, it is an open secret that boats departing from its ports transport both drugs and fish.

Residents claim not to know who owns the illegal cargo, but they can tell when business is doing well because people eat out, get their hair and nails done and buy expensive meat. They also admit that none of this has happened since the U.S. military struck on one of those boats earlier this month.

Few details are known about the deadly Sept. 2 strike on a boat the Trump administration claims departed Venezuela carrying drugs and 11 members of the Tren de Aragua gang, fueling speculation. Fishermen in the peninsula told The Associated Press they do not entirely blame those who enter the illegal trade, as living off fishing alone in Venezuela today is to accept a life of poverty.

Fishing boats in the breathtaking peninsula have been repurposed to smuggle migrants, traffic humans, wildlife and fuel. These so-called “other businesses” have flourished since Venezuela’s economic collapse a decade ago.

“There is no revolution here,” said retiree Alberto Díaz, referring to the self-described socialist movement that the late Hugo Chávez launched in Venezuela in 1999 with the promise of improving the lives of the poor using the country’s oil. “What there is here is hunger, sacrifice, pure pain.”

Walking through the Güiria neighborhood of one of the strike’s victims, Díaz lamented the decline of the local fishing industry, which once offered jobs with living wages and a way for people “to be happy.”

Speculation abounds

Speculation over the strike is still going around Venezuela, with people wondering who died and whether their deaths are part of a plan to topple President Nicolás Maduro. Some have questioned their government’s assertions that a video of the strike released by U.S. President Donald Trump was created with artificial intelligence and that a boat of that size cannot venture into the high seas.

But fishermen in the peninsula, who know their craft, immediately recognized some characteristics of the boat from the video. They said it was a 12-meter-long fishing boat known in Venezuela as “peñero” with four powerful and expensive motors. They estimated the engines were at least 200 horsepower each, a force five times more powerful than that typically used on local peñeros.

“Fishing doesn’t pay enough to buy a motor like that,” said fisherman Junior González, taking a break from repairing a boat along the shore of Guaca. Only a handful of roughly two dozen sardine processing plants still operate in this community following years of overfishing, failed restoration and the country’s overarching crisis.

González explained that the motors he uses run between $4,000 and $5,000 each, while one of those needed to reach Trinidad and Tobago — the suspected destination of the targeted boat — sell for $15,000 to $20,000.

‘Small-scale traffickers’

The Trump administration has yet to explain how the military assessed the boat’s cargo and determined the passengers’ alleged gang affiliation before the attack. National security officials told members of Congress last week that the boat was fired on multiple times after it had changed course.

The strike, which followed a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean, marked a paradigm shift in how the U.S. is willing to combat drug trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. The U.S. military killed three other people Monday after striking a second vessel that Trump said was carrying drugs from Venezuela.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has said authorities are investigating the first strike but has not provided further details. He, Maduro and other government officials have repeatedly said Venezuela is not a key player in global drug trafficking.

Several fishermen and a local leader who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from Maduro’s government told AP the boat targeted on Sept. 2 departed Venezuela from San Juan de Unare, another fishing community on the northern coast of the peninsula. They said the men aboard hailed from that town as well as Güiria.

While some fishermen supplement their income with drug trafficking out of desperation, Christopher Sabatini, a research fellow at the Chatham House in London, said the Trump administration “has completely exaggerated” the scope of their illicit activities by linking them to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and deeming them an immediate threat to the U.S.

“If you look at (the boats), these could never make the journey all the way up the Caribbean to the United States,” Sabatini said. “These are small-scale fishermen — and now small-scale drug traffickers — that don’t represent the crux of the issue.”

Hundreds versus thousands of dollars

On Sunday, González, his father and siblings were the only fishermen on the shore dotted by moored boats as recent policy changes have restricted how often crews can fish for sardines. In communities like Guaca and El Morro de Puerto Santo, the new rules could drop a fisherman’s income below $100 a month, which isn’t enough to cover a week of groceries under Venezuela’s current economy.

Drug running, in contrast, pays thousands at once.

“He doesn’t have food this week,” Kira Torres said, pointing to a member of her husband’s fishing crew, which had returned to El Morro de Puerto Santo last week without any sardines, so they earned no money.

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

She conceded that some fishermen in the peninsula turn to drug running for “easy money,” but ultimately, they do it because they have no other choice.

“Many make the mistake because they are in dire need,” Torres said, pointing at reasons like hunger or having a sick relative. “Need forces them to do anything, and since the government doesn’t come here to help, what is one supposed to do?”

The impact of the illegal trade in parts of the peninsula is clear: businesses quickly deduce a successful drug run when people suddenly pay for goods and services with crisp U.S. dollar and euro bills. They buy more than a handful of things at convenience stores and treat themselves to a burger and fries.

Restaurant and bakery owner Jean Carlos Sucre has noticed this pattern in Güiria and is worried about the future. He said the recent U.S. strike has only worsened the “asphyxiating” conditions already facing his business due to Venezuela’s soaring inflation — leading to a significant drop in his weekly sales.

“Those who are working illegally aren’t setting sail for fear of being caught by the gringos, I imagine,” Sucre said. “Everyone here knows what happened, but very few talk. This week I sold 10 hamburgers out of the 90 I was selling (before the strike).”

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