December 8th, 2016 — The pirates had killed Flaco Marval’s brother and two cousins, and word was they were coming for the rest of the family.
So the skinny 17-year-old and the other Marval men ran to grab the guns they’d soldered together from kitchen pipes, smoked an acrid-smelling drug to boost their energy, and went out into the night to patrol the sandy village streets. Flaco was flying high.
“We just have to kill these thugs, and then we can go back to fishing like we always did,” he said.
Pirates are terrorizing the coastal state of Sucre, once home to the world’s fourth-largest tuna fleet and a thriving fishing industry.
That trade has collapsed, along with virtually every industry across Venezuela. Gangs of out-of-work fishermen prey upon those who still venture out into the open sea, stealing their catch and motors, tying them up, throwing them overboard, and sometimes shooting them. The robberies have taken place daily this year, and dozens of fishermen have died.
“People can’t make a living fishing anymore, so they’re using their boats for the options that remain: smuggling gas, running drugs and piracy,” said Jose Antonio Garcia, leader of the state’s largest union.