Venezuelan fishermen fear US boat attacks in Caribbean

Wilder Fernandez caught four good-sized fish in the murky water of a small bay north of Lake Maracaibo.

The contents of his net serve as dinner for the small team before going out fishing again in the evening.

But this daily task is one he's been dreading doing lately.

Fernandes, who worked as a fisherman for 13 years, confesses that he now fears his job will be fatal.

He fears he may die in these waters, not at the hands of nocturnal raiders, a threat that fishermen like him once encountered, but from attacks by foreign forces.

“It's crazy,” he said of the presence of U.S. warships, fighter jets, submarines and thousands of U.S. troops in waters off the northern coast of Venezuela.

US troops on patrol in the Caribbean are part of a military operation targeting suspected “narco-terrorists” who the White House says have ties to the Venezuelan government led by Nicolas Maduro.

The United States has carried out at least six airstrikes against ships suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean since last month, the latest on Thursday.

At least 27 people have been killed, but Thursday's strike is believed to be the first time survivors have boarded boats.

The United States has accused the deceased of drug smuggling, but has so far provided no evidence. Experts have suggested that this attack may be illegal under international law.

Tensions between the United States and Venezuela further escalated on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said he was considering an attack on the Venezuelan mainland.

He also admitted that he authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations inside Venezuela.

Mr. Fernandez knows the latest news.

His wife is trying to persuade him to leave Lake Maracaibo, although the United States claims the attack occurred thousands of kilometers from where he was fishing.

Every day she begs him to quit his fishing job. “She told me to look for another job, but I have nowhere to go,” he explains.

He did not rule out the possibility of his boat “accidentally” colliding.

“Of course it's worrying. You never know. I think about it every day,” says the father of three.

A day after BBC Mundo spoke with Fernández, President Trump announced that “six narco-terrorists” had been killed in a US strike in international waters off the coast of Venezuela.

President Trump added, “Intelligence agencies have confirmed that this vessel is trafficking drugs and is associated with an illegal narco-terrorist network.”

The Trump administration has accused Maduro of leading the Sunshine Cartel, a drug-trafficking organization, and has offered a $50 million (£37 million) reward for information leading to his arrest.

Maduro, whose legitimacy as Venezuela's president is under international challenge after a disputed election last year, denies the cartel accusations. He dismissed them as an attempt by the White House to remove him from office.

“We will never become a colony of the United States,” Venezuela's president said Thursday in his second televised speech condemning the United States in recent days.

President Maduro also claimed that the CIA had been operating in Venezuela for many years.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino warned Venezuelans to “prepare for the worst.”

Speaking after five F-35 fighter jets entered Venezuelan airspace on October 2, General Padrino said the country faced “serious threats” that could include “air strikes, naval blockades, the landing of infiltrated special forces on Venezuela's coasts and jungles, swarms of drones, sabotage, and targeted killings of leaders.”

Venezuela also condemned the “growing threat” from the United States at the United Nations Security Council last week.

In response, John Kerry, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, emphasized that Japan is “unwavering in our actions to protect our country from narco-terrorists.”

Meanwhile, attacks in the Caribbean have compromised the safety of Venezuelan fishermen, lamented Jennifer Nava, spokesperson for the El Bajo Fishermen's Council in Zulia state.

Nava told BBC Mundo that fishermen fear being caught in the crossfire between US forces and drug traffickers.

Nava argues that additional risks facing fishermen could put some of them at the mercy of drug and arms smugglers looking to recruit people to transport their illegal cargo.

“Some of these people are being approached by traffickers,” she explained, adding that the downturn in fishing could make fishermen even more vulnerable to these tactics.

There is certainly a sense of tension among the fishermen of Lake Maracaibo.

Most of the crew on two small fishing boats owned by Usbaldo Albornoz refused to work when news of the US attack broke.

Albornoz, who has been in the fishing industry for 32 years, calls the situation “alarming.”

“They didn't want to go out to sea and fish,” he told BBC Mundo on the beach in San Francisco de Zuria, on the northern shore of Lake Maracaibo, bordering the Gulf of Venezuela.

Albornoz explains that the fear of being hit by a U.S. attack is the latest in a long list of risks he and his staff face, including piracy, oil spills and declining revenues in recent years.

In a recent leaked memo sent to U.S. lawmakers, the Trump administration said it had determined it was involved in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug trafficking organizations.

The White House responded to criticism from legal experts that attacks on boats in the Caribbean were illegal, calling them “self-defense.”

But beyond the fear that many are experiencing, there is also a feeling of defiance.

In late September, hundreds of fishermen on dozens of boats took to Lake Maracaibo to show support for the Maduro government and protest the deployment of U.S. troops.

Jose Lusardo was one of them. The spokesman for the El Bajo fishermen, who have been fishing for almost 40 years, accuses the United States of “pointing a cannon at our country, Venezuela.”

He said he was not afraid and would give his life to protect his homeland.

“The Trump administration has us cornered. If we have to sacrifice our lives to protect the government, we will do it and all this fuss will end,” he says.

He insists the fishermen want “peace and work,” not war, but becomes visibly enraged when he mentions the “military barriers” he claims the United States has placed in the Caribbean.

Last month, the Venezuelan government mobilized members of its paramilitary groups and invited those who had not yet declared interest in joining the private army to do so.

According to Fisheries Minister Juan Carlos Royo, more than 16,000 fishermen have heeded his call.

Luzardo, who has been fishing since he was 11 years old, said he is “always ready to fight when needed.”

“If they (the US) want to kill us, that's fine, but we are not afraid.”