PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN. The Honduran “Alto Impacto” operation caught six Belizean pirates with three stolen boat engines near Baha Mar. All six have long rap sheets in Belize. The Belizean Coast Guard, Fisheries Department and police cooperated in the intercept. Moreover, they suspect this pirate gang of terrorizing fishing boats and island homes while shuttling between hideouts.
This gang may have connections to one of the many criminal networks that control Caribbean Sea routes. Such networks use the guise of fishermen to hide and fund their narco-trafficking. Worldwide, this piracy amounts to a billion-dollar industry.
Significantly, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez may be facilitating such networks. On March 22 a New York federal court named him as a co-conspirator in smuggling tons of cocaine to the US. Also, this week his brother, Tony Hernandez, faces sentencing for his own drug trafficking conviction.
At his brother’s trial, a Honduran drug cartel leader accused President Hernandez of receiving millions in bribes. Specifically, he allegedly agreed to protect huge cocaine shipments. In response, the president claims that he is actually restricting the flow of drugs to the US through Honduras. But the prosecutors’ evidence keeps mounting against him. In fact, they contend that the president vowed to use Honduran security forces to “flood the US with cocaine.”
Pirates of the Gulf of Mexico
In recent years, piracy has also escalated in the Gulf of Mexico. Especially in the Bay of Campeche. Last year, the US issued a special alert: “Armed criminal groups have been known to target and rob commercial vessels, oil platforms and offshore supply vehicles.”
The pirates typically attack from high-powered fishing boats at night with assault rifles. In fact, one seafarer’s federation estimates 180 thefts in the Bay of Campeche in 2020 alone. That includes stolen advanced communication and navigation equipment to sell on the black market.
And much of that market likely goes to heavily armed drug cartels. In response, the Mexican Navy has expanded its surveillance and reinforced its patrols. But too often insiders have undermined its operations by collaborating with the pirates.
Mexico has lost much of its land to drug cartel control. So it remains to be seen how well Mexico can maintain control of its waters.
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BPN articles related to Pirates of the Caribbean:
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Related sources for Pirates of the Caribbean:
Suspected Pirates Caught in Honduras
The US has been silent on Honduras’s drug problem, but that might be about to change
Piracy Surges in Gulf of Mexico, Prompting U.S. Warning
Keyphrase: Pirates of the Caribbean
