Wilder Fernández has caught four good-sized fish in the murky waters of a small bay north of Lake Maracaibo. The contents of his net will serve as dinner for his small team before they set out to go fishing again in the evening.
But this daily task is a job he has recently become scared of doing. After 13 years as a fisherman, Mr. Fernández confesses that he now fears his job could turn lethal. He is afraid he could die in these waters not at the hands of a night-time attacker - a threat fishermen like him encountered in the past - but rather, killed in a strike launched by a foreign power.
It's crazy, man, he says of the deployment of US warships, fighter jets, a submarine, and thousands of US troops in waters north of Venezuela's coast. The US force patrolling the Caribbean is part of a military operation targeting suspected narco-terrorists, which according to the White House have links to the Venezuelan government led by Nicolás Maduro.
Since September 2, the US has carried out a number of strikes against what it labeled narco-boats, in which at least 27 people have been killed. The US has accused those killed of smuggling drugs but has so far not presented any evidence. Experts suggest the strikes could be illegal under international law.
Tensions between the US and Venezuela escalated further on Wednesday when US President Donald Trump stated that he was considering strikes on Venezuelan soil. He also confirmed that he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations inside Venezuela. This has left local fishermen feeling increasingly vulnerable as their livelihoods become entangled in geopolitical disputes.
Even though the strikes are said by the US to have happened thousands of kilometers from where he fishes, Mr. Fernández’s wife has been trying to convince him to leave Lake Maracaibo. Every day she begs him to leave his fishing job.
“She tells me to look for another job, but there's nowhere to go,” he explains. With growing concerns, he does not rule out the possibility that his boat could be hit by mistake. He expresses deep worry, stating that his family’s safety hangs in the balance.
The fear of being hit by a US strike adds to a long list of dangers fishermen face, including pirates and a downturn in earnings in recent years. The Trump administration has argued that the attacks on the boats in the Caribbean are acts of self-defensive measures to combat drug trafficking in what they have categorized as a non-international armed conflict.
The situation is dire, manifesting everyday challenges that fishermen grapple with, fostering a sense of despair amidst calls for peace and security in their fields.
