In the Caribbean, Pirates have Returned to Plague an Island Paradise | Foreign Correspondent

[Music] [Applause] it's carnival time in the Caribbean this colorful mashup is a long way from its Catholic roots just one of the colonial cultures the trade winds washed ashore here [Music] carnival is really a celebration of all all of who we are we have had a history of inventor ship and slavery and we have morph that into something beautiful a month before a global coronavirus outbreak I'm in the twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago where lately the waves are bringing in a perilous old adversary Venezuela's demise and piracy on the waters nearby have shaken the otherwise laid-back home of steel pan calypso and Wendy's cricket [Music] what have you so carefully because you can't trust anyone you have to put it on so I don't it'll kill you once the Dominion of swashbuckling Buccaneers the likes of captain Blackbeard now centuries later and Pirates of the Caribbean are back in these tropical waters BC today's Jack Sparrow is coming from just 14 kilometers offshore and they're bringing their troubles with them dusk in the hills behind Trinidad and Tobago is capital Port of Spain the lush valleys here are filled with the demented sounds of the Blue Devils preparing to run wild it's a ghoulish tradition known as devil mass or devil masquerade blue the distinctive color adopted by the young folk here why the Blue Devils blue what's the importance of blue Chinatown and tournament of evil our co-chairs more do it so we do something different or what's what we never do it Yeah right this is my first devil mass should I be worried be scared [Applause] really cause some of the work hard and drinkin of all time by the time we let loose of our selves and we call it freedom of life everybody's come out here to say the Blue Devils walk down the hill and like all good Catholic festivals it's about sin and repentance and over the last year here in through that and tobago this war sin than ever that means [Music] peeks in illegal migration gang crime violence at sea and murders worry young Trinidadians white Kemba yeah modify with some stuff it got us frightened I'm trying to forget about the kraang so I'm thankful for life and I'm trying to forget bout out and enjoy life so yeah I saw the devil show you're allowed to enjoy life [Music] [Applause] on the water surrounding this island paradise pirates are a very real threat a threat the government here takes seriously [Music] today we've been invited to go on patrol with the Trinidad and Tobago coast guards now this is a privilege not afforded to many people in waters which are frankly too dangerous to go by ourselves it's a sort of place where it's true first and ask questions later [Music] [Applause] the top brass in charge of patrolling is fast and porous sea border is commander Don pollo everything heading north from South America has to come around Trinidad and Tobago we are quite a focal point for both licit and illicit traffic in the region the main challenge is that the border between Trinidad and Venezuela is it's very very close to the shore in some areas it's just four nautical miles what that means is on a on a fast boat you can close the distance from the border to land in a matter of minutes this narrow waterway between Venezuela and Trinidad truly is pirate waters this is the site of many murders kidnappings robberies and the tragic shipwreck of two boats carrying Venezuelans on their way to a new life in Trinidad now as to who's responsible for these crimes certainly its criminal elements in Venezuela but there's also evidence of criminal elements in Trinidad as well [Music] [Applause] there have been 14 reported cases of piracy here since 2018 targeting fishermen yachts and passenger boats more still go unreported leftenant commander Shelley Ann Marshall has just spotted an unknown vessel we are small your document sir we'll make sure that everything that you have on there documents I can see your to have at this time through to 6:00 or interceptor is going to approach this vessel and do interrogation what are the kinds of boats and the kinds of contraband you're finding aboard them any vessel can be carrying drugs organism any vessel so the contraband you might find marijuana in my fine cooking you might find guns and even poison sir people yes sir [Music] [Applause] the rising crime on the water is linked to the worsening venezuelan crisis nearby this has taken trinidad and tobago by surprise with 90 percent of Venezuelans living in poverty some 4 million have fled abroad to escape political repression food shortages and a near total economic collapse body decays is an activist for Venezuelans in Trinidad she says Venezuelan arrivals grew he rapidly to an estimated 35 to 40 thousand we started seeing more and more of any violence coming in coming in to buy food and buying medication and going to Venezuela and then started seeing them in bars trying to work restaurants and whatnot getting exposed to be in detain the Trinidad and Tobago government's brief amnesty last year granted adults temporary work rights but their children some 2,000 are not allowed access to education parents want their kids to go to school because this is not ending you're gonna have a population of uneducated kids in the next five years that sounds like a tongue it is terrible you know Trinidad has only one point something million people this is smaller than a big barrio in Caracas and you can't control this it's hard to believe [Music] Venezuelans who come to Trinidad take huge risks crossing the water the Venezuela man I'm on the way to meet now came himself and then six months later arranged for his family to join him but what happened next will haunt him forever [Music] to say no creo que Karen how I shall go later yo girl Maria sorry look away que pasa a salami parent open que paso I'm saying is how much of the Passover que pasar es una familia yo 25 year old Venezuelan refugee kenya roberto lopez has been waiting for any news of his family for almost a year now so he thought oh god or also consider a la pena upon me and a chain it was a course that was seen you can people vanish and I say si yo yo India tomorrow future okay yo creo que ella es la cosa me for me yes I'm okay unit ideas are inter say no celebratory his family paid a venezuelan boat captain to take them to trinidad illegally in May last year including his father sister uncle his two children and his eight month pregnant wife on Ultima Beth gave mr. su familia in your manner say a missive he said uriah nombre do if they think he's talking about a key of the Bengal tiger sir what happens next aboard the Bosch 90 annamaria that night is as murky as the waters in which she was last saying yeah possible McKinney soon intercom grandmother the pier others so in turn say yeah siren Alberto a commander who was already enter boat driver Alberto Abreu later posted a video online in which he says the boat began to sink and he swam for help and never saw the passengers again anything goes wrong I mean your familia que me really sorry that's a persona I had only you in capitalist society the immorality phenomena like Teresa Catalonian minutes with this was the last photo taken of Kenya's family he holds on to the hope they could have been kidnapped by pirates and might still be alive carriers pass all kinds of I saw Assad okay yeah go oh that he has left if his family is the tattoo bearing their initials [Music] it's not just migrants who are fearful of disappearing at sea on the far southern tip of Trinidad local fisherman Marlin suku is a descendant of the East Indian plantation workers brought to Trinidad by the British we sing what Pirates are capable of of course my livelihood is fishing I born and grew up in fishing my father was a fisherman my parents cannot afford to send me to finish up my schoolwork so I commanded it I look for my own dollar dwindling fish stocks have now forced him to leave Trinidad's waters to chase fish [Music] the small traditional fishing boats here come with unusually large and powerful outboard engines and I'm about to find out why [Music] for like whenever if I'm a pirate in the area you have to run so you're our topic in general both too overpowering pirates and have close to the Venezuelan border where we get yet other than a villain that's gonna swallow yeah very coarse boys you can swim where we have winter Salado very dangerous and I cannot go to any night stop while fishing one nice with his small crew Marlins Bosh was attacked without warning come upon this busy city light in the mood I when the city light any boat or the creep up behind it to engine when I flash behind I saw four guys with bulletproof vests and that was it a solid pass through here I come true if I show ya Marlin managed to escape with his engines and Bosch intact yeah because they'll shoot if I made it so despite being shot twice in the arm by pirates you still come out here and risk your life yeah because I know that choice if I get that job I would leave this Ewok but I go I had a choice with our family this year even in daylight milan takes no chances when a boat arrives from the Venezuelan border tell me what you say Xena more comments on Venezuela I don't know if it's fire ray conniff on Venezuela it's not like to be here that's it to be Wendy pretend there [Music] sometimes possible to be a mafia boat running drugs Oh ones bringing gone from Venezuela all that Venezuela and something they just want to like kidnap people and they understand so we don't in the case that the boat company with we not sure what what it is so we can be so close to the woods because they can't trust anyone they don't know what boat is what good so you have to come out of here you have to make sure you get that here right yeah must be careful I'll be watching be pretty lucky are you lucky to be alive if that come no it wouldn't be a problem witness always feel like when you're going to die so it won't be a problem for me if that come [Music] back in Port of Spain Carnival is in full swing tonight it's the calypso competition a major pillar of Trinidad's carnival culture [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] calypso music when aside of us protest music you know this this goes all the way back to need is asleep right where it will pressed out a chance to vent that's what calypso is really keiretsu our stories are told by color so it's still a simmering hotbed of political sentiments this calypso by gaffs and Clare is about Trinidad's recent troubles the Venezuelan crisis open plenty eyes to capitalize we have a crime situation here no that's really untenable and again there are a number of reasons for that too they started killing with each other every day you know did somebody die here is a revenge killing here and they keep doing it all the time you don't want to miss I on dependency Oh Leon I 95.5 FM I on dependency reality radio at its best sharing hope and strength for 2020 and Beyond goths and Clare draws on his time in prison on drug charges on his radio show with partner Natasha he is a reporter from ABC television Australia who's here I'm aware seems to cover he will govern dependency with 538 murders last year alone the rising crime rate and solutions to it a hot topics on air and thanks means any team from Australia good afternoon why is there such a rise in crime in Trinidad why have there been such record numbers of murders for example last year I knew it was going to escalate was drug-related crimes I realized in sobering up after going to prison and spending at six months the information I got from the streets and prison was enough for me to say hey we have a problem we will escalate and so do you think that with an increase in migration from Venezuela there's been an effect on the crime right here in Trinidad well of course it will it will have that I mean it's David's on record no the stigma and the the stereotypes that apply to them that all of the Venezuelan men are drug dealers all of the Venezuelan waylynn prostitutes and of course we know that's not true but I mean that stereotype persist the police they're gonna get busier because now we will have children growing up here with all the education and again we'll want to find a way to settle in the gangs we have here to me more kindergarten than the guys from Venezuela those gangs those guys are brutal the cold-blooded and there are certain marks that you will start that you know that that they would leave how they would how they execute people Hollywood you know how they execute their rivals daily life in Trinidad and Tobago is especially for ordinary folk in Port of Spain marred by gang crime and violence no one is immune and when things go wrong they call on one man the Undertaker they call giant the new transferred already dead most people know Jonathas is dead man anyway this Undertaker the Undertaker yeah and they know me for that we already know Saturday need more than touch me but no I don't even care if the hand fall on me the whole body could fall on me I'd already cable this is the pickup vehicle we wrestled a week away a pickup on a scene like a camera here no police ten gonna go wrong body bag backup button this vehicle on a brunette Teddy Fenner alone led police where attack I tell forensics or ever let's call it my baby bread earlier this year there were four homicides in just one night sometimes giant has to cram two bodies in his hearse at once for this week alone emotional about three young fellas really village today as a cheetah for a free week if murders are often in trinidad and tobago last year there was fire over 500 second highest year on record does that mean business is good for you well it affect me is daddy murder it were in too high not affecting me I lies off in our home owner telling you this is it harder to attend to a young person that's been murdered rather than any other kind of no it's not hard it's be harder when it's a multiple holes and a mash up your head and it dad is behind this warfare going on it needs the stuff they don't we need like a chair inside this is the mortuary where he repairs the bodies he collects for their funerals this is a situation shree bodies there so what do you use to plug up a bullet hole in a dead body well I wax it with one red wax this is a waxy heated with your metal tool and you know heated and put it on it the way very cool is wax it and then you get your color no and your color but their color so you wouldn't see where it was you get a photo from the family so you know how to recreate a face more solemn I know Emily that's I deal with I know these people giant says the guns used in the murders are coming from one place Venezuela as he closest pointers is across the board coming from I'm the one that cannot be [Music] [Applause] [Music] if carnival is freedom then Venezuelans like Marie Anita are joining in [Music] I'm gonna walk over there [Music] bandagi I enter Venezuela Mira say rome bitola Herrera conical food a delicacy dough grandiose with cara de compartir con a lose I'll never feel is free [Music] despite the challenges there are some signs that Trinidad's most recent wave of migrants are beginning to fit in what you see first time they are participated in Chile dollar to Beaver carnival and the part of this is just amazing [Music] there are Venezuelans they love in country a bit missing who but one of the Pens will ruin knowledge for them to be long to the community [Music] such tricky because you have to know English to speak to people to get a job go to school so do you feel Trin burgonia n-- or Venezuelan quit dissing Quinta [Music] this is our tradition this is just Trinidad spirit channel add version and add love I welcome anyone who is willing to experience or what culture so we saw one group of our a Venezuelan group by marching for the first time this year what do you think about that yeah go take it's awesome chlorination shaped by many cultures these islands have been slowly embracing the latest arrivals we've always had the ability to be resilient evolve always had the ability to move past these struggles that we are experiencing I'm Trinidad and Tobago has been increasing in crime reason child abuse I'm analyst goes on particularly with the force migrants are there here but in the midst of war or problems still able to celebrate [Music] music you you

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 321,436

Keywords: foreign correspondent, pirates, pirates documentary, modern pirates, venezuela, venezuela pirates, trinidad and tobago, trinidad and tobago carnival, carnival, trinidad and tobago gangsters, trinidad and tobago gangs, venezuela news, pirates of the caribbean, crime in trinidad and tobago, blue devils trinidad, calypso trinidad, calypso music, the displaced, TT, abc news australia, foreign correspondent trinidad and tobago, is trinidad dangerous, is trinidad and tobago safe, abc

Id: 9ak85Z0eXTg

Length: 29min 27sec (1767 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 09 2020