Somalia- Los verdaderos piratas de Somalia!(2011)

Intrepidos. Aventureros.

seductive romantic and also a little golf the stories of pirates have captivated us since always in literature cinema and television piracy is as old as the navigation itself

But... What is a pirate? The pirate is a bandit who is dedicated to theft and maritime looting. He appropriates what does not belong to him and makes it heavily armed and against the law.

Sometimes they have the protection of a state or a nation and act in their name under what was once called "patent of corso". In this case they were called "corsarios".

There has been fire in the 1-2 interstate.

In Somalia, piracy is a common thing. But is there such a thing as piracy?

What is it? And who are the pirates? To find out, we must go back to the origin. Somalia was colonized during the 14th century by Italy and England.

He got his independence in 1960. The democratic government lasted only 9 years. In 1969, the dictator Mohammed Siad Barre threw a coup d'état and he got the government. He got it with the unconditional support of the United States. And not in vain.

Thanks to this, the main companies Petrolices and the Yankees obtain important contracts to exploit the existing oil in the country. Located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia occupies a fundamental geostrategic position for the maritime transport routes that unite Europe and Asia.

More than 20,000 cargo ships cross their coasts every year through the Gulf of Aden, transporting more than 10% of world trade. And there also passes a large part of the oil extracted from the Middle East. For a long time, regional nations and foreign powers disputed it as a strategic point for maritime transport routes.

The military mandate of Syed Barre is extended until 1988, when the Somali National Movement rebels against its dictatorship. The uprising takes place in a bloody civil war that extends until 1991, a year in which Syed Barre is forced to abandon power and flee the country. But his march does not bring peace. Faced with the vacuum of power,

Several clans fight each other to take control of the country, which has prevented the existence of a stable government until today. The civil war had devastating consequences for the Somali population. More than 300,000 dead, one and a half million displaced and a terrible famine that affects the whole country, aggravated by the pertinent drought.

Today, the fragile government is barely able to control the capital. The clashes between the different factions are constant. Violence, chaos and anarchy reign in the streets of Somalia and it is considered the most dangerous country in the world.

Taking advantage of this chaotic situation, without control or government, a multitude of fishing boats from various countries begin to work, if any license in the waters in front of Somalia, including their territorial waters. These boats, from the United States, Asia and the European Union, practice a type of fishing called IUU, illegal fishing, not declared, not regulated.

Its incessant and uncontrolled activity, using prohibited fishing arts in other regions of the planet, is ending with the fishing reserves of a country that lacks authority and means to protect its coasts. Currently, more than 800 boats from different countries fish in the area. It is estimated that the annual income generated by illegal fishing rises to more than 450 million dollars.

Tuna fishing has experienced a dizzying and unsustainable increase in the last 10 years. Only the tuna fleet, composed mainly by Spain with 60% of the catchments and France with 40%, captures in Somalia about 500,000 tons of tuna a year. The fishing fleets of the great powers

with the European Union at the head, contribute in this way to impoverish one of the most miserable regions in the world. They steal the main source of protein of their population and end up with the way of life and livelihood of the local fishermen. In this way, a fragile country that is in agony and dying of hunger is condemned without remedy.

Since 1990, the Somali community has protested repeatedly against the UN and against various international organizations. Their protests have never been heard or attended.

The United Nations Supervision Group for Somalia has also noted and alerted in its reports about the systematic depredation of the area carried out by foreign fishing fleets. The UN does not attend to its own supervisors and has done absolutely nothing to stop the looting. But the nightmare does not end here. Since the fall of the government in 1991,

Other ships also start to appear on the Somali coast. Their activity is more mysterious. The ships enter their territorial waters, throw barrels into the sea and leave. This suspicious activity alarms the Somali fishermen, who try to dissuade the shipbuilders who make the shipwrecks. But they are unsuccessful. The shipwrecks continue for 14 years.

The contents of these barrels are a mystery until the end of 2004, the year when a terrible tsunami hit Southeast Asia. When the tsunami wave reaches Somalia, hundreds of barrels are dragged against the coast. The barrels break, there are leaks, the contents go to the surface and end up on the beaches. The people of the area begin to get sick.

Infections of respiratory tract, intestinal hemorrhages, strange chemical reactions in the skin and more than 300 sudden deaths cause an alarm among the population. After a while, they will be born with malformations and various diseases. Nick Nuttall,

spokesperson for the United Nations Environment Programme, explained that when the containers were broken by the strength of the waves, they exposed to the light a terrible activity. Somalia is being used as a landfill for dangerous waste since the early 90s and continued since the civil war unleashed in that country. Garbage is of many different classes. There is uranium radioactive waste, the main garbage,

and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial garbage, hospital waste, chemical substance waste and whatever you want to call it. The most alarming thing here is that nuclear waste is being discharged. Radioactive waste is potentially killing Somalis and is totally destroying the ocean.

Ahmedou Oud Afdala, UN Special Representative in Somalia, declared to Al Jazeera that the disposal of toxic waste is still taking place today. The diplomat stated that he had "reliable information" that European and Asian corporations are the ones that are unloading toxic chemicals and nuclear waste on the coasts of Somalia. Yes, the United Nations sent their representatives to see the catastrophe.

And without further ado, the chapter closed. For the moment, there has been not a single trial, arrest or conviction for these criminal acts. And this does not only happen in Somalia. The waters of other African countries, such as the Marfil coast, Nigeria, Congo or Benin, are also used as toxic waste by industrialized countries.

In 2001 alone, 600,000 tons of toxic waste arrived in Africa. The African continent has become the garbage dump of the radioactive waste generated by rich countries. A devastated country that is starving to death. Rich countries

come to snatch their fishing and in turn contaminate their waters with toxic and nuclear garbage. This is the context in which the men appeared, which some media call "pirates". Faced with this situation of absolute indefence, some fishermen react in a desperate way. They begin to ally in small armed groups

and using fast boats, they try to lure foreign fishing boats and dissuade the vessels that unload waste into their waters. Many years ago, we used to fish a lot, enough to eat and to sell in the market. But then, the illegal fishing vessels arrived, which many times turn toxic products that taint the fishing reserves. I had no alternative.

They call themselves "Voluntary Coast Guard of Somalia" and have the total support of the local population. According to a survey, 70% of the Somali population strongly supports this activity as a way of defending the territorial waters of the country. One of its leaders, Sugule Ali, explained his reasons: "To stop illegal fishing and unloading in our waters.

We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits to be those who illegally fish and unload garbage. But initially, nobody takes them seriously. Foreign fishing fleets continue to work impunely and the toxic waste continues. Taking into account that all this happens in a country plagued with weapons and divided into rival bands,

These fishermen soon join ex-combatants and end up becoming heavily armed groups. They intuit a profitable business in the capture of these ships and the demand for a rescue. When they begin to retain ships, the area is clearing up and foreign fleets stop arriving so frequently. The great powers now see their profitable fishing business threatened.

and are deprived of their private and very economical waste dump. The UN, which has systematically ignored Somali claims, does now listen to the countries affected by these actions. Spain and France, countries with important fishing fleets in the area, head the request for a joint military reaction. This is how Operation Atalanta was born.

The mission initially has eight warships, supply ships, reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft. After the initial failure of the operation, its duration and supply are extended with more than 20 ships and 1,800 soldiers. The estimated cost for the Spanish state rises to more than 6 million euros per month,

The private security of the Galician and Basque tuna farmers rises to half a million euros per month. The Spanish government takes care of half of this cost, using the state's general budgets. Let's remember the definition of "pirate": they steal at sea, appropriating what does not belong to them. They carry out their actions heavily armed.

And sometimes they have the protection of a state or a nation. But why do these fleets fish there? Can't they do it in their territorial waters? In their oceans? No. And the cause of this is terrible. There is nothing left to fish. They have destroyed and squashed all their sewers. Rich countries have exterminated the marine life of their own oceans.

The fishing systems of capitalist countries have been industrialized. The marine ecosystems are exploited to the limit in order to maximize the benefits. The regeneration capacity of marine species is destroyed. The food chain is broken and the species are extinct. According to the International Greenpeace report, at least a quarter of all the captured marine creatures

are thrown back into the sea, dead. Whales, dolphins, albatrosses, turtles are what the fishing industry frivolously calls "accessory catches". From the North Seas to the Gulf of Vizcaya, the Cantabrian and the Mediterranean, the habitat of most species has been exhausted and destroyed.

The professor of political thought, José Carlos García Fajardo, states: "That is why our European fleets went in search of the rich catchers of Africa, Latin America and Asia. In many countries they served as unscrupulous rulers, the lack of means to defend fishing in their own waters or the false mixed companies created to skim their riches. In 2006, trying to protect their natural resources,

Senegal stops renewing the fishing agreements with the countries of the European Union. But it seems impossible to stop the capitalist fishing fleets. These make fun of the laws, creating mixed companies, buying licenses to other countries and waving flag of convenience. Currently, through the internet, you can buy a flag of convenience in a few minutes and for less than 500 euros.

In Senegal, fishing boats have ceased to be useful for their original purpose and now they are used to transport immigrants who seek a better future in European countries. Paradoxically, the same countries that have taken their future away from them. In Somalia, boats have ceased to be useful for fishing and now they are used for piracy.

The Global Ocean Conference decreed that 75% of world fishing banks have disappeared. The FAO also warned that 80% of world fish tanks are overexploited and 30% of marine species are below the biological safety limit. For all this, various scientific studies calculate that in 2048,

all the fishing resources of the planet.