Melted candles and plastic toy trucks lie on the ground near a memorial for seven murdered fishermen at Bay Road East, Orange Valley. There are photos of the man, victims of a brutal pirate attack almost six months ago—Jason Baptiste, 30, Hemraj Alex Sooknanan, 18, Anand Rampersad, 39, Justin Kissoon, 19, Brandon Kissoon, 21 and Shiva Ramdeo, 27. Missing is a photo of Leslie De Boulet.
The bodies of two of the fishermen, Baptiste and Justin Kissoon, have not been recovered.
Flags fluttering in the breeze are part of the tribute to the seven men who were attacked, robbed and thrown off their fishing vessels on July 22. They are showing signs of fading after months of exposure to the elements, but for the families, friends and residents of the close-knit community in central Trinidad, memories of the tragedy are still vivid
It was fishing, the main form of livelihood in the district that cost the seven men their lives and residents, recounting their struggles to rise above poverty and the challenges they face on the high seas with its inherent dangers from nature and pirates, are still finding it difficult to cope and return to normal lives.
However, any suggestion that the murdered fishermen were involved in drugs draws immediate denials from residents. The men were unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they insist.
When Guardian Media visited Orange Valley recently, it was a ghost town. A bar on the road to the fishing depot was empty, Namdevco’s Orange Valley Wholesale Fish Market was closed and the only people to be seen were a man from Chaguanas and his nine-year-old daughter who were fishing from the shore.
Asked if he wasn’t afraid to venture into the area after the fishermen’s deaths the man pointed out that the attacks occurred out at sea and the pirates were not from the area.
A fisherman driving out of the depot with two young children said piracy was not a new phenomenon in Orange Valley. He said people had forgotten about mass murderer Boysie Singh, who in the 40s and 50s, together with his gang, robbed people at gunpoint, killed them and dumped their bodies into the sea. Singh lured many of his victims to the area with promises of easy passage from Trinidad to Venezuela.
At the depot, two fishermen were cleaning a pirogue. One of them, Terry Sooknanan, 27, a boat captain, is the brother of Alex Sooknanan, one of the slain fishermen.
“Normally we would see about 20 boats going out to sea, but since the incident, it’s now down to three boats,” he said.
“We’re discouraged from going out, everybody’s looking to get land work now. We don’t go out as far as we used to, we try not to go on the town side, we even used to reach Venezuelan waters, but now we stay closer to home.
“We’re on high alert. When we go out we inform our relatives, friends and as many people as possible where we’re going. My younger brothers and friends lime on the jetty when we go out, waiting for us. We’ve been told that the Coast Guard would be outside patrolling, we don’t see anything like that, weeks going into months at the port and nothing’s happening.”
Sooknanan said the fishermen want some form of tangible security. They also want the fishing depot to be renovated as it is too small and does not provide adequate shelter when it rains. Electricity is intermittent and there is no water supply.
He is convinced that the community has not been getting the support it needs because of claims that the fishermen were involved in drugs. Sooknanan said the fishermen and their families are coping as best as they can and trying to comfort one another.
Still, the effects of that traumatic day continue to take a toll. Shaffina Khan, 54, mother of missing fisherman Jason Baptiste, died of a stroke. Another mother of a slain fisherman is struggling to cope and has been appealing for psychological counselling and support.
Sooknanan said the fishermen’s deaths had a ripple effect through the community. There are fewer people, vendors, and transport trucks coming for fish. He said their financial situation is so bleak that they can no longer pay labourers to clean their vessels and boat captains are doing the job themselves.
For Sooknanan, the recent misfortunes are particularly hard to take. He comes from generations of fisherfolk, never finished school, and learned the seafaring tradition from his father. Until the events of July 2019, he loved going out to sea.
He said many of the fishermen were willing to give up the trade if they got the opportunity, but he was determined to continue working at sea.
According to Sooknanan, while many people looked down on fishermen and considered them to be uneducated people, he saw himself as a skilled tradesman who grew up on the sea.
Tom Burton, a businessman who loans boats and engines to fishermen, said since the incident the Orange Valley fishermen felt they had been abandoned by the authorities. He is convinced that the fishermen would still be alive if there were better facilities, including proper security measures.
He recommended that CCTV cameras be installed at the depot, repairs to the roads leading to the jetty, a larger boat shed improved lighting and a general clean up of the area.
Burton said he believed in helping the youths, many were being neglected and there was no help forthcoming.
He said the fishermen are catching less, fish prices have increased and they are struggling to provide for their families.
One boat captain said he had started fishing far out to sea because he believed he was safer in the deep where no one could see him and he could outrun the pirates who don’t venture so far out.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he explained that he is well organised and prepared to venture far from shore and depending on distance and frequency of his fishing trips, spends as much as $500 for oil and gas on each trip.
The Orange Valley tragedy
Shortly before midnight on Monday July 22, pirates attacked at least six fishing vessels in the Gulf of Paria off the ports of Carli Bay and Orange Valley. The armed pirates held up the fishermen with guns and robbed them of their boats and engines before throwing them overboard.
Several were able to swim ashore but seven could not be found.
The missing were identified as Anand Rampersad, Shiva “Arie” Ramdeo, Brandon Kissoon, Jason “Trevor” Baptiste, Justin Kissoon, Hemraj “Alex” Sooknanan and Leslie De Boulet. The three who made it ashore were Brian Seemungal, Robbie Jaggernath and Dillon Mendoza.
Two of the fishing boats were found drifting at sea.
