Colin Freeman

Pirates of the Caribbean

Families are scavenging to survive. It’s not quite Somalia – but it isn’t far off

issue 19 January 2019

Brian Austin, a fisherman from the small village of Cedros in Trinidad, is struggling to describe the men who robbed him out at sea last year. ‘They had guns, they wore T-shirts and hoods.’ Then he brightens: ‘Have you ever seen Somali pirates? They looked just like that.’

I have indeed seen Somali pirates, as it happens, and rather closer up than I’d have liked.

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