Piracy off the coast of Venezuela to emerge in 2018. Pirates also make an income by smuggling goods from Trinidad and Tobago into Venezuela, where there is scarcity of numerous common products due to economic issues. With the two countries being two hours apart by water, Venezuelan pirates can receive high profits selling Trinidadian goods in their native country and then return to the island nation to sell discounted Venezuelan contraband. Venezuelans also fear government authorities who are just as desperate, calling law enforcement pirates as well. The violence in the area lead "Trinidad and Tobago Newsday" to name the waters the "Gulf of No Return".
Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908 Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908 In 1908 a dispute broke out between the Netherlands and Venezuela when the Venezuelan president, Cipriano Castro, cut off trade with the Dutch island of Curaçao on the grounds that it was harbouring political refugees from Venezuela. Venezuela expelled the Dutch ambassador, prompting a Dutch dispatch of three warships - a "pantserschip" (coastal defence ship), the "Jacob van Heemskerk", and two protected cruisers, the "Gelderland" and the "Friesland". The Dutch warships had orders to intercept every ship that was sailing under the Venezuelan flag. On 12 December, the "Gelderland" captured the Venezuelan coast guard ship "Alix"