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".
German interest in the Caribbean considered building a coaling station in the Caribbean, and proposed to purchase the island of Curaçao from the Netherlands. However Chancellor Bismarck was strongly opposed; he wanted to avoid difficulties with the U.S. and nothing happened. Bismarck was ousted from power in 1890 and German naval strategists again turned their attention to the Caribbean but failed to establish a naval base at Margarita Island (Venezuela). In the Venezuela Crisis of 1902–1903 the United Kingdom and Germany sent warships to blockade Venezuela after it defaulted on its foreign loan repayments. Germany intended to land troops and occupy Venezuelan ports, but U.S.