In this November 7, 2016 photo, “El Menor”, a member of “Los Cainos” self-defense group formed by the Marval fishing family, holds a homemade gun before starting a night patrol to help protect fishermen from pirate attacks in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Pirates are terrorizing the coastal state of Sucre, once home to the world's fourth-largest tuna fleet and a thriving fishing industry. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 2, 2016 photo, a member of the Marval fishing family who goes by the nickname “El Chukiti” holds a homemade gun as he guards against a possible pirate attack as fishermen unload their catch in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. The family's self-defense group calls themselves “Los Cainos”. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 8, 2016 photo, Jorge Marval naps in his boat under a plastic sheet after fishing all night, as the sun rises off Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. The fishing trade has collapsed, along with virtually every industry across Venezuela. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 2, 2016 photo, fishermen from the Marval family bring their boat to shore after fishing all night, in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Gangs of out-of-work fishermen prey upon those like the Marval clan who still venture out into the open sea, stealing their catch and their motors, tying them up, throwing them overboard, and sometimes shooting them. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 10, 2016 photo, women argue with a National Guard, saying they've detained the wrong men while cracking down on pirates in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. After villagers protested they knew their suspects to be honest fishermen, the soldiers let the three men go. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 12, 2016 photo, the corpses of seven of nine men who were shot in the head while on their knees lie at the morgue in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela. Five law enforcement officers were charged with storming the village and killing these men from a fishing family who were widely thought to have belonged to a gang. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 12, 2016 photo, Mariela Cabello, right, grieves after her brother was killed along with eight other villagers in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela. Five law enforcement officers were charged with storming the village and killing nine men from a fishing family, who were widely thought to have belonged to a gang. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 8, 2016 photo, retired fisherman Victor Duran, 75, from the Marval family, poses for a portrait in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Duran's children and grandchildren are carrying on the fishing tradition but facing a phenomenon his generation would have never fathomed: pirates stealing boat motors and killing them out at sea. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 8, 2016 photo, children from the Marval family eat breakfast before going to school in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. After a pirate gang threatened to kill the entire Marval family, some of the clan started keeping their children home from school. Some also stopped going to the state-run hospital because the area is controlled by the gang leader who threatened them. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 3, 2016 photo, lead emergency room doctor Norka Patino treats a man who was shot in Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. Patino, who's been working at the hospital for over 20 years, said she has to use the same needle on various patients and that many die unnecessarily of heart attacks, diarrhea, asthma and from bacterias picked up at the hospital. The band on her arm is the Venezuelan flag accented with a black band to protest her hospital's lack of basic supplies. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 7, 2016 photo, suspects of violent crimes ask police for food, as one holds out money, from inside a holding cell at the municipal police station in Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. While police provide food, prisoners get most of their food and drinks from their families. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 7, 2016 photo, suspects of violent crime crowd a holding cell at the municipal police station in Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. Police are reluctant to make mass arrests of pirates robbing and killing fishermen at sea because the jails are already packed full, with prisoners sleeping in shifts at night. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 30, 2016 photo, fishermen rest after selling their catch at the fish market in the port of Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. Here on the coast, the tuna catch is down to less than a third of the 120,000 tons Venezuela produced in 2004. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 2, 2016 photo, fishermen from the Marval family get some sleep before waking up early to push out to sea before sunrise, at their home in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Depending on the tide, the men wake around 2am and fish all night until sunrise. During the day, they sell their catch and repair fishing equipment like nets and motors. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 13, 2016 photo, villagers carry the remains of nine slain men from a fishing family to the cemetery in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela. Five law enforcement officers were charged with storming the village and killing these men, who were widely thought to have belonged to a gang. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 11, 2016 photo, a municipal police officer stands amid stolen engines seized from pirates, at the police station in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. “People can't make a living fishing anymore, so they're using their boats for the options that are left: smuggling gas, running drugs, and piracy”, said Jose Antonio Garcia, leader of the state's largest union. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 9, 2016 photo, children play “pirates” on a fishing boat in Cumana, Sucre state, Venezuela. “You hear piracy and you think of guys robbing container ships in Africa. But here it's just poor fishermen robbing other poor fishermen”, said Sucre lawyer Luis Morales. “It's the same kind of crime we've seen in the streets, but spreading to the sea”. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 2, 2016 photo, members of the Marval family, who patrol at night while other members of their family fish at sea, respond to what appeared to be the start of an attack by pirate gang leader “El Beta” in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. The family says El Beta is a 19-year-old killer with 40 men at his command who threatened to kill their entire clan days after murdering three Marvals at sea and stealing their night's catch. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)





In this November 13, 2016 photo, relatives of nine men from a fishing family, who were shot in the head while on their knees, mourn them at the cemetery in Cariaco, Sucre state, Venezuela. Five law enforcement officers were charged with storming the village and killing these men, who were widely thought to have belonged to a gang. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)