• PROBLEM: The Mexican Government acknowledged that the attack against an Italian supply vessel in the oil-rich Bay of Campeche is part of a larger problem they are trying to deal with by expanding the Navy’s presence in the area including the construction of a new naval base.
• THREAT: “Regarding piracy in the Gulf (of Mexico), in the Caribbean (region): there’s extortion, there are assaults on boats, there is dismantling of Pemex platforms in shallow waters in Campeche. We are already dealing with that”, said President López Obrador.
• NUMBERS: Earlier this week, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said that it had reports of at least 144 attacks against cargo ships in the Bay of Campeche during 2019; the monthly average of attacks of the same kind in 2019 is 16 while in 2017 it was just 4.
• PRECEDENT: With one sailor shot in the leg plus another one hit in the head, the attack against the supply ship Remas in Mexico got coverage across Italy with reports reminding of a previous incident in Somalia in 2009 when a different ship from the same company endured a 4 month long kidnapping.
