• ACCUSATION: Mexico’s top naval officer accused private ship operators for being neglectful concerning the increased number of piracy incidents against vessels working in the Bay of Campeche’s offshore oil and gas sphere.
• INCIDENTS: With the Mexican government reporting at least 200 events recorded in 2018, piracy incidents have continued unrestrained. Earlier this month, Reforma newspaper reported at least four incidents where fast boats surrounded four ships to rob them.
• BLAME: “How is it possible that (the attackers) know exactly what things they are going after? It doesn’t take them more than 3, 4 minutes! They already know what they are going to steal. Many times what they are going after is already on deck! There’s collusion”, said Navy Minister José Rafael Ojeda today.
• MEETING: According to Minister Ojeda, pirates transitioned from attacking oil platforms to support vessels after the Navy deployed 600 troops to the area. However, he said that operators and officials will have a meeting next week at a naval base in Campeche to discuss the matter.
