Venezuela in TW 2000

[Olefin]

You are right - New America isnt directly funding the fleet - however the effort to kidnap the girl is providing the gold and the weapons that are leading to the creation of the pirate fleet.

And the target is Aruba

"The shared dream of both men is to sack and pillage the rich ports of the Spanish Main with Aruba, the oil rich island in the Dutch Antilles, being their first major target"

That right there makes it pretty clear that Aruba didn't get nuked. And that big group of pirates is probably needed because of the Marines that are still at Aruba - you don't need that many men to take on a platoon of militia and some local cops.