The “Slow Death”, as the inhabitants of Chivacoa, an agricultural village in the center-west of Venezuela, have nicknamed the adulterated alcohol which cost the lives of 9 people during the New Year celebrations.
Sixteen other people were hospitalized, confirmed the governor of Yaracuy Julio Leon referring to “ethyl poisoning of an artisanal product not approved by the health authorities”.
The consumption of such low-cost craft drinks has spread, particularly in working-class neighborhoods in large cities and in villages in the interior of the country affected by an unprecedented economic crisis.
A few drops of the yellowish liquid remain in bottles perched in the garden of the house… The party with musicians continued late into the night in a house in Pueblo Nuevo. No one suspected then a few hours later, the deaths were going to be linked.
“It started on January 1 with the loss of his sight. He was very dizzy,” recalls Joselyn Oropeza, a 27-year-old housewife, of her uncle Oswaldo Oviedo, one of the victims.
Oviedo was attending the funeral of another deceased when his symptoms worsened, forcing him to go to a health center.
– analyzes in progress –
The deaths added up throughout the week. “We are going through a painful moment (…), most of the deceased are friends and partly brothers too”, regrets Winder Campos, brother of Manuel Campos, returning from the cemetery where he rests.
“We don’t know what they really prepared,” says Oropeza, “but it’s very strange that so many people died in such a short time, three days. The provenance of the alcohol is not yet known. The police want to track down the suppliers, but the person who sold it out of control and brought it to the party also died from drinking it.”
Authorities interviewed relatives and visited the house where the party was held. They took samples of the little remaining alcohol to analyze them in the laboratory.
A police source told AFP that the alcohol was adulterated with methanol, a substance that can cause blindness, liver damage and ultimately death.
As the investigation into the “slow death” progresses, traumatized neighbors gather and chat on plastic chairs in the street outside their homes.
They talk about the victims. Doris Barico, 56, mourns her older brother Carlos, 57: “He led a very beautiful, very happy life”.