The “Slow Death,” as residents of Chivacoa, an agricultural village in western-central Venezuela, dubbed the adulterated alcohol that killed nine people during New Year celebrations, and sixteen others were hospitalized, confirmed Venezuela’s governor Yaracuy Julio Leon mentions an “ethyl poisoning of an artisanal product not approved by health authorities”.
Consumption of such inexpensive craft drinks has become widespread, particularly in working-class neighborhoods in major cities and in inland villages hit by an unprecedented economic crisis.
“It started with the loss of his eyesight”
A few drops of the yellowish liquid remain in bottles that stand in the garden of the house… The party with musicians continued late into the night in a house in Pueblo Nuevo. A few hours later, no one suspected that the deaths would be linked.
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“It started on January 1st with the loss of his sight. He was very dizzy,” recalls Joselyn Oropeza, a 27-year-old homemaker, 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.
Analysis running
The deaths added up over the week. “We are going through a painful moment (…), most of the deceased are friends and some are brothers too,” regrets Winder Campos, brother of Manuel Campos, as he returns 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 origin of the alcohol is not yet known. The police want to find the suppliers, but the person who sold it unchecked and brought it to the party also died from using it.”
The neighbors are traumatized
Authorities questioned relatives and visited the home where the party was taking place. They took samples of the little residual alcohol to analyze in the lab. A police source told AFP the alcohol was adulterated with methanol, a substance that can cause blindness, liver damage and eventually death.
As the investigation into “slow death” progresses, traumatized neighbors gather and chat on plastic chairs on the street outside their homes. You talk about the victims. Doris Barico, 56, mourns the loss of her older brother Carlos, 57: “He led a very nice, very happy life”.