They seek to withdraw the lot from the market: less than 10 dead from ingesting liquor adulterated with methanol

At least 10 people died after consuming an alcoholic beverage laced with methanol in northwestern Venezuelawhile the authorities seek to stop production and withdraw the product from the market.

Julio León, governor of Yaracuy state, the region where the mass poisoning occurred during the New Year’s Eve celebration, said that some 16 people, out of the 25 who drank the drink without a health permit, remain hospitalized.

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“A very high level of methanol was determined in the drink, a highly toxic substance for the body, after the laboratory analysis carried out on the product samples,” said León, quoted in a press release.

The regional president added that many of the intoxicated worsened days after the celebrationafter presenting respiratory failure, among other symptoms.

According to the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Corps (Cicpc) in the house they found bottles of the liquor called “Slow Death”, but the investigation determined that they only used this drink to make the adulterated cocktail.

“We are executing a contingency plan to assist those affected, but simultaneously an operation is carried out with the Cicpc and competent authorities to locate those responsible and the place of production”, said the governor.

“Slow death” is the name with which the residents of Chivacoaan agricultural population in the Yaracuy state (central-west), baptized the drink. The party was held in a rural house in the Pueblo Nuevo sector. The neighbors, who don’t talk about anything else, say that the celebration lasted all night to the sound of traditional music, since many in the group were musicians, poets and artists.

And within hours the tragedy began.

The year started with tragedy

“It started on January 1 with the loss of sight. He was very dizzy”recalls Joselyn Oropeza, a 27-year-old housewife, referring to her uncle Oswaldo Oviedo, one of the fatalities.

Oviedo was attending the funeral of another deceased when the symptoms worsened, forcing him to go to a health center.

“They gave him something to detoxify,” but soon after he had to go to a hospital in San Felipe -the capital of Yaracuy, about 30 km away-, where he died, says Oropeza. “His organs were totally destroyed by what they ingested.”

A police source told the agency AFP that the liquor was adulterated with methanol, a substance that is usually used to increase the alcoholic level of clandestine drinks, but which can lead to blindness, liver damage and ultimately death.

The consumption of artisan alcoholic beverages has increased in Venezuela, due to its low costs, in the midst of the deep economic crisis that has diluted the purchasing power of its inhabitants. They are common at parties, in popular neighborhoods of large cities and in towns in the interior of the country.

Joselyn Oropeza shows on her cell phone a photo of her uncle Oswaldo Oviedo, one of the nine people who died after ingesting adulterated alcohol in the community of Chivacoa, Yaracuy state, Venezuela. (NESTOR VIVAS – AFP /)

“Very beautiful life”

The deaths were registered throughout the week. “We are going through a painful moment (…), most of the deceased are friends and, in part, brothers too”, laments Winder Campos, brother of Manuel Campos, shortly after visiting his tomb in the nearby state of Portuguesa, decorated with tiles and a metal cross.

The authorities interviewed relatives and visited the house where the party was held, where several bottles were resting on the grass in the garden. They took samples of the little alcohol that was left over to analyze it in a laboratory.

“It is not known what they really prepared this with,” says Oropeza, but “it is very strange that so many people, in such a short time, three days, have died.”

Winder Campos (left) and Solidett Campos visit the grave of their brother Manuel Campos, one of the nine people who died after drinking adulterated alcohol, in the Chivacoa community cemetery, Yaracuy state, Venezuela. (NESTOR VIVAS – AFP /)

The origin of the liquor is not yet known.

The police want to find the suppliers, but the person who sold it without controls and who took it to the party, Nabor Pinto, also died from its consumption.

As the investigation progresses on the “slow death” the neighbors meet, talk and remember the victims in plastic chairs on the road in front of their houses.

“He led his life very beautiful, very happy,” says Doris Barico, 56, of his brother Carlos, a year older, “sculptor, singer, writer, composer.”

Source: Elcomercio