DEATH BY EATING OF YUCA AMARGA

Mr. Juan Colón left his house at 6 in the morning, with two of his children, Luis and Miguel, aged 13 and 15 respectively. They went to the savannah a place in the outskirts of the town, approximately 10 kilometers to collect recyclable material, cans and glass and plastic bottles.

In this task of collecting, Mr. Juan Colón met with a yucca crop, and very happy proceeded to tear up several plants, collecting some roots of this tuber, which he took to his home, since it is now close to noon.

When he got home, his wife Josefina became very happy and proceeded to prepare them for cooking and serving at lunch. Mr. Juan Colón, was doing a diligence to the people, to negotiate part of material that had brought in a carrucha with sacks full of cans and bottles.

When he did not find the person to whom he had to deliver the collected material, Mr. Juan Colón had to wait more than two hours in addition to those he had already planned for this task. When a person arrived on a bicycle, to let him know that his two minor children had been taken to the hospital in an emergency, convulsing.

Mr. Juan Colón moved to the hospital where his two children were struggling between life and death, they were intoxicated, the Yuca they consumed, it was Yuca amarga, no, Yuca dulce. But by the ignorance of it, Mr. Juan Colón took her to his home.

This is another tragedy that enlivens another Venezuelan home. And then I think again, how long, MY God? How long are these scenes repeated? These sad stories that, due to extreme need, occur daily, particularly because of hunger, because people do not have to eat and any alternative that comes along the way seems good.

The bitter yucca is planted and harvested to make the cassava, a kind of bread, which is made with the flour from the pulp of the yucca, after submitting it to a process where it is first peeled, then it is scratched and placed in a Sebucan, where it is squeezed to extract the liquid part that contains a powerful poison called Yare, which has a high cyanide content.

In the fields it is common that when this Yare is squeezed, it is put to the pigs or pigs, in a species of rafts to be taken, since these animals are immune to the poison, but it is mortal for humans.