Kidney Disease Epidemic In Nicaragua’s ‘Land of Rum and Sugar’

In Chichigalpa, Nicaragua’s “tierra del ron y del azúcar” (land of rum and sugar), hundreds of men who developed a “mystery” illness while working in local sugarcane fields are seeking compensation from their former employer, a powerful conglomerate called Grupo Pellas.

Central American Laborers Cut Down By Mystery Kidney Disease

A cane plantation worker in Zapote, Nicaragua (treesftf/Flickr)

The northwestern Nicaraguan town of La Isla has lost so many of its residents in recent years that locals have unofficially renamed it “La Isla de las Viudas,” or island of widows. The victims, mostly men, all die from the same cause – kidney failure. They have something else in common too: they all worked in the nearby sugar cane fields.