Illness-stricken sugar workers from Nicaragua seek German help

Deutsche Welle, 09.04.2011 

The sugar company has denied
 it is responsible for its workers' health
issues

Former sugar cane workers from Nicaragua suffering from chronic kidney failure are trying to gather support in Germany to fight the most powerful company in their country.

"It's the sugar cane plantations that are making us sick," Carmen Rios, a small woman from El Viejo in Nicaragua says, pointing to the plantations in Chinandega Province.

She holds those plantations, owned by the Pellas empire, responsible for the slow death of her husband, brother and father. Her husband died nine years ago, her brother passed away five years ago. It hasn't been a year since her father died. Two of her brothers are also sick. And it's always the same diagnosis: chronic kidney failure.

Carmen Rios might also be carrying the illness which will only lead to symptoms at a later stage. The 55-year old wants to see a doctor in Germany. Even though she has not worked at the plantations, she did drink water from a well where pesticides were found. And she did inhale the fumes when leaves of the sugar canes, covered in chemicals, were burned.

Heat, poisoned wells and pesticides

Workers have called for a boycott
 of the popular rum brand "Flor de Cana"

Carmen Rios now heads the association of renal failure patients ANAIRC, where more than 300 former sugar cane workers are fighting the most powerful economic family in Nicaragua: the Pellas. They have filed an action; they are protesting close to the company's domicile in Managua and have called for a boycott of the popular rum brand "Flor de Cana."

The former sugar cane workers say the chronic kidney failures of thousands of workers in Chinandega and León are the fault of the Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited. They claim the illness was caused by the drudgery in the heat, without clean drinking water and in midst of chemically contaminated plantations. But there hasn't been a scientific report that supports their opinion.

Are Europeans to blame as well?

But it's not just Carmen Rios and members of her association who think the evidence is quite obvious. Several German organizations involved in development policy see the proof as well. This is why Carmen Rios, joined by a journalism student from Managua who supports the farmers, was invited by Heidelberg's Nicaragua-Forum to tell her story to a German audience.

Carmen Rios, left, is fighting
for better health standards in Nicaragua

"We Nicaraguans pay for the boom of green fuel with our health,” Rios said. “Because it's you Europeans who are to blame that, instead of corn, wheat and rice, more and more sugar cane gets planted in a way that is harmful to our health."

Nicaraguan calls for a ban on bioethanol exports to Europe has been quickly dismissed by the German parliament’s Committee for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"This is not the way to do things,” member of parliament Sascha Raabe said. “It's not related to the introduction of E10. It doesn't matter if sugar cane is used for rum or green fuel, the labor conditions remain the same.”

The parliamentarians have also dismissed calls for European pressure on the Pellas group. This would be the responsibility of the governing Sandinistas, they said. But Carmen Rios claims Nicaragua's government is too weak to exert pressure on its own. The Bundestag members plan to summon the Nicaraguan ambassador to ask whether Nicaragua complies with the standards of the World Health Organization. And they want to check if Nicaraguan bioethanol is actually used in Germany and to what extent Germany could influence compliance with health and safety standards at Nicaragua's sugar cane plantations.

It's known for a fact that Nicaragua is exporting bioethanol to Europe - about 80 million liters (21 million gallons) in 2009-2010. According to EU guidelines, this green fuel needs to be produced in a sustainable way. But it doesn't mention health protection measures for those who reap the sugar canes.

Improved conditions?

Workers say it's the sugar cane
plantations that are making them sick

Since 2005, ANAIRC registered 5,341 victims who died from chronic kidney failure. There are more than 8,000 patients suffering from the disease. According to a study published by the University of Boston, the rate of chronic kidney failure in the regions Chinandega and León is ten times as high as in the United States of America.

In the past years, Nicaragua has done a lot to help the sick. A hospital in Chinandega has 40 dialysis machines and a better supply of medicine.

Some workers’ unions have, in turn, dismissed the boycott calls by ANAIRC and others.

“Members of UITA and ANAIRC, before making false accusations, we invite you to learn more about our social programs, such as a hospital for our workers and our families, a unique experience in Latin America, a school for our children, who subsequently receive college scholarships and many other benefits laid down in our collective agreement,” stated the press release of the Ronald Altamirano Union.

Company Pellas wrote in online statements that no or very little pesticides are used on its plantations these days, that protective clothing is available and that the workers don't have to work in midday heat for hours anymore. But Carmen Rios doesn’t think that’s true.

There hasn't changed much on the fields, she said. The leaves are still being burned before they are cut, and sick workers name the chemicals they have been working with. According to Rios, the company now regularly checked the blood levels of all employees: Once they get sick, they get fired.

Author: Bernd Gräßler / sst

Editor: Toma Tasovac