Nicaragua

Since there’s only one major distillery in Nicaragua, the Compania Licorera de Nicaragua, San Antonio (CLNSA), all rums by independents bottlers should come from this one, no matter what is stated on the label. Some state Chichigalpa (a city close to Nicaragua’s east coast) while others put Volcano Distillery on the label, but all refer to CLNSA, where Flor de Caña is produced. They belong to Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited (NSEL), a subsidiary of Grupo Pellas. This family-owned conglomerate of more than 20 companies has annual sales of about 1,5$ billion, that’s more than 11% of Nicaragua’s GDP. Head of the conglomerate is a certain Carlos Pellas, a good friend of the Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and the first billionaire of the country. According to Carlos Pellas, he does what he can to alleviate hardship by, among others, providing free health care to his workers and offering 500 scholarships a year to his employees and their children (see the Bloomberg article linked above).

For more information in CLNSA, the working conditions at the estate and its impact on workers’ health, see this article.