A growing illegal gold mining industry in eastern Cuba is turning into a public health threat, with doctors reporting cases of acute kidney failure, neurological disorders, and suspected mercury poisoning among young adults. The crisis is unfolding in communities where economic desperation has made gold extraction an increasingly attractive source of income.
In the eastern Cuban province of Las Tunas, the search for gold is bringing something far more dangerous to the surface: mercury contamination that health specialists warn is threatening miners, their families and potentially entire communities.
