The following additional information on certain topics covered previously in the book might be of some interest:
The Negroes in Costa Rica
According to a study by historian Carlos Melendez, now deceased, and writer Quince Duncan, a prestigious Negro himself born in Puerto Limón, the Negroes in Costa Rica were really never discriminated legally. The most that happened was that when the train from Limón to San José reached the town of Turrialba, the black operators of the steam locomotive would be replaced by a white crew. That started the legend that negroes were discriminated, but, in fact, many of them passed Turrialba and entered the Central Valley without trouble.
However, President Ricardo Jiménez did discriminate them by prohibiting their employment on the banana plantations in the Pacific. But in 1949, José Figueres, president of the Second Republic, put an end to that.
Melendez and Duncan in their book The Negro in Costa Rica relate that the Negro in Limón always felt superior to the rest of the Costa Ricans, being that they originally had come primarily from Jamaica which was then part of the powerful British Empire. Through years of intermixing with the Indians and Creoles, they gradually changed their great feeling of superiority so that now they consider themselves average Ticos, though still justifiably proud of their British heritage.
Today the Negroes as a whole in the Atlantic Region, particularly north and south of Puerto Limón, are said to be Afro-Caribbean being that initially they carne from Africa, Jamaica, other Caribbean Islands; some also from southern United States.
Costa Rica: An Exception
At this writing, a large percentage of the Costa Rican population is pessimistic about its future due mainly to an increase in immigration, crime, cost of living, and unemployment. However, taking all things into consideration, and making comparisons with the rest of Latin America, there seems to be room to be optimistic about the country's future. Previously, Ivan Molina and Steven Palmer in their good book in English 'The History of Costa Rica', had stated the same thought indicating that "between 1950 and 1996 Costa Rica was the only country in Latin America that did not experience a breakdown in democracy. This and other exceptional triumphs are ones that Costa Ricans can be justifiably proud of" And I might add that from 1996 onward Costa Rica has continued to maintain a strong and very active democracy.
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