I READ with dismay the article concerning new immigration rules for Jamaicans in Costa Rica. I was particularly puzzled about the picture being painted - that Jamaican influence in Costa Rica is a recent development. It might be that there has been a recent inflow of Jamaicans to Costa Rica, but it should also be known that Jamaicans went to that country in droves, between the 19th and early 20th century, to help them build their railroad and assist with their banana industry.

My own great grandmother went in 1902 when my grandfather was only one-year-old, and I now have relatives there who have never been to Jamaica, but speak the Jamaican language, eat Jamaican food and enjoy Jamaican music.

Locals guilty too

In summer of 2006, while I was residing temporarily in Moravia, San José, Costa Rica, gunmen entered my home while I was there in the early evening hours. These men were by no means Jamaicans. Costa Rica knows that their much closer neighbours, as well as some of their own youth, are at least as much a threat, if not a greater threat than the few newly arrived Jamaicans.

I can only hope that in their zeal to protect and defend their own, they do not forget that some of their 'own' were engrafted from Jamaican soil, albeit perhaps a bit begrudgingly!

Peace to all Costa Ricans.

I am etc.,

Jo-Ann Richards

joannfrichards@gmail.com

Kingston