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The Social and Political Integration of West Indians in Costa Rica: 1930–50*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Ronald N. Harpelle
Ronald N. Harpelle
Affiliation:
Instructor in the Department of History, University of Saskatchewan
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Extract

People of African descent in Costa Rica form a marginalised and geographically concentrated minority group. The limited interest that academics have shown towards people of African descent is a reflection of their position in Costa Rican society. National histories consistently ignore the contributions of West Indian immigrants to the economic and social development of modern Costa Rica. Moreover, the existing literature on people of African descent in Costa Rica fails to document properly West Indians' efforts to integrate into Hispanic society. As a result, several misconceptions continue to exist about the evolution of the West Indian community in Costa Rica.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 103 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

1 See, for example, Hall, Carolyn, Costa Rica: A Geographical Interpretation in Historical Perspective (Boulder, 1981)Google Scholar or Alfaro, Carlos Monge, Historia de Costa Rica (San José, 1947)Google Scholar.

2 See Meléndez, Carlos and Duncan, Quince, El Negro en Costa Rica (San José, 1972)Google Scholar; Olien, Michael D., ‘The Negro in Costa Rica: The ethnohistory of an ethnic minority in a complex society’, unpubl. PhD diss., Univ. of Oregon, 1967Google Scholar; and Palmer, Paula, ‘What Happen’–a Folk History of Costa Rica's Talamanca Coast (San José, 1977)Google Scholar.

3 See Meléndez and Duncan, El Negro, pp. 135–7, or Olien, ‘The Negro’, pp. 123–7.

4 Most of the literature on Costa Rica is based on the assumption that the vast majority of the country's inhabitants are racially pure. For a discussion of the development of the ‘;white settler’ myth, see Harpelle, Ronald N., ‘West Indians in Costa Rica: Class and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Community’, unpubl. PhD diss., Univ. of Toronto, 1992, pp. ix–xxi and pp. 4–9Google Scholar.

5 Alfaro, Carlos Monge, Geografia social y bumana de Costa Rica (San José, 1943)Google Scholar, and Archivo Nacional de Costa Rica (ANCR), Congreso series, no. 15,400.

6 The Italians went on strike, sparking an international incident, and most of the convicts died.

7 The basis for the exclusion of most non-European immigrants can be found in the Ley de Bases y Colonizatión, ANCR, Congreso series, no. 2,692. See also ANCR, Congreso Series, no. 5,772, for a discussion of the Costa Rican concerns about the resettlement of slaves after the Civil War in the United States.

8 ANCR, Congreso series, nos. 8,894, 8,89;, and 8,996.

9 Bulmer-Thomas, Victor, The Political Economy of Central America since 1920 (Cambridge, 1987), p. 12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 For a discussion of the early period of West Indian settlement in Costa Rica, see Echeverri-Gent, Elisavinda, ‘Forgotten Workers: British West Indians and the Early Days of the Banana Industry in Costa Rica and Honduras’, journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 24, no.2 (1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 The Atlantic Voice, 18 Sept. 1934.

12 Government of Rica, Costa, Censo de Poblaci'n de Costa Rica, 11 de Mayo de 1927 (San José 1930)Google Scholar. Figures are derived from combining the 19,136 ‘Negroes’ and 2,121 ‘mulattos’ that were listed in the census. A total is necessary if comparisons with the 1950 census, which did not distinguish between the two, are to be made. Other studies have ignored this discrepancy between the two censuses and presented distorted views.

13 A common misconception exists among historians and Costa Ricans that a law prohibited the migration of people of African descent to the highlands. There are scattered references to incidents of people harassed on their way to the highlands by Hispanics who would not let them pass, but, contrary to popular belief, there was never any legislation prohibiting people of African descent from going inland from Limón.

14 La Tribuna, 30 Aug. 1930, signed by Rafael Calderón Muñoz, Otilio Ulate Blanco, Adriano Urbina, Carlos Manuel Echandi, Ramó Bedoya, José Rafael Cascante Vargas, Juan Guido Matamoros, Manuel Antonio Cordero, Francisco Mayorga Rivas, Víctor Manuel Villalobos B., Marcial Rodríguez Conejo and J. Manuel Peralta.

15 Guerrero, José, ‘Cómo se quiere que sea Costa Rica, blanca o negra? El problema racial del negro y las actuales contrataciones bananeras’, La Tribuna, 13 Aug. 1930Google Scholar.

16 ANCR, Congreso series, no. 16,358.

17 Despite the contentions of some authors, there is no proof that West Indians were more than passive participants in the strike. Most documents and oral accounts indicate that the majority of West Indian workers did not take part in the strike.

18 One of the best accounts of the strike can be found in Barrantes, Emel Sibaja, ‘Ideología y Protesta Popular: La Huelga Bananera de 1934 en Costa Rica’, unpubl. Licenciatura thesis, Universidad de Costa Rica, 1983Google Scholar.

19 ANCR, Congreso series, no. 17,004.

20 The deputies were Juan E. Romagosa and Virgilio Chaverri.

21 The Atlantic Voice, 3 May 1936.

22 Unlike Costa Rican peasants, who had the right to claim the land they cleared, West Indians were not citizens and were, therefore, forced to rent from the government.

23 A review of the company's rental contracts during the 1930s reveals that most of the land was rented in large blocks to people who were not of West Indian origin. See the protocols of company lawyer Proffrio Gongora, ANCR, Protocols Section.

24 For a detailed discussion of the rent increases refer to The Atlantic Voice, 3 May 1936.

25 See The Atlantic Voice, 31 May 1936, 13 June 1936, 31 Oct. 1936 and 24 July 1937.

26 La Tribuna, 30 April 1930.

27 ANCR, Gobernación series, no. 7,967, and Congreso series no. 16,018.

28 The Atlantic Voice, 29 Aug. 1936.

29 The Searchlight, 20 June 1931.

30 Government of Rica, Costa, Colección de Leyes y Decretos, Ley no. 4, 1942Google Scholar. The Coleccidn de Leyes y Decretos is an annual publication of the Government of Costa Rica.

31 Government of Rica, Costa, Colección de Leyes y Decretos, Ley no. 2,694, 1960Google Scholar.

32 Government of. Rica, Costa, Colección de Leyesy Decretos, Ley no. 40, 1931Google Scholar, The Atlantic Voice, 12 Sept. 1936 and Colección de Leyes y Decretos, Ley no. 37, 1940.

33 Government of Rica, Costa, Colección de Leyes y Deeretos, Ley no. 1, 1931Google Scholar.

34 ANCR, Congteso series, no. 16,753.

35 Trabajo, 16 April 1933.

36 La Voz del Atlántico, 31 Aug. 1935.

37 The Atlantic Voice, 6 April 1935.

38 United Fruit Company correspondence, Munch to Chittenden, 16 July 1941. The author would like to thank Philippe Bourgois and Rafael Bolaños for providing copies of United Fruit Company correspondence that they obtained during their research in Bocas del Toro, Panamá.

39 The Third Locks canal expansion took place between 1939 and 1942.

40 The author interviewed several people in Limón but wishes particularly to thank Walter Ferguson, Stanford Barton, Sylvester Cunningham and Alfred King for providing the best insights into the community's history. Another rich source of oral history are many hours of interviews collected by the Ministerio de Cultura, Juventud y Depones in San José.

41 United Fruit Company correspondence, Wm. Jackson to H. S. Blair, 8 Jan. 1929.

42 Government of Costa Rica, Censo de Población de 1927, and Government of Rica, Costa, Censo de Población de Costa Rica (22 de Mayo de 1950) (San José, 1953)Google Scholar.

43 The Atlantic Voice, 22 March 1941, expressed concern about the women and children left behind by the exodus of the men.

44 Government of Rica, Costa, Indict compkto por orden alfabe'tico de las opciones, inscripciones y naturalizaciones practicadas desde el año de 1829 hasta setiembre de 1927 (San José, 1927)Google Scholar.

45 Nicaraguans were the second largest group of foreigners but they had to opt for citizenship, not naturalisation.

46 Government of Costa Rica, Censo de Población de Costa Rica (22 de Mayo de 1950)

47 Among the people who were allowed to opt to become Costa Ricans were the children of foreigners who were born in the country, the children of nationals wh o were born abroad and Central Americans whose country of origin had a reciprocal arrangement with Costa Rica.

48 All statistics on options are taken from the Libro de Acuerdos del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, vols. 2 to 8 which were found at the Registro Civil in San José.

49 Government of Costa Rica, Indice completo.

50 Figures drawn from a database of 2,155 individuals of African descent who opted for citizenship between 193; and 1950. The subjects who were included in the study were selected from the 5,177 individuals who opted for citizenship between June 1935 and December 1949. No data was available for the period between 1927 and 1935. Choices were made on the basis of the applicant's own statement on nationality.

51 Afro-Costa Ricans argued that the provisions of the 1934 banana contract that excluded them from working on the Pacific coast should not apply to citizens of colour. See ANCR, Fomento series, no. 3,387.

52 Limón continues to boast one of only a handful of Universal Negro Improvement Associations still in existence.

53 See Harpelle, ‘West Indians in Costa Rica’, pp. 122–167.

54 The Atlantic Voice, 14 Dec. 1940.

55 Diario de Costa Rica, 4 Dec. 1940.

56 The Atlantic Voice, 14 Dec. 1940.

57 The Atlantic Voice, 11 Jan. 1941.

58 The Atlantic Voice, 22 July 1944.

59 Government of Rica, Costa, Colección de Leyes y Decretos, Ley no. 207, 1944Google Scholar. At the Archivo Legislativo see document no. 1,753-A for the formal discussion of the new law.

60 In 1945, a total of 335 children of West Indians opted for citizenship. The previous record had been 241 options in 1941 and the average number of options in the previous decade had been 110 per year.

61 The Atlantic Voice, 26 Feb. 1938.

62 Facio, Rodrigo, Estudio sobre la economía costarricense (San José, 1972), p. 59Google Scholar.

63 Carlos Monge Alfaro, Geografia social y humana, p. 126.

64 Meléndez, and Duncan, , El Negro (San José, 1972), p. 135Google Scholar.

65 Kathleen Sawyers Royal, ‘Participation política del negro Limonense’, in Meléndez and Duncan, El Negro, p. 222.

66 Government of Rica, Costa, Colección de Leyes y Decretos, no. 523, 1949Google Scholar; no. 1,155, 1950; no. 1,916, 1955, and Archivo Legislativo, no. 2,386.