CESAR James Bryan, mayor of the Colombian Province of Providencia, located about 470 kilometres south-west of Jamaica, began an eight-day visit to the island on Monday, as part of plans to re-establish cultural, educational and commercial links between the two countries.

The mayor said the province, which includes the islands of Providence, Santa Catalina and San Andres, had a strong link with Jamaica in the past, which was forged more than a century and a half ago. He said, however, that the connections gradually broke down and became more strained after the Second World War.

Mayor Bryan told the Observer at a press briefing on Tuesday that it was important for the links to be re-established because while the islands have been part of the Republic of Colombia since 1822, their traditions and cultural practices are rooted in Jamaica.

Colombia’s ambassador to Jamaica, Kent Francis-James, who was present at the briefing, explained that when the slaves of African descent in Jamaica were freed in 1834, many of them fled to Providencia, having been attracted by the six-hour workday there as opposed to the apprenticeship system set up in Jamaica and the rest of the British West Indies. He said many of them stayed on and set up settlements.

The ambassador said that many more Jamaicans moved to Providencia during the building of the Panama railroad and the canal, and that in addition, Santa Catalina was a base for renowned pirate and former governor of Jamaica, Henry Morgan. There are even places named after the pirate.

Francis-James said there was even a time in Providencia’s history when English was the principal language and lessons were conducted in that language. He said, too, that the more wealthy Colombians would send their children to Jamaica to be educated, but added that since the islands were ceded to the Colombian mainland, these practices are now almost non-existent.

The features of Jamaican culture expressed by the inhabitants of Providencia, which has a population of approximately 100,000, one-third of whom are of Jamaican ancestry, are the Jamaican patois (which, with the exception of a slight accent, sounds pretty authentic), Jamaican foods and dishes (including tripe and beans and run-dung), Jamaican folklore, Jamaican superstitions, Jamaican forms of worship (British-based Protestantism) and Jamaican surnames (originally prescribed by British planters) such as Williams, Robinson and Watson.

Bryan said the reason he was seeking to re-create the bonds between Jamaica and Providencia, which was declared in 2003 a World Biosphere Reserve, is to, on the part of the Colombians, “create a social sense of belonging, which is more than economic and material, in the people through art and craft, music and education”.

He also said he would be seeking to forge bilateral agreements which would, for example, facilitate a teacher exchange programme between the two states where English teachers from Jamaica would teach the language in Providencia while learning Spanish, and vice-versa.

The Colombian mayor would also like to establish a ‘tourist swapping’ programme with Jamaica. Visitors to the region, he said, would share their time between Jamaica and the three-island province.