The picturesque beaches erase the bitter memories of San Lucas
On the "island of lonely men" ... prison has become a paradise
The island became more colorful with its openness to tourists.
A.F.B.
San Lucas Island in Costa Rica has turned from a bleak prison full of bitter memories to a tourist paradise with a nature park and stunning beaches.
Hundreds of meters from the coast of Nicoya Bay in the Pacific Ocean, San Lucas Island was located, which was known as a prison whose inhuman conditions were subjected to torture, and from 1873 to 1991 when the center was closed.
The prison, which was left neglected, was classified on the National Heritage List in 1995, and the island was declared a nature reserve in 2001. This year, San Lucas Island has become brighter with its openness to tourists, despite the measures imposed by virtue of the health crisis caused by the emerging Corona virus.
the first lady
Since last year, several public bodies have been working on rehabilitating this island, by charting paths to explore the rich nature and livestock and organizing the former prison to receive visitors there.
Claudia Dupless, wife of President Carlos Alvarado, was on the front lines of this $ 2.4 million project.
The first lady said, "San Lucas is a wonderful cultural, historical and engineering site with its beaches and its biodiversity ... and the island is considered the best treasure of Costa Rica's coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean."
San Lucas, at the time of the prison's construction 117 years ago, was used to imprison "undesirable" politicians by the military government of President Thomas Guardia (1870-1876 and 1877-1882).
The facility has turned into a maximum security prison, where the most violent criminals in the country are imprisoned.
Twinning agreement
Writer Jose Leon Sanchez spent nearly 10 years behind her bars.
And he revealed in his autobiographical novel "The Island of Lonely Men", which was published in 1963 and turned into a movie in 1974 in Mexico, about the ill-treatment, lack of food, and rape suffered by prisoners.
Its seven cells, subject to strict protection, were distributed around a circular courtyard, in the middle of which was a pit covered with a net, as the novelist described it as a cell for those who tried to escape from prison.
The prisoners would have preferred death to being thrown into this hole for one day, according to Jose Leon Sanchez.
The prisoner's tragic diaries are still engraved on the painted walls of the prison.
One prisoner left a trail of his passion for football with a drawing of a player wearing a yellow Brazilian jersey.
The Costa Rican government intends to conclude a twinning agreement with the prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay (California), given the many similarities between them.
Today, the sounds of monkeys replace the moans of prisoners on this 500-hectare island.
"There is a lot of environmental diversity here," said Giovanni Mora, who has worked as a guard on the island for 14 years, recounting a long list of endemic animals, such as Virginia deer, squirrels and iguana.
No swimming
Due to the health crisis, tours on the island are limited to weekends with three tours per day and a maximum of 40 people within a group.
They are subject to preventive measures, and they are prohibited from swimming in the sea.
Despite all these restrictions, last August the island received 920 visitors, most of them from Costa Rica.
The island is considered the best treasure of Costa Rica's coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean ... and was declared a nature reserve in 2001.
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