Antisemitism in Costa Rica  Antisemitism in Costa Rica refers to the anti-Jewish sentiment and prejudice in the Republic of Costa Rica. The first Jews arriving to Costa Rica were mostly Sephardic Jews from Spain escaping persecution. Most of them New Christians and marranos. Although some may have been crypto-Jewish it's impossible to know how many were Roman Catholics and how many weren't. As part of the Spanish Empire the Spanish Inquisition was in place in the province of Costa Rica, however there's no registry of any Jew ever to have been trialed or executed, as the only registry of an Inquisition trial in Costa Rica was against a couple of young women accused of Witchcraft who were absolved. After gaining independence the first Costa Rican Constitution, the Pact of Concord of 1821 established the Catholic religion as the mandatory religion (not only official but compulsory) banning all other creeds for the citizens of Costa Rica and only allowing the practice of other religions for foreigners who were temporary in the country. This, of course, affected the Jews already living in the country who had to practice their religion in secret, inspiring the myth of the "witches of Escazú". Escazú had one of the largest Jewish communities and the Jewish rites (using black clothes and speaking in "strange languages" [Hebrew] among other things made some observers to think that it was some sort of magical ritual). However freedom of religion was established in the following Constitution, 1925's Fundamental Law of the State of Costa Rica as in the Federal Republic of Central America in general of which the State of Costa Rica was a member, allowing Jews to practice freely. Successive migration from Sephardic Jews from places like Curacao, Panama and Jamaica faced relative tranquility, though Jews didn't had their own graveyard and Sephardic Jews were buried (alongside Protestants, Muslims, Baha’is and other minorities) in the Foreigners’ Cemetery, a practice that continues to this date. After the foundation of Freemasonry in Costa Rica anti-Masonic publications mostly from the Church also associated Masonry with Judaism, as did the publication of the anti-Masonic Catholic party, the Catholic Union in 1891 accusing it of being the "flesh and bones of Talmudism". The first major waves of Jewish migrations came in the late 19th century and early 20th century mainly from Ashkenazi Polish Jews who did not mix with the Sephardic. These migratory waves escaping the European anti-Semitism and the rise of Nazism were controversial in the Costa Rican society and caused heated debates in the press, producing also a large number of anti-Semitic articles and the births of far-right anti-Semitic groups like the Patriotic Union and the Anti-Jewish Committee.