After independence from the Spanish metropolitan power, and in the process of shaping the Central American national states, racism took on a new role under the influence of eugenics. Ideas of separate development emerged and politicians attempted to confine Afrodescendants to the Caribbean coastal lowlands. These politicians also erased memories of colonial Afro-mestizo heritage, creating an idealized image of past societies as homogeneous, static, and the sole product of an epic Spanish achievement (Gudmundson, 1986). Despite that, the actions of Afro-Antillean immigrants have challenged the traditional narrative and have recovered the true story of African heritage within the culturally diverse Central American nations.