Are Jamaican .jm domains truly free?
 

According to Wikipedia, .jm domains are free to register. There is nothing written about local presence required. There doesn't seem to be a registry website that is clear, I did find a link to an online subscription form in order to claim a domain under .jm.

Does anyone know if this is indeed free?

In regular circumstances (= paid domains) I wouldn't go for a .jm domain, but if it's free then no harm can be done. Probably a lot of interesting domains are still available under .jm while they're long gone under the more common ccTLD's.