Miami's Bayfront Park celebrates
almost all the Americas
En español: El Bayfront Park de Miami celebra casi todas las Américas
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By Miguel Pérez
Dec. 18, 2024 — Have you noticed how we go to parks and museums when we travel and then tend to ignore similar attractions in our own hometown? My friends in Miami tell me that this happens to them too. Although I grew up there, I see Miami as a tourist now. This makes me notice things that are overlooked by local folks. |
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Take Miami's Bayfront Park, where I would ride my bicycle as a teenager in the 1960s. I would go there mostly to visit the main branch of the Miami Public Library, where a world of knowledge was opened to me like never before. The library has since moved out of the park, but during my recent visit there, I saw things I had never noticed before, especially the omission of Cuba from the park's iconic "Torch of Friendship" Monument.
Facing the grand Biscayne Boulevard in the heart of downtown Miami, the monument features a burning torch on an 18-foot pedestal backed by a wall displaying the coat of arms of every nation in the Americas — except one. They are lined up in alphabetical order, but between Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, there is an empty space where the Cuban coat of arms belongs. |
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The monument was dedicated in 1960 and re-dedicated to honor former President John F. Kennedy in 1964, two months after his assassination. U.S. relations with Cuba, following the Bay of Pigs and Missile Crisis confrontations, were beyond strained. It was politically incorrect to include Cuba in the monument at that time.
And so, instead of including the Cuban coat of arms as an act of friendship toward the Cuban people, Miami city officials, influenced by Cuban exiles, used the empty space as an act of defiance against the Cuban communist regime. You've heard of "cutting off your nose to spite your face," right? Well, I had never seen a monument live up to that saying. |
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It didn't make much sense then, but it makes even less sense now. More than 60 years have passed. Cuban Americans travel to their country frequently and the Cuban coat of arms is all over Miami, except Bayfront Park. Now there are other unfriendly governments in the Americas, yet they are still represented on the friendship wall.
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Because of its prime location and symbolism, over the years, the Torch of Friendship became a magnet for all kinds of demonstrations — for free speech, civil rights, against wars, and of course, against the Cuban communist dictatorship. But some radical Cubans also used the monument to protest against some of the countries represented there. In 1974, three Cubans drove a U-Haul truck into the torch and toppled it. They claimed they were doing it, not because of the missing Cuban coat of arms, but “As a symbol of protest against those countries favoring relations with the Fidel Castro regime,” according to published news reports at that time. And one year later, after it had been repaired, a bomb was ignited there, forcing the monument to close for repairs once again.
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To enlarge these images, click on them!
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As a Cuban-American who grew up in Miami, I can understand how the hot political climate of the 1960s could have led to the omission of Cuba when the monument was built. I could even understand it now, if a stronger statement was made there, instead of an empty space.
I bet most people who go there do not even see the significance of that empty space. Some may have noticed it back then, but few will notice it now, not when they see that Venezuela and Nicaragua are still there, not when there is no explanation for omitting only Cuba. |
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Doesn't Miami also have reason to omit the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan governments from the list of friends on the Torch of Friendship? Why are their coast of arms still on that wall?
The answer is simple: Because they should all be there! Because we should celebrate our friendship with the people of the Americas, not their often misguided governments. As it is now, to understand the significance of this monument, park visitors would not only have to notice that only Cuba is missing; they would have to place themselves in the 1960s to understand why. |
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Granted, there is a plaque near the Torch of Friendship which notes that 'We are the Cubans who left behind family, friends and all our possessions in search of freedom and opportunity. And only in America, the land of endless opportunity, have we found the rights that we lost in our homeland. We are here today to express our immense gratitude to this country and the warm welcome that you extended us. ´Muchas gracias, America"!
I feel the same way! But since this plaque was erected in 1976, some 16 years after the torch monument, it feels almost like an afterthought, as if somehow trying to get Cubans mentioned in the park to make up for the omission. |
Jose G. Artigas, Uruguay; . . . . . . . . Simón Bolivar, Venezuela; . . . . . . . . Ruben Dario, Nicaragua
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Yet, surprisingly, this plaque still offers no explanation for the missing Cuban coat of arms, for the benefit of park visitors who may not know Miami's Cuban history.
The plaque is hard to read when you are standing in front of it. But if you are driving by on Biscayne Boulevard, which it the way most people see these monuments, good luck! Bottom line: Although the park has a very old and weak way of demonstrating Miami's opposition to communist Cuba, at least I can see an explanation for the way it was done and how we got here. What has no acceptable explanation is the omission of Cuba's ultimate patriot, José Martí, from Miami's main downtown park. |
Juan Pablo Duarte, Republica Dominicana; Admiral Miguel Grau, Peru: MISSING MARTÍ
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In Bayfront Park and across the street on Biscayne Boulevard, I found Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce de Leon, Simon Bolivar, of Venezuela (twice), Jose G. Artigas, of Uruguay; Admiral Miguel Grau, of Peru; Juan Pablo Duarte, of the Dominican Republic; Ruben Dario, of Nicaragua; General D. Jose de San Martin, of Argentina; Bernardo O'Higgins, of Chile; and Capitán Arturo Prat Chacón, also of Chile. The Simon Bolivar statue is also backed by a wall with the coats of arms of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
But the José Martí who still rides a horse in the most impressive statue New York's Central Park, the one who has monuments in many American cities and all over South Florida, is nowhere to be seen in the main downtown park in the city known for its huge Cuban-American population. |
Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile; Gen. D. Jose de San Martin, Argentina; Capt. Arturo Prat Chacón, Chile
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How is that possible? Did I miss something? Was I searching in the wrong area? Is there a Martí monument there that I did not see? Is there any possible reason for leaving the apostle of freedom in the Americas out of Bayfront Park? Will someone please correct me if I'm wrong? This is one time I want to be wrong!
When tourists visit Bayfront Park, especially its popular Bayside shopping and dining area, do they come away thinking that Cubans have no heroes? Everyone else seems to be there! But frankly, even the heroes who are honored there are not getting much attention nowadays. Many of them are not easily accessible! It is obvious that the city has not paid much attention to its downtown monuments for a long time, especially the middle of Biscayne Boulevard. |
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Perhaps there was a time when there was more foot traffic on the boulevard and more people were able to come close to the many busts of Latin American historical figures there. But as they are now, spread apart in a parking lot and buried under the elevated track of Miami's Metromover train, they seem to be part of a gallery of forgotten heroes!
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You actually have to walk several blocks in a parking lot if you want to see them all. Wouldn't it make more sense to group them together and create a small historical sculpture gallery inside the park? Relocating those busts to a common area would make them an attraction, much like Mallory Square Plaza in Key West (See photos).
In my travels around the country, I have found Martí in many unexpected places, and I was always pleasantly surprised. In Bayfront Park, not finding him was even more surprising, and very unpleasant. |
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Of course, in South Florida, you can find many tributes to Martí. I even found him in a new Miami cultural center that is still being built! And he handed me the white rose from his famous poem! (See photo).
But that is no excuse for leaving him out of Bayfront Park, where he should share a space with other Latin American heroes. Perhaps it is time for Miami city officials to reevaluate the way they present their downtown monuments. Surely their huge Latin American population deserves a place where they can feel proud of all their homeland heroes. When I ride my bicycle there again, I would love to see a much more inclusive celebration of all the Americas and its heroes. |
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José Martí elsewhere in South Florida:
José Martí Park, Little Havana
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Marti Monument in Little Havana
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Outside Our Lady of Charity Chapel
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San Carlos Institute, Key West
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“Cultivo una rosa blanca"
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Martí Monument, Key West
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Also read: José Martí: His Legacy Lives Here
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