A series of busts of Latin American leaders reside along a parking median in downtown Miami, Florida. Most of them honor the people who helped liberate specific South American countries but all of them are connected to individuals that have greatly impacted one or multiple modern countries in Central and South America. Their placement without any wider context of this history or as part of the space misses out on their potential of being so much more on every level.
A bust of Simón Bolívar was sculpted by Carlos Puig in 1973 and was moved to the parking median in 1990. Known as the Liberator of America, he led multiple fights for independence from the Spanish Empire. This bust is symbolically linked to the full statue of Bolívar that resides near the Torch of Friendship.
Nearby it is a bust of José de San Martín that commemorates the bicentennial of the birth of the man who became known as the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru. Further down the media is a bust of Bernardo O’Higgins, who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. The bust of Juan Pablo Duarte, who was the foremost of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic, has the most ornate marker of any of the busts. The bust of Rubén Darío celebrates his contributions to Nicaragua.
Placed throughout multiple parking medians, these busts have little physical connection and sparse context of the importance of the individual, much less the history and connection that exists between many of them. All of them have an indirect connection to the sculptures and countries honored at the Circle of Friendship, illustrating the enormous potential for these monuments to be part of something bigger.
What might otherwise be a forgotten space in downtown Miami could instead provide audiences with an experience that connects them with the history and culture of Central and South America. These cultures can be seen all across Miami, highlighting the incredible potential these busts have to be part of something bigger for the space and the city.
