Monument in honor of Cuban rafters "Liberty Column"
Description:
In December 1994, a public monument, called the Liberty Column, was inaugurated in Miami commemorating the journey and suffering of Cuban rafters. Designed by sculptor Enzo Gallo, the statue consists of hands raised to the sky and a round marble column set in a fountain. It is located at Bay Front Park in Miami in front of the Hotel Intercontinental. The statue was vandalized in 2004 and restored by Cuban-American sculptor Marc Andries Smit. The plaque beside the monument reads, “Since 1959, thousands of Cubans have perished anonymously while fleeing tyranny in small boats and makeshift rafts although their names, like martyred refugees of other nations, are written solely on the pages of the sea, this column is a permanent testimony of the human need to be free.”
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Materials related to Cuban, Dominican and Haitian maritime migration from 1965-1996, including camps at the U.S. Naval Station, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, 1991-1996.
