This Winter Is a Celebration of Florida Freedom
Originally published at FloridaPolitics.com
As winter comes to Miami, Floridians can brace for the same old swell in visitor traffic. Despite reports of diminished tourist interest in South Florida, the state is (still) very much trending up.
Empirically, heightened excitement about holiday travel to Caribbean hotspots suggests that Miami will receive its fair share of beachcombers, golfers, and partiers. In 2026, a record 21.7 million Americans are expected to go on ocean cruises, many of them leaving from PortMiami. Anecdotally, locals know that Bostonians, New Yorkers, and other northerners will scratch their itch for warm weather sooner rather than later. This is nothing new—death, taxes, and snowbirds.
What’s new is what the Magic City has in store for tourists, current Floridians, and future ones alike. Last month, Miami’s Freedom Tower reopened after an extensive two-year renovation, commemorating a century of history as a gateway to freedom for Cuban immigrants escaping Castro’s communism in search of the American Dream. Walking by the renovated Freedom Tower (Miami’s first skyscraper), the building earns its nickname as the “Ellis Island of the South” and is open to the general public as a museum.
It’s not the only one. At the nearby American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, visitors can explore “The Cuban Experience,” a permanent exhibit that immerses them in the brutality of the Castro regime and shares the stories of those who fled Cuba. From a simulated execution wall to recreated prison cells, The Cuban is a necessary reminder that freedom is not actually free; it must be cherished and protected from one generation to another. After all, Cuba went from an up-and-coming republic to an utter disaster under Fidel Castro in a single generation.
New York City seems to have forgotten the history lesson. Long considered the symbol of entrepreneurial spirit and free-market prosperity in the United States, the Big Apple has become a city where Zohran Mamdani’s brand of collectivism and redistribution can win a mayoral election.
Mamdani, who has called for “seizing the means of production,” may be the latest to put a smile on the face of government oppression, but Cubans and Venezuelans in Miami know better. I know better, as a child of escapees from what was once communist Yugoslavia, where the socioeconomic repercussions of socialist dogma are still felt today.
This is not to say that New York will turn into Havana overnight. Still, Mamdani’s popularity is an affront to the free market that built New York into a shining city on the hill in the first place. In this city, even socialists and communists reap the rewards of the American Dream.
Wealthy New Yorkers are already fleeing for the suburbs, and many won’t return to Manhattan with their credit card purchases and jobs in tow. Some will surely test out the Miami waters for good, as they did in 2020.
And they should. Miami, not New York, is now the symbol of American freedom. Just ask Cuban dissident José Daniel Ferrer, who arrived here after being freed from months of torture and humiliation in a Cuban prison.
Ferrer’s crime? Speaking out against the Castro regime.
Ask the hundreds of political prisoners who remain imprisoned on the communist island where freedom lives. Or ask María Corina Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize after years of exposing the Nicolás Maduro regime for its authoritarian practices and human rights violations. Machado was herself imprisoned earlier this year for daring to support democracy in Venezuela.
This winter, there is no better time to celebrate these freedom champions and the unique cultural heritage of Miami — home to Calle Ocho and Little Havana, Little Venezuela in Doral, and built testaments to the privilege of being American.
From the Freedom Tower to The Cuban, residents and visitors alike are reminded that there is much, much more to Miami than beach bars, nightclubs, and frustratingly slow traffic.
What makes Miami magical — especially in the winter months — is its multifaceted charm. This includes our collective appreciation for the American Dream, whether we hail from Caracas or Bosnia and Herzegovina (in my case).
To quote Ferrer, whose fight for a Cuba Libre is honored at The Cuban, “I want to see a free people.”
Ferrer included, we’re on full display here. That is worth celebrating over and over again.
