Miami moves to name new park at Inter Miami stadium after Jorge Mas Canosa

The 58-acre park planned for the land next to Inter Miami’s future stadium will be named after Cuba exile leader and businessman Jorge Mas Canosa.

On Thursday, Miami commissioners gave initial approval to designating the future park Jorge Mas Canosa Park in honor of the MasTec founder and passionate advocate who amplified Cuban exile politics beyond Miami until it resonated in Washington’s halls of power. The vote was unanimous and co-sponsored by all five commissioners, making a final upcoming vote a formality.

Mas Canosa died at 58 of complications from lung cancer in 1997. Two of his sons, Jorge Mas and Jose Mas, are part owners of Miami’s Major League Soccer franchise and are redeveloping the land near Miami International Airport for the park and a 72-acre commercial center that will include a stadium. The brothers recently won a key zoning vote that allows the redevelopment to begin construction within months.

Jorge Mas, MasTec’s chairman, attended Thursday’s vote with his mother, Mas Canosa’s widow, Irma Santos-Espronceda. Mas grew emotional as he thanked the commission for the honor.

“My father was a very proud Miamian, but he held Cuba in his heart, in his mind, in his soul, 24 hours a day,” Mas said. “As we grew up, the conversations at our dinner table all revolved around how blessed we were to live in a free land, but that we all had a responsibility to make sure that until all people were free, especially our Cuban brothers and sisters, we cannot rest.”

Mas Canosa founded the Cuban American National Foundation and was seen as a leading candidate in a democratic Cuba. A powerful lobbyist who had the ear of presidents and Washington lawmakers, Mas Canosa and the foundation championed the creation of Radio Martí, a U.S. radio station that has broadcast news and entertainment to the island since 1985.

Commissioner Joe Carollo, the designation’s original sponsor, introduced the item with comments that acknowledged what might raise the eyebrows of longtime Miamians — Mas Canosa and Carollo once feuded so bitterly in the 1980s that Mas Canosa challenged Carollo to a duel in a “field of honor” in Central America. The two men were at odds over a controversial real estate waterfront development supported by the foundation.

“Yes, while I was a very young commissioner, we had one particular item that we had a major difference in,” said Carollo, who came to the U.S. from Cuba as a child. “That doesn’t detract from what he accomplished. That doesn’t detract from what he did.”

The commissioner praised Mas Canosa’s advocacy and lauded him as “probably one of the most unique, if not the most, I would say, unique and talented Cuban American in modern times.”

Commissioner Manolo Reyes, a staunch opponent of Melreese’s redevelopment, said his opposition to the deal did not impact his respect for Mas Canosa.

“Although I had voted against the project, I will never vote against naming a piece of Miami after Jorge Mas Canosa, because he was an integral part of Miami,” Reyes said. “We Cubans, we have to be very grateful.”

Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla recounted seeing his grandfather send a check for $5 to the Cuban American National Foundation every month with the hope that Cubans could celebrate the next major holiday on the island again.

“Forget all the other bills, the first thing that he did was send those five dollars,” Díaz de la Portilla said. “That’s what he meant to so many Cubans that were longing to return to a free nation.”

This story was originally published September 22, 2022 at 4:08 PM.