With Cafecito Cups and Direct Action, Miami Artists Rise Against “Alligator Alcatraz”

MIAMI — On a July afternoon, in an abandoned boutique sandwiched unassumingly between a dentist’s office, a Latin grocery store, and a barbershop, Little Havana residents and artists gathered for their afternoon cafecito ritual. But instead of coffee, the plastic fluted espresso cups held swamp mud from the Everglades and checkpoint soil from the entrance to Alligator Alcatraz, the notorious immigrant detention center at the center of a lawsuit alleging violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and Miccosukee land protections. On Thursday, August 21, a judge ordered the halting of operations at the prison, but the state quickly filed a motion to appeal the decision.

The performance by Miami artist Agua Dulce, titled “Untitled (todo lo que toques se transforma)” (2025), took place at the opening of The Artist As Activist, curated by Isabella Marie Garcia with works by members of Artists 4 Artists (A4A). In recent history, the advocacy group has mobilized in response to local challenges like the censorship of political art for Palestine, inequitable pay, and funding cuts. But since Alligator Alcatraz’s construction, A4A has shifted into high gear, convening artists to employ a range of defensive strategies against detention — accompanying migrants to their court hearings, participating in direct action, collecting stories of those detained, leading workshops to help affected families, and creating graphics to build awareness about the history and contemporary politics of the camp.

Misael Soto, a lead organizer of A4A, told Hyperallergic that they want the organization to “commit itself to taking a stance,” encouraging artists to draw on their special expertise to “affect real change in this city.”…

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