Jesús A. Permuy (born 1935) is a Cuban-American architect, urban planner, human rights activist, art collector, and businessman. He is known for an extensive career of community projects and initiatives in Florida, Washington, D.C., Europe, and Latin America.
Biography Jesús Permuy was born in Havana, Cuba to Spanish parents who had emigrated from the Galicia region of Spain to Havana a decade prior to his birth. After completing his secondary education, Permuy studied architecture at the School of Architecture and Planning in the University of Havana. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the Cuban Revolution.
Permuy played a leading role in the opposition to Fidel Castro and the Communist forces through the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (Movement for Revolutionary Recovery – MRR), the most prominent faction in the anti-Castro counterrevolution coalition and resistance, eventually serving as its National Coordinator. Following the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, he fled first to Venezuela for several months, and then permanently relocated to the United States where he joined the Cuban community in exile. There he continued both his architecture and urban planning studies and career. He would also become known internationally for taking up activism in support of democracy and human rights for the Cuban people in the face of ongoing abuses by the Castro government. As such, Permuy would become one of the leading figures organizing and mobilizing the international community against the Castro government from the 1970s to the early 21st century through various organizations and platforms, including the United Nations and the United States Congress.
In addition to his career in architecture, planning, and human rights activism, Permuy was a key member of the early Latin art community of Miami as an art collector and gallery owner during the 1970s. He launched The Permuy Gallery with his first wife, prominent art promoter Marta Permuy, which became historically significant as one of the first Cuban Art galleries in South Florida following the Cuban exodus. Over the course of his career Permuy has had leading public roles in multiple civic, community, and religious organizations, including service as a longtime Councilman of the Agrupacion Catolica Universitaria, and hosted a weekly radio show on Radio Paz.. Following his legacy, the Permuy family has remained active in art, architecture, politics, and community development initiatives.
Movement for Revolutionary Recovery
Following Fidel Castro's rise to power in 1959 in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution and his subsequent dismantling of Cuba's democratic systems and institutions, Permuy became involved in efforts to advocate for democracy and organize resistance to the entrenchment of the Castro regime and its progression into authoritarian Communism. Permuy was first recruited into the Movimiento de Recuperación Revolucionaria (Movement for Revolutionary Recovery; MRR) in 1959 by Rogelio Gonzalez Corzo, the organization's National Coordinator.
Permuy initially helped lead the MRR's student arm, overseeing the members and activities in seven of the thirteen schools of the University of Havana, Cuba's primary university. Among his actions in the student branch of the movement, Permuy helped organize a major protest of over 100 University of Havana students against the state visit of top Soviet Minister Anastas Mikoyan on February 5, 1960, during which the protestors removed Mikoyan's wreath at the José Martí Monument in the Parque Central and replaced it with their own. Permuy was then arrested as a result of his role in the protest, though he was able to secure a release.
Permuy then joined the MRR's Security Division when he became Secretary of Security before being elevated to Civic Coordinator and ultimately serving as National Coordinator of the MRR following Curzo's execution by Castro's regime in 1961. Following the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Permuy fled to Venezuela through the Venezuelan Embassy in Cuba and remained there for several months under diplomatic protection until permanently relocating to the United States in 1962.
Architecture and urban planning An early notable project in Permuy's architecture career was the Colegio de Belen summer camp complex (officially: Campamento de Verano del Colegio de Belén en El Salado). Located in Playa El Salado near Playa Baracoa, Permuy designed the project alongside fellow Cuban architect Jorge Dorta-Duque in 1957. Built on a Jesuit property known as El Salado, the project created a new complex for the school to expand their summer programs, including eight pavilions, dormitories, a chapel, a cafeteria, and a game room. Prior to the Cuban Revolution, the camp offered sports activities, field trips to locations across Cuba, and language courses by Jesuit priests from the United States.
After relocating to Miami in 1962, Permuy continued working in the architecture field. During the 1960s and 1970s, Permuy was part of the architecture teams behind several prominent Florida structures and landmarks including the New World Tower and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Alongside his architecture career, in 1967 he received a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and became certified by both the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and the American Planning Association. Permuy's thesis, The Town Center: A Unifying Force, Severna Park. Maryland: A Case Study of the Problem of Structuring Identity in a Suburban Situation, outlined his urban planning philosophy of elevating socioeconomic conditions for both individuals and communities, such as through the plaza design model of cultural gathering spaces; it has subsequently been cited in published literature by the Council of Planning Librarians and the U.S. Department of Education. While residing in Washington, D.C., Permuy served as Head Planner of the Anne Arundel County Planning and Zoning Department's Project Planning Section in Maryland.
After relocating back to South Florida in 1969, he served as Planning Division Supervisor of Metro Dade County (now Miami-Dade County) Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) until 1973, when the Miami Herald reported that he resigned from the position for the private sector role of Vice President of International Investment Group Inc.'s Housing and Development branch. During his tenure as Planning Division Supervisor, Permuy oversaw revitalization initiatives in several socioeconomically challenged areas as well as restoration programs of cultural resources and historic districts in the region, including in Coral Gables and Coconut Grove. He would later return to the public sector to serve in the Metro Dade County's Office of Transportation Administration as Development Planning Branch Chief from 1978 to 1980.
Permuy's community activism led to the establishment of Little Havana's Jose Marti Park in 1980. He began efforts to create a park for the growing Hispanic community in the area in 1972, applying his urban planning background to help select the eventual location in 1973. Permuy recommended a site on the Miami River, which was met with some protest, but unanimously approved by the Miami City Commission.Ed Taylor, "Miami OKs 'Latin' Park Site", The Miami News (April 27, 1973), p. 16A. Permuy would go on to be a member of the five-person jury that chose the final design from a pool of thirteen submissions. The park also served as a safe gathering place for children in the Miami area during the instability of the drug crisis of the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1983, Permuy was appointed by Maurice Ferré and the Miami City Commission to the East Little Havana Task Force, which was assembled that year to investigate and combat the deteriorating economic and living conditions in the area as a result of the Mariel boatlift crisis. He was elected Vice Chair of the Taskforce later that year. In 1984 he was made co-chairman and helped develop the East Little Havana Redevelopment Plan, which was submitted to the City of Miami at the conclusion of the Taskforce that year. During this period, Ferré also appointed Permuy as Vice President and Government Alternate of the Allapattah Advisory Board and Community Action Agency to develop long-term socioeconomic growth plans for the area.
Internationally, Permuy was appointed by El Salvador's President José Napoleón Duarte to lead the Earthquake Reconstruction Committee in the aftermath of the 1986 San Salvador earthquake and consequently spent the following year training Salvadoran officials on modern urban planning principles following the reconstruction. While assisting with the rebuilding and regional planning efforts in the area, Permuy also worked with USAID to develop the Municipalities in Action program. Managed by Permuy's United Schools of America group, the program trained mayors and other local leaders and officials in El Salvador and Guatemala on how to manage and support democratic governments and institutions from 1986 to 1988.
Permuy has also been a frequent guest lecturer, traveling nationally and internationally to share his expertise and design philosophy with several leading institutions including Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, the University of Miami, and Florida International University. Permuy also served as a Jury Member for the University of Miami Department of Architecture and Planning, and has taught graduate-level urban planning courses at Florida International University in the 1980s.
His 21st century projects have included leading the effort to establish a memorial to Cuban priest and independence leader Félix Varela at his original tomb in St. Augustine’s historic Tolomato Cemetery, creating a pilgrimage site for the Cuban diaspora. Permuy has also served on several civic and community boards, panels, and committees. These included the board of the Miami-Dade Employment and Economic Development Corporation, the Miami Dade County Affordable Housing Advisory Board (AHAB) (2006, 2007), and ten years on the City of Miami's Urban Development Review Board (UDRB) (2008 to 2018) the Latin Community Board. Permuy currently serves on the Miami-Dade County Social and Economic Development Council, and is a Principal in the firm Permuy Architecture.
Human rights activism Jesús Permuy has been a prominent figure in spotlighting human rights in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution since emigrating to the United States. From 1967 to 2006, Permuy led or represented several international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active on the world stage, and partnered with human rights NGOs including Amnesty International, Freedom House, the International Association of Educators for World Peace, and the International Association for the Defense of Religious Liberty. His international human rights advocacy included official activities with the United Nations, the United States Congress, the United States Department of State, world leaders, diplomats, military and cultural figures.