We've been trying to open the gates of communication between Havana and Miami through art, which is apolitical most of the time: It doesn't have anything to do with politics and is only an exchange of ideas.
Jorge M. Perez
The worlds of art, philanthropy, and business are absolutely intertwined.
I was never supposed to be a businessman. I was going to change the world. I was going to go back to Latin America and work on agrarian reform and equalize the differences between rich and poor.
The embargo doesn't affect the United States, not even minimally; all of Cuba's economy is smaller than that of Miami-Dade County, and the ones who suffer the most are Cubans. If you talk to them in the street, they're the ones most interested in the opening of a free market in their country.
We try to buy from living artists because we love to understand why they are painting or sculpting and get into their minds.
I started my career as an urban planner, working for the city, doing what I would call 'do-gooder' things, particularly for low-income neighborhoods.
My father was a businessman, but my mother was an intellectual. She cared about culture, politics, and philosophy, so I became interested in the protest aspect of Latin American art.
I really wanted to be Ambassador to Argentina.
If I die and am worth $50 million as opposed to $3 billion, it is really not important.
I've really been extremely lucky. Some people work just as hard, are just as intelligent, and they don't get their breaks. I've just gotten the breaks. Maybe it's good karma.
Personally, what I would like the most is to work on a project that would aid the historic rehabilitation of Havana. It's a shame - and it gives me tremendous sadness - to see the precious buildings, to see a city, which could be the most beautiful in Latin America, falling apart and with very little money for renovations.
If they opened things up and I could build a luxury condominium in Vedado, I would sell them in two hours here in Miami. Cubans in Miami would be the first to buy. In Miami, 80 percent of the people we sell to are foreigners. Havana is a city very similar to Miami... There's good music, good theater, good ballet.
I have two young sons that are very interested and work in real estate. I made it a policy they need to work five years in progressively responsible jobs outside of the company, preferably in New York, and then get a masters degree, so I am making it hard for them to join.
Art, like real estate, is half science, half gut. We go to a lot of art fairs. We have two full-time art experts who help me make all the decisions about how to build the corporate and personal collection and what we put in our developments. We don't let interior designers pick art for us.
I don't think of investing in Cuba after all the hardships of the people there as a profit-making thing for us. I have thought of it as revitalizing the island.
I have made more money than I ever thought anybody should ever make. But who cares if you're worth $500 million or $1 billion? That is not what I want to be remembered for, but for giving something back.
You have to live life to the fullest. I don't want to slow down. I want the giving to be stepped up. So the older I get, the less I will be involved in the business side, the more in the philanthropic side.
I think most people want to be remembered with the causes they feel worthwhile and helped promote.
