Two pigs pardoned from Christmas asado in Miami’s Cuban twist on holiday mercy

Nochebuena is only days away, but pig siblings Holly and Jolly have already received their gifts: formal reprieves from la caja China.

Now in its fifth year, Miami’s Cuban twist on a presidential turkey pardon returned to Brickell Avenue on Wednesday. Miami-Dade County’s mayor granted pretend executive mercy to Holly and Jolly, a pair of young rescue pigs at a restaurant famous for selling thousands of pounds of roast pork every Christmas.

READ MORE: These little piggies stayed home: Miami-Dade mayor pardons four pigs for Nochebuena

“They’re going to live their golden years free from open fires and hungry Miamians,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in the outdoor dining area of the Latin Café Brickell location, a Cuban restaurant where pork is served fried, grilled, and roasted. “While you’re here, enjoy some lunch. But think about the pigs.”

The pig pardoning pays homage to the Latin American holiday tradition of serving roast pork for a Christmas Eve dinner. The Nochebuena meal often is cooked in a grill box known as a caja China, but many households opt to purchase their puerco asado to go.

The Latin Café’s catering arm expects to sell more than 300 roast-pork holiday dinners ahead of Christmas. A paleta de puerco asada costs $80 and serves up to 10 people.

When did Miami start pardoning pigs?

Miami’s pork-pardoning pomp traces its origins back to the Trump White House and Thanksgiving 2018, when Latin Café co-owner Kali Castellanos saw the president pardon a turkey on television. At the time, she and her husband, co-owner Eric Castellanos, were preparing holiday puerco asada meals for Miami Thanksgiving orders.

“I said: We should pardon a pig,” Kali Castellanos said. The couple pitched the idea to then-mayor Carlos Gimenez, who agreed to preside over the first ceremony in 2018, when Luna and Leila were declared forever spared from becoming dinner.

While Miami-Dade’s charter puts the mayor in charge of the county’s police force, the job does not come with pardoning power. Holly and Jolly owe their real-life safety to Aguacate, a yoga retreat and animal sanctuary in the West Miami-Dade area, where revenue from a juice bar helps keep the pigs fed.

Owner Daney Cabrera said the two pigs arrived at Aguacate after they were found abandoned at a nearby property, and that she’s hoping to find a family willing to take them in as pets. That’s been the fate of Miami-Dade’s prior “pardoned” pigs, which received proclamations from the county but rely on the private-sector for homes.

The 2020 pardoned pig, Chans, still lives at Aguacate, where he’s grown to 500 pounds and learned some tricks.

“He’s fully trained,” Cabrera said. “He knows how to sit, spin and walk on a leash.”

At Levine Cava pig pardoning, a pitch for veganism

Aguacate’s central role in providing sanctuary to Holly and Jolly had the pardon ceremony straddling two themes: a celebration of Miami’s roast-pork tradition mixed with a plea to consider eating no meat. In her remarks, Cabrera said the commercial harvesting of livestock means pain for animals and an unhealthy diet for people.

“We try to teach our community that we don’t have to celebrate Christmas or any day of the year with suffering, antibiotics or processed meat,” she said.

As Latin Café staff circulated cafecitos and spinach croquetas, Levine Cava endorsed benefits of veganism even if she conceded she wasn’t embracing it as the mayor continues eating pork and other meats.

“We know a plant-based diet is better for the planet, and better for your health,” she said. “I’m working on that.”

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