Fleeing Castro: Operation Pedro Pan and the Cuban Children's Program

by Victor Andres Triay

A stirring account of the covert effort to smuggle Cuban children into the United States in the aftermath of Fidel Castro's rise to power, Fleeing Castro brings to light the humanitarian program designed to care for the children once they arrived and the hardship and suffering endured by the families who took part in Operation Pedro Pan. From late 1960 until the October 1962 missile crisis, 14,048 unaccompanied Cuban children left their homeland, the small island suddenly at the center of the Cold War struggle. Their parents, unable to obtain visas to leave Cuba, believed a short separation would be preferable to subjecting their offspring to Castro's totalitarian Marxist state. For the children, the exodus began a prolonged and tragic ordeal―some didn’t see their parents again for years; a few never did. Until now, this chapter of the Cuban Revolution has been relatively obscure. Initially the result of an effort by James Baker, headmaster of an American school in Cuba who worked closely with the anti-Castro underground, Pedro Pan quickly came to involve the Catholic Church in Miami and, in particular, Father Bryan Walsh, who established the Cuban Children's Program, the nationwide organization that cared for those children without relatives or friends in the United States―almost half of them. The latter program, in effect until 1981, was the first to allot federal money to private agencies for child care, an action with far-reaching repercussions for U.S. social policy. Victor Andres Triay traces this story from its political and social origins in Cuba, setting it in the context of the Cold War and describing the roles of the organizations involved in Cuba and in the United States. Making use of extensive interviews with Baker, Walsh, and influential underground figures, as well as personal letters that document the fears and dreams of both the parents and the children, Triay presents this history of Pedro Pan―the largest child refugee movement ever in the Western Hemisphere--with the drama of an international thriller and the pathos of a heartbreaking family drama.

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 1998

Reviews

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent non fiction book about the Peter Pan program to take unaccompanied minors to the U S from Cuba. Well written & researched. I learned a lot about a program my parents used when I was 13 to send me to the US. Who knew my sister & I were on the first flight out?

[Violet · Rating 3 out of 5]

"They would march these children up and down the streets and they would say,

'Who is your leader?'
'Fidel!'
'Who is your hero?'
'Fidel!'
'Who is your God?'
'Fidel!'

...that was enough [to motivate parents to send their children away from Cuba]."

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father was a Pedro Pan. This is the most in depth explanation on how the program worked inside of Cuba that I've been able to find. Great details on the inner workings along with first person testimonials of Pedro Pan children. Recommended for anyone interested in the program