Operacion Pedro Pan Book

A shocking story about parents in Cuba sending their children alone to the US in hopes of reuniting with them in the US, or sending for them after Fidel Castro loses power, and we all know how well that went. The author, who is a Pedro Pan child, becomes aware of it by reading about it in an article by Joan Didion. She does a good job telling the stories of individuals, some who were very fortunate and some who were very unfortunate, but all agreed that they were affected by the separation from their parents, calling it a loss of innocence. Some went to relatives, some into foster homes, some in Catholic group homes, and some in government operated group facilities. There were 14,048 children and the author locates about 1,000 of them and 442 return her survey. She also interviews many of the now adults. The book was written in 1995, and the exodus of children, mostly by plane, occurred in 1960-62. This exodus is not to be confused with the later boat lifts or refugees on small boats, although there are some powerful stories there, too. She begins her book with the history of Fidel Castro and his journey to power and communism, which did not reveal itself until he was already in power. For Cuba which was overwhelmingly Catholic, it was devastating. He planned to send children to Russia to learn their culture, politics and ways. Parents were frantic about what to do. And unknown to me, these parents were aware of the Spanish civil war in the 1930s where children were sent by their parents abroad for safety, plus WWII where British families sent their children to America for safety. It was a very cruel world in the 1930, 40, 60, and of course, today, we watch the Syrian refugees now, whose stories we will read in 20 years. I was compelled to read this book after meeting a Pedro Pan, called Peter Pan when they arrived in the US, who was one of the fortunate ones who was claimed by an Uncle in Miami. He initially was separated from his sister, though, which had to be traumatic. Luckily, he is a terrific family man with a prosperous business. The author does a great job displaying the data she collected.