Eloisa Echazabal, former Pedro Pan child, has produced this informative video about the exodus. Click to view. (My apologies, Eloisa, for the inability of this website software to include the proper accent marks in your name.)
To see a recently held, fascinating roundtable discussion about Operation Pedro Pan held at the Smithsonian, click here: http://www.laservision.org.uk/operation-pedro-pan-the-largest-recorded-exodus-of-unaccompanied-minors-in-the-western-hemisphere/
What is a "Pedro Pan?"
If you don't know, sadly you are not alone.
Pedro Pans were children who were part of an exodus of 14,048 unaccompanied children from Cuba during the early stages of Fidel Castro’s Communist regime in the early 1960's. This mission, later dubbed “Operation Pedro Pan,” (after the flying Disney character, Peter Pan) was a collaboration between James Baker, the headmaster of Ruston Academy, an American school in Havana, and the Catholic Welfare Bureau headed by Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh and funded by the United States government. It allowed for the waiver of visa requirements for Cuban children to enter America.
Initially, Operation Pedro Pan was created for children of parents in the underground opposition who would be orphaned if their parents were captured. However, as the grasp of Castro’s brutal regime reached farther into Cuban’s mainstream community, and the threat of Communist indoctrination became a reality, the program broadened to include working and middle class families. Eventually, thousands of parents made the ultimate sacrifice -- to send their children away from them and their homeland and hopefully into a more stable, safe, and better life. Working clandestinely from December 1960 to October 1962, Operation Pedro Pan would become the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere.
Cuban children came by airplane to Miami and were taken to one of several housing situations to wait for their placement throughout the United States. Close to 60 boys came to Marquette, MI to live in the Holy Family Orphans' Home until they could be reunited with their families. For a few, this was a short wait. For most, it was three to five years before their families could come to the US. 10% of Pedro Pans never reunited.
Outside of the Pedro Pan community, there is very little collective knowledge of this chapter in history. I hope to change that by writing and publishing an historical fiction, upper middle grade chapter book about a Pedro Pan and his American friend -- both in exile at the Holy Family Orphans' Home.
Here is the draft overview:
This historical fiction, middle grade chapter book is for readers aged 10-14+. The main characters in the story are based upon the lives of real people. However, this book is not a complete representation of their lives or the events that occurred.
Set in an orphanage in 1961 just before the Cuban Missile Crisis, this is the story of how friendship saves two culturally dissimilar 12 year old boys who are tragically disconnected from their families.
*****************************************************************
CHASING HOME
Danny suddenly finds himself a half-orphan after his mother dies, his father succumbs to alcoholism, and he is handed over to an abusive family friend. Danny runs away and lands in the Holy Family Orphans' Home in Marquette, MI. This orphanage is the foster home for 40 boys who are part of Operation Pedro Pan.
Danny and Emilio, a Cuban exile, come together through Father Timothy, the monsignor in charge of the orphanage. Because primarily Cubans live at the orphanage, their food, music, and emotions permeate the environment. Danny enters a milieu very different from his experience in a small Midwestern town. Outside the orphanage, Emilio faces discrimination, language barriers, and living conditions vastly different from his former life experience.
The boys find common ground through their mutual desire to return to their old lives and their interest in baseball. However, when an older Cuban boy bullies Danny, Emilio must choose his alliance and the clash between cultures becomes clear.
Outside influences and abandonment wounds threaten their tentative friendship. But, when they accept that their old lives are gone forever and recognize the value of their friendship, they forge an unbreakable bond -- and find hope in their future.
Pedro Pans were children who were part of an exodus of 14,048 unaccompanied children from Cuba during the early stages of Fidel Castro’s Communist regime in the early 1960's. This mission, later dubbed “Operation Pedro Pan,” (after the flying Disney character, Peter Pan) was a collaboration between James Baker, the headmaster of Ruston Academy, an American school in Havana, and the Catholic Welfare Bureau headed by Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh and funded by the United States government. It allowed for the waiver of visa requirements for Cuban children to enter America.
Initially, Operation Pedro Pan was created for children of parents in the underground opposition who would be orphaned if their parents were captured. However, as the grasp of Castro’s brutal regime reached farther into Cuban’s mainstream community, and the threat of Communist indoctrination became a reality, the program broadened to include working and middle class families. Eventually, thousands of parents made the ultimate sacrifice -- to send their children away from them and their homeland and hopefully into a more stable, safe, and better life. Working clandestinely from December 1960 to October 1962, Operation Pedro Pan would become the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied minors in the Western Hemisphere.
Cuban children came by airplane to Miami and were taken to one of several housing situations to wait for their placement throughout the United States. Close to 60 boys came to Marquette, MI to live in the Holy Family Orphans' Home until they could be reunited with their families. For a few, this was a short wait. For most, it was three to five years before their families could come to the US. 10% of Pedro Pans never reunited.
Outside of the Pedro Pan community, there is very little collective knowledge of this chapter in history. I hope to change that by writing and publishing an historical fiction, upper middle grade chapter book about a Pedro Pan and his American friend -- both in exile at the Holy Family Orphans' Home.
Here is the draft overview:
This historical fiction, middle grade chapter book is for readers aged 10-14+. The main characters in the story are based upon the lives of real people. However, this book is not a complete representation of their lives or the events that occurred.
Set in an orphanage in 1961 just before the Cuban Missile Crisis, this is the story of how friendship saves two culturally dissimilar 12 year old boys who are tragically disconnected from their families.
*****************************************************************
CHASING HOME
Danny suddenly finds himself a half-orphan after his mother dies, his father succumbs to alcoholism, and he is handed over to an abusive family friend. Danny runs away and lands in the Holy Family Orphans' Home in Marquette, MI. This orphanage is the foster home for 40 boys who are part of Operation Pedro Pan.
Danny and Emilio, a Cuban exile, come together through Father Timothy, the monsignor in charge of the orphanage. Because primarily Cubans live at the orphanage, their food, music, and emotions permeate the environment. Danny enters a milieu very different from his experience in a small Midwestern town. Outside the orphanage, Emilio faces discrimination, language barriers, and living conditions vastly different from his former life experience.
The boys find common ground through their mutual desire to return to their old lives and their interest in baseball. However, when an older Cuban boy bullies Danny, Emilio must choose his alliance and the clash between cultures becomes clear.
Outside influences and abandonment wounds threaten their tentative friendship. But, when they accept that their old lives are gone forever and recognize the value of their friendship, they forge an unbreakable bond -- and find hope in their future.
My Recent Article about Operation Pedro Pan and Marquette, MI
Michigan History Magazine (www.michiganhistorymagazine.com) recently published my article, When Cuba Came to Marquette, in the Sept/Oct issue. I thank Dr. Tony Madrigal, Luis Piedra, and Carlos Naumann (Cubans who came to Marquette as part of Operation Pedro Pan) and Richard Ryan (the last North American boy to live at the Orphans' Home with the Cuban boys) for willingly sharing their stories. Putting in print their words and the words of others who were part of Operation Pedro Pan helps ensure their experiences will not be lost in the next generation.
