the network for
Operation Pedro Pan

Put aside what you're doing for just a moment and take a listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbD5cB33Z6E

Message by Jose Antonio Amaro Reyes | Nov 9th 2010

El Capitán Garfio - Mirian Celaya - Junio 26, 2009 at 17:34 - Source: Archive June, 2009, Sin EVAsión/Without Evasion Blog. Havana, Cuba. Http://sinevasion.wordpress.com. Junio 26, 2009 at 17:34. (Versión original en español). Un artículo publicado en Granma el pasado 16 de junio hacía referencia a la Operación Peter Pan, que separó –según cifra citada en dicho periódico- más de 14 000 niños cubanos de sus padres en virtud de un infundio divulgado desde la CIA en los primeros tiempos de la revolución. El “embuste” imperialista afirmaba que el Estado cubano arrebataría a los padres la patria potestad de sus hijos para someterlos al adoctrinamiento comunista. Ahora, asegura el articulista de Granma, se ha desatado en Venezuela una campaña apoyada por la CIA en contra de la revolución bolivariana, en la que se esgrime el mismo argumento, esto es, que la Ley Orgánica de Educación promovida por el gobierno venezolano “arrebatará la custodia de los hijos a sus padres”. Al margen de las forzadas similitudes con el proceso cubano, que el gobierno venezolano, en una desmedida falta de originalidad, insiste en propugnar, y de las que deberá tomar cuenta y efectos el pueblo de Venezuela, la ocasión me lleva a repasar -tantos años después de los hechos ocurridos- lo mucho de oscuro y sórdido que rodea la mencionada Operación en la historia de Cuba. Llama la atención lo fragmentaria, tangencial y escasa que resulta la información oficial con relación a aquel velado evento, que deja más cuestionamientos que respuestas. Para empezar, la elevada cifra de niños involucrados en aquel duro episodio que han citado las fuentes oficiales supondría la necesidad de un estudio más profundo y de una mayor divulgación de los hechos. La utilización de la infancia como carta de juego en la política es un capítulo demasiado sucio, sea de la parte que sea, y en el caso de la Operación Peter Pan parece haber sido el comodín de dos contendientes, no solo de uno. Uno de los cuestionamientos más elementales pudiera ser que si el gobierno cubano movilizó a la nación en 1998 para recuperar al niño Elián, llegando incluso a paralizar al país en función de la colosal campaña política pese a que –era sabido- el padre tenía todos los derechos y las ventajas para ganar el litigio, como finalmente ocurrió; ¿por qué no fueron reclamados en su momento aquellos miles de niños víctimas de las maniobras de la CIA? ¿Es que se movían otros intereses, además de los de la tenebrosa Agencia? ¿Es que los cubanos, con una particular sensibilidad por los niños, no se hubiesen movilizado por la suerte de aquéllos? ¿Por qué la magnánima y justiciera revolución no convocó a su siempre entusiasta pueblo? A casi 50 años de aquella perfidia, ¿a quiénes resultó políticamente útil la Operación Peter Pan? ¿Quiénes son todos los responsables? ¿Ninguno de los miles de padres afectados intentó recuperar al hijo? ¿Qué ayuda ofreció la revolución a estos padres? No conozco las respuestas. La Operación Peter Pan, pese a su carga dramática, no se estudia en los programas escolares de Historia de Cuba; al parecer, la Protesta de Baraguá o los actuales 5 héroes significan más que el virtual secuestro de miles de niños cubanos. No se habla de ellos en las aulas, no se recuerdan, apenas se mencionan tangencialmente en escuetas y esporádicas referencias de la prensa oficial, como ésta que presentó Granma. Sin embargo, algún viso de realidad había en la conjura de la CIA: aunque no de jure, de facto la revolución sí arrebató la patria potestad de millones de padres cubanos. Basta un repaso superficial de estos 50 años: en un principio –y durante un tiempo suficientemente prolongado- el gobierno aprovechó a su favor la simpatía popular y manipuló astutamente la psicología de las masas para lograr sus propósitos. Muchos padres accedieron a la separación de sus hijos del hogar cuando aún eran apenas adolescentes. Recordemos: ¿qué edades tenían muchos de los alfabetizadores que se separaron de sus familias a instancias del gobierno revolucionario para adentrarse en los lugares más remotos de la Isla?, ¿y las campesinas acogidas al famoso programa Ana Betancourt?, ¿Y los Camilitos, que estudiaban en escuelas militares bajo régimen de internado desde séptimo grado? Más tarde, aquello que se iniciara de acuerdo a la “voluntariedad” de padres e hijos, se tornaría obligatorio: las Escuelas al Campo, donde los adolescentes permanecían por 45 días en albergues rústicos y en condiciones de promiscuidad, lejos de sus mayores. En los años 70 se inauguraron las Escuelas en el Campo, con alumnos internados en un principio voluntariamente. Primero fueron las secundarias (ESBEC), después también las preuniversitarias (IPUEC) y preuniversitarios “vocacionales” (IPUEVC), de las que las dos últimas variantes acabarían siendo obligatorias desde los años 90 para quienes aspiraran a graduarse como bachilleres. Hábilmente el gobierno revolucionario fue introduciendo a lo largo de los años una cuña que tendía a separar a los hijos de los padres para lavarles el cerebro a su antojo. Con ese fin centralizó y monopolizó la educación y eliminó cualquier alternativa al adoctrinamiento oficial sin ayuda alguna de la CIA. Este gobierno se ha encargado de desautorizar a la familia y suplantarla en la formación de los hijos; ahora estamos recogiendo los frutos de tal despropósito: los jóvenes no han encontrado el luminoso futuro que prometía el Estado padrastro, y ya no responden a los intereses de la revolución. Pero, a la vez, muchos de ellos, crecidos lejos de sus hogares, han perdido el concepto de familia y los valores que ésta tradicionalmente transmitía. La revolución ha significado de mil maneras distintas la fragmentación de la familia cubana, y con ello una pérdida cultural que pudiera ser irreparable a los efectos de la Nación. Ciertamente, la CIA puede haber creado hace décadas un engendro ocasional llamado Operación Peter Pan, pero la obra “educativa” del gobierno cubano –medio siglo de secuestro permanente de los hijos- bien parece urdida por el mismísimo Capitán Garfio.

Message by Jose Antonio Amaro Reyes | Oct 7th 2010

Operation Peter Pan and Captain Hook – The “unofficial” Cuban view of Operation Pedro Pan. Spanish title: “El Capitán Garfio.” Por Miriam Celaya. "An article published in the official Cuban newspaper Granma, dated June 16 [2009], made reference to Operation Peter Pan, an operation that according to the figures cited by the newspaper separated more than 14,000 children from their parents due to a lie fabricated by the CIA during the early days of the revolution. The imperialist “lie” stated that the Cuban State intended to snatch away parents’ rights over their children in order to subject them to communist indoctrination. The author of the article asserts that currently in Venezuela a campaign, backed by the CIA, has been launched making the same claim, namely that the Organic Education Law promoted by the Venezuelan government “would grab the children’s custody from their parents”. The forced similarities with the Cuban process -which the Venezuelan government in an act of disproportionate unoriginality insists on advocating and whose outcomes the Venezuelan people should seriously consider- lead me to review, after so many years since its occurrence, the dark and sordid events surrounding the operation and its place in Cuban history. However, due to the fragmentary, meager and tangential nature of the official information available on this apparent veiled affair, more questions than answers immediately emerge. For starters, the sheer number of children that according to official sources was involved in this difficult episode would require further in-depth study and the broader dissemination of known facts. Using children as playing cards in the game of politics, regardless of who does it, is too dirty a practice, and, in the specific case of Operation Peter Pan, it seems that they were used as wildcards by the two contenders, and not just one. One basic question that could be asked is why the Cuban government, which in 1998 mobilized the nation in order to recover the child Elián and went as far as paralyzing the entire country by means of a colossal political campaign, even though it was known that the father enjoyed the legal right and advantages necessary to win the case, as he ultimately did, failed to claim the thousands of Pedro Pan children, who were victims of the underhanded doings of the CIA? Could it be that interests other than those of the dark agency were being served? Could it be that Cubans, who profess a special sensibility toward the plight of children, wouldn’t have mobilized themselves in favor of these children? Why didn’t the magnanimous and just revolution call upon its ever-enthusiastic people? Almost 50 years after the occurrence of such perfidy, in whose political favor did the Operation Peter Pan result? Who were all the responsible parties? Did not one single parent of the thousands of affected parents ever try to recover his children? What help did the revolution offer these parents? I do not know the answers. Operation Peter Pan, despite its dramatic burden is not studied in school programs of Cuban History. Apparently, the “Protest of Baraguá” or the current “5 heroes” are more important than the virtual kidnapping of thousands of Cuban children. They are not spoken of in classrooms nor are they remembered, and they are barely and tangentially mentioned in brief and sporadic references in the official press, such as the one appearing in Granma. Nonetheless, there appeared to have been some semblance of truth in the CIA conspiracy. The revolution did in fact snatch away the parental rights from millions of Cuban parents though not de jure, but de facto. Just a superficial review of the last 50 years is enough: At first –and for a sufficiently long time- the government took advantage of the goodwill and support it enjoyed and cleverly manipulated the psychology of the masses in order to achieve its objectives. Thus, many parents agreed to the separation of their children from home when they were barely teenagers. Let’s remember the following: What were the ages of many of those who were dispatched to alphabetize during the Literacy Campaign, those who were separated from their families and ventured into the most remote parts of the country at the behest of the revolutionary government? What were the ages of many of the peasant women recruited into the famous program named “Ana Betancourt”? And the “little Camilos” who were interned in military schools from seventh grade onwards, how old were they? Later on, what would start out as the “volunteerism” of parents and children would turn mandatory: The “Schools to the Countryside” (“Escuelas al Campo”), where adolescents were housed in rustic shelters and under promiscuous conditions for 45 days, far removed from the supervision of their elders. In the 1970’s, the “Schools in the Countryside” (“Escuelas en el Campo”) were inaugurated, with student placement in these boarding schools done initially on a voluntary basis. First to be selected were students from secondary schools (ESBEC). They were followed soon thereafter by students from pre-university schools (IPUEC) and from vocational pre-university schools (IPUEVC). Eventually in the 1990’s it became mandatory for those wishing to graduate from high school in the latter two types of schools to attend “Escuelas en el Campo”. Skillfully, the revolutionary government over the years drove a wedge that tended to separate children from their parents in order to be able to brainwash the former at will. Towards that end, it centralized and monopolized education, and, without any help from the CIA, was able to do away with any alternative to the state’s official indoctrination. This government has been responsible for undermining the authority of the family and has replaced it in the rearing of children. We are now reaping the fruits of such misguided purpose: The young have not found the bright future promised by the state as stepfather and they no longer respond to the interests of the revolution. But, at the same time, many of them, brought up far from home, have lost the concept of family and the values it traditionally passes on. The revolution has meant the fragmentation in a thousand different ways of the Cuban family, and, along with it has brought about a cultural loss that could be irreparable for the nation. Surely, the CIA might have created decades ago an occasional monstrosity called Operation Peter Pan, but the “educative” work of the Cuban government –half a century of permanent abduction of children- could very well have been plotted by Captain Hook himself."

Message by Jose Antonio Amaro Reyes | Oct 7th 2010

José Antonio, thank you for the countless hours that you spend researching the true history of our exodus and then sharing the information with the rest of us. Our story would have been so tremendously different had we stayed behind; it is shilling to read about the fate of those that did not share in the gift of freedom that was made available to us through our exodus. Those that claim that we were not in any physical danger are only denying the realities faced by the children of Cuba from the Revolution and up to this day. Los Niños Heroes de Playa Girón are but one sad chapter in the tragic story of our people and of the children in particular

Message by Carmen Valdivia | Sep 24th 2010

NEWS: Carrie C. Pearson has just published an article in the Michigan History Magazine entitled "When Cuba Came to Marquette," about the role of the Holy Family Orphans' Home in Operation Pedro Pan (Michigan History Magazine, Sept/Oct Issue, 2010). Carrie is currently working on a middle grade historical novel, entitle "Blood Brothers," dealing with the friendship between an American orphan and a Pedro Pan boy at the Holy Family Orphans' Home. You might want to visit her web page at www.carriepearsonbooks.com, where she kindly devotes an entire page to the history of Operation Pedro Pan.

Message by Jose Antonio Amaro Reyes | Sep 24th 2010