History

          What led to the creation of Operation Peter Pan? The primary goal of the Operation was to help children escape Fidel Castro's communist regime in Cuba. The beginning of Castro's rule can be traced back to 1959 when he organized a rebel movement that displaced Fulgencio Batista, the country's political leader. Castro became the country's leader after Batista left the country. Castro made Cuba the first communist nation in the western hemisphere (Britannica 2022). This led to the eradication of racism in the nation's society and to free healthcare and education for the people. However, there were also negative aspects, such as the suppression of the free press and the notion of a one-party state. (2022 Britannica) At 15, all children were required to enlist in the Cuban Revolutionary Army, which became Castro's most well-known policy and the inspiration for Operation Peter Pan.

 

          To allow parents to bring their children from Cuba to Miami and prevent Castro's indoctrination, the Catholic Welfare Bureau (Catholic Charities) of Miami established this covert operation in December 1960. When a fifteen-year-old boy approached Father Brian Walsh, the director of the Catholic Welfare Bureau, asking for assistance, Father Walsh discovered that more of these children in Cuba needed help. In light of this, the Eisenhower administration and the Catholic Welfare Bureau made a contract that said that if children could travel from Cuba to the United States, the administration would provide funds to assist them in the US.

 

          Cubans planned their own departure to the United States at the same time Father Walsh was organizing a migration of Cuban children to the country. James Baker, the principal of a large school in Havana, was one of the primary players who organized the escape from Cuba. Father Walsh and Mr. Baker met and designed a strategy for carrying out the mission. Sure enough, in 20 months, the two assisted 14,000 unaccompanied minors in seeking asylum in the United States. (2022 Pedro Pan)

 

          Nearly 300 of the 14,000 people who left Cuba were Jewish children. Jews, Protestants, non-religious people, and upper, middle, and lower class families were all aided during the Operation, even though it was primarily a Catholic effort. The only thing that mattered to the Catholic Welfare Bureau was that you were a human being; they believed that every life was essential, regardless of who you were or where you came from.

 

          Once diplomatic relations between the US and Castro’s Cuba had been severed in 1961, the Operation could not fly directly to Miami. Many Cuban Jewish children escaped first to Jamaica, where they awaited passage to Miami. Reverend Walsh enlisted the help of  the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), based in New York City, to make sure the Jewish children were properly cared for. HIAS played a significant role in the lives of the Jewish children while they were in Jamaica and also once they arrived in the US. 

 

          Every attempt was made during the Operation to prevent publicity and avoid being used for political propaganda. The parents of the children who were rescued were the only Cubans with whom the Bureau kept in touch. In addition, the Cuban parents created networks within the country to covertly alert people of the Operation's success.

 

          There was less room to shelter these children as their numbers increased. The small, secret mission eventually managed large numbers of unaccompanied youths. Foster care was introduced as a response to this issue, which made it possible for more children to come to the United States. Operation Peter Pan is the story of an extraordinary flight to freedom driven by the quality that makes us human, the desire to help someone in need.