Operation Pedro Pan

A volunteer approached a little girl at Miami International Airport and noticed a sign pinned to her dress. It read, "My name is Carmen Gomez I am five years old. Please be good to me.". That five year old left Cuba in one of the world's largest political exoduses of children in history - Operation Pedro Pan. Between 1960 and 1962 more than 14,000 children were sent out of Cuba alone by desperate parents who feared for their children's future under Castro. Unlike Peter Pan, however, these children continued to grow up even while separated from their families. In Operation Pedro Pan, Yvonne M. Conde has tracked down hundreds of these children in order to tell their diverse stories -their uplifting, poignant, and sometimes tragic experiences in American foster homes and orphanages, and, for some, their long-awaited, awkward and delicate reunification with their parents. Because Conde herself was a Pedro Pan child, others have opened up to her like never before to share their feelings about this painful time in their lives. Today, these children and their families struggle to heal the emotional scars of their long separation.