Operation Pedro Pan

On August 11, 1961, at the age of ten, Yvonne Conde left Cuba in one of the world’s largest political exoduses of children in history - Operation Pedro Pan. Between 1960 and 1962 over 14,000 children were sent out of Cuba alone by desperate parents. Conde tracked down hundreds of these children to tell their diverse stories.

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Poignant stories from one of the world's largest political exoduses of children

On August 11, 1961, at the age of ten, Yvonne Conde left Cuba in one of the world's largest political exoduses of children in history—Operation Pedro Pan. Between 1960 and 1962 over 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.

As the children arrived in temporary camps in Miami, volunteers such as Father Bryan O. Walsh helped them find new homes across the country. Conde tracked down hundreds of these children to tell their diverse stories—their uplifting, poignant, and sometimes tragic experiences in American foster homes and orphanages. 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.

In this edition, with a new prologue, Conde looks back on Operation Pedro Pan from the vantage point of six decades and brings readers up to date on events and discoveries since the groundbreaking first publication of this book in 1999. Writing with compassion and rare insight, Conde uncovers the true tales of a little-known episode of the Cold War.