Operation Peter Pan

 My VA doctor was born in Cuba. At Tuesday’s appointment, Dr. R mentioned he came to the US as part of Operation Peter Pan. “That was when 15,000 Cuban children were flown out,” he said. Most came to Miami and then went to foster families until their parents arrived, often a year later.

 I asked an American question, “Who paid for it?”

“The Catholic Church and the CIA,” Dr. R said.

He is my third Cuban doctor. The first, Dr. C, a civilian doctor, was born in the US, but his parents left Cuba as teenagers. Their parents sent them out of Cuba. They did not know each other in Cuba. His future mother went to Ecuador, his future father to Chicago. His mother later moved to Chicago.

My second Cuban doctor, Dr. P, also was with VA. His parents sent him to relatives in New Jersey, then later got out themselves. The family moved to Atlanta, where he grew up.

 “The Air Force sent me to medical school,” Dr. P said. Then, he went to an abbreviated officer course and was stationed at an Air Force base in San Antonio. After his Air Force time, he established a practice in San Antonio.

I told Dr. R I had never heard of Operation Peter Pan. He said, “You should look it up.” He smiled and said, “Google will probably send you to Disney sites.” I said I could write around Disney in my search.

Left-wing Wikipedia says Operation Peter Pan was an attempt by the CIA and the State Department to discredit the Castro government and a plot to transfer the Cuban middle class to the US. Children were flown to the US, with parents following when they could. More than 90 percent of kids were later reunited with their parents in the US.

Wikipedia also says most of the children flown out later became liberals and supported the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam War organizations. Wikipedia does not mention Cuban-American voting patterns for anti-Castro candidates.

Two interviews found in the search discredit Wikipedia, but the left-wingers at Wikipedia would ignore things such as facts. One interview is at a Smithsonian site, the other is at the NPR site. Both interviews state that Operation Peter Pan was successful in moving kids from a Communist country to the United States. The plan had overwhelming support from the Cuban middle class. Castro later destroyed that middle class through seizure of businesses, arrests and government-sanctioned murder.

There are many, many stories in the Cuban exile. Florida is a good place to hear them.