Currently, there are two diametrically opposed points of view on Operation Peter Pan: the American and the Cuban. Naturally, the United States is trying in every possible way to justify forgery and deceit in relation to Cuban minors in that story. According to American propaganda, an alarming situation developed in Cuba in the early 60s - schools were closed, labor camps were organized, children were planned to be taken from their parents, and the most gifted were planned to be sent to the Soviet Union almost to hard labor. The Cuban Revolution took control of all private schools and prepared something unimaginable for the younger generation. Widespread fooling and total propaganda raged on Liberty Island. The Central Intelligence Agency fed its citizens and immigrants from Cuba with similar theses. In fact, after the revolution, the new Cuban government faced a high proportion of the illiterate population, which seriously complicated both the further development of society and the introduction of the ideas of communism into the masses. Of the six million people in Cuba, about one million did not know how to write or read.
In the villages, of course, the share of illiterates was maximum - up to 50%. In the very first years, Fidel Castro assembled the "Army for the Fight against Illiteracy", the volunteers from which began to educate the population with enthusiasm, along the way explaining all the benefits of the communist revolution. And by October 1961, Fidel began to receive similar letters from the population: “Thank you, Fidel. Now I can read and write thanks to the Revolutionary Government. Homeland or Death. We will win". Tens of thousands of people who could not previously read and write became ardent communists and loyal party members. Could the United States be happy with such a situation? A hotbed of the hated communist infection was growing right next to it, and something had to be done.
One of the countermeasures was the creation, under the leadership of the CIA, of the 2506 Brigade, made up of opposition Cuban immigrants. In accordance with the plan, about one and a half thousand fighters landed in the infamous Bay of Pigs in April 1961 in the hope of overthrowing Fidel Castro. Then the entire US establishment and ordinary citizens were convinced that the upstart revolutionary would not last long on the throne and only a push was needed to overthrow. The result was a sea of blood, an unsuccessful operation, and serious reputational losses for the United States in the eyes of the international community. However, with another little-known American intelligence operation, the developers were much more fortunate. The Peter Pan project meant at the very dawn of Fidel Castro's rule to bring as many Cuban children as possible to the United States, in order to then create the backbone of the counter-revolution out of them. The official mastermind of the operation was a priest from Miami, Father Brian Walsh, who drew attention to the unenviable fate of children in Cuba. US intelligence took up this idea and developed a whole propaganda hoax with the aim of fooling the minds of the Cuban population.
Exodus of children from Havana to Miami
Relying on the relatively low literacy rate of the Cuban population and the large percentage of doubters about Castro's long reign, the Americans were able to pull off the largest child evacuation operation in the Western Hemisphere. A flurry of misinformation literally rained down on Liberty Island. Since October 1960, radio stations in the United States, broadcasting to Cuba, have launched the myth of a new bill that Fidel Castro allegedly signed and, according to which, all children are planned to be placed in the care of the state. That is, they will simply be taken away from their parents and disposed of at their own discretion upon reaching the age of 20. Perhaps the most disobedient will even be sent to Siberia to uranium mines. Then the CIA agents circulated among the wealthy segments of the Cuban population and the opposition underground fake bills, in which this lie was revealed in every detail. Allegedly, the documents were stolen almost from the desk of Fidel himself. The special services of the Cuban revolution at that time were weak and could not stop such a fierce attack in time.
The only way out for thousands of Cuban families was to save the children in the United States. In addition, the Americans assured that the Castro regime was short-lived, and the prospect of the reunification of separated parents and children was about to fall. KLM and Pan American Airlines were involved in the operation, which provided free tickets to Cuban children on the Havana-Panama-Miami route. At the Havana airport, a glass waiting area or "aquarium" has been built to pre-contain young immigrants. Children entered it after parting with their parents, many of whom they will never see again. As a result, from December 1960 to October 1962, about 14,000 children under the age of 16 without parents were transported through Panama to the United States. For this, the American Embassy in Havana, left and right, handed out visas to the children of the Cuban elite - ordinary peasants were deprived of such an opportunity. It's all about the relatively high level of education of the children of wealthy citizens - these are the immigrants that were needed in the United States.
Americans were also worried that the young rich could become the backbone of the Communist Party and a reliable support of the Castro regime in the future. To receive children in the United States, with the assistance of the Catholic Church, several hundred orphanages were organized, from which they were often taken away by close relatives who had previously immigrated from Cuba. The parents of some children, in fear of persecution by the Communist Party, left after their children and settled in the United States. But a considerable part remained in foster families or even in orphanages without the care of relatives. Why couldn't all families be reunited? The answer is simple - the Americans stopped issuing visas after the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, and the children remained in fact the property of the United States. And Operation Peter Pan died down with the start of the Cuban missile crisis. In total, the Americans spent about $ 13 million on the criminal program at the 1962 exchange rate. But it is worth mentioning separately that among the sponsors of the operation were American businessmen, whose enterprises were nationalized by Fidel Castro.
Now in the United States, all the details of Operation Peter Pan are covered exclusively in a positive light. A public opinion has been created according to which the Americans are real heroes, true Catholics, and they have saved thousands of innocent souls from the clutches of a totalitarian regime. Miami even hosted a thematic exhibition of personal belongings of witnesses and participants in the exodus, generously flavored with lyrical installations. Fidel Castro, in 2009, compared the cunning of the secret services with the talents of the main propagandist of the Third Reich with the words: "Goebbels would have envied." Indeed, 14 thousand children have perfectly assimilated, have become typical Americans and even write books about how bad it was for them in their native Cuba. True, they did not become an effective counter-revolutionary force capable of overthrowing the Cuban regime. But many of them with a clear conscience say that living with their parents in totalitarianism is much worse than being an orphan in a free America. However, there are few among them that require the state to disclose all the details of "Peter Pan". In particular, the publication of CIA and State Department directives on this topic. But 15 thousand documents remain classified in the archives of the special services. Apparently, the time has not come yet …
