Talk:Operation Peter Pan

This Wiki article is fake regime propaganda.

"unsubstantiated rumors,[1] that Fidel Castro and the Communist party were planning to terminate parental rights and place minors in alleged "communist indoctrination centers", commonly referred to as the Patria Potestad.[2] No such actions by the Castro regime ever took place."

Actually, the rumors were not unsubstantiated. I was sent to a concentration/indoctrination camp in the 90's away from my parents for 4 years so the "rumors" did come true — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.253.93.67 (talk) 16:48, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 25 January 2021 and 12 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Jxl1734. Peer reviewers: CCEagle17, Mbm002.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 01:55, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Untitled
Article merged: See old talk-page here

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Annie Nova. Peer reviewers: Ahouston5, AshleyRenea.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 05:45, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

POV isues
Castro "explained" that people were free to leave Cuba? Please. USA propaganda certainly came into play, but let's not be absurd. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.182.148.44 (talk) 03:49, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

I would say that it's tough to be impartial when dealing with such an emotional topic.

I would dispute the impartiality of the opinions shown in this page.

This is laughably biased. Children were apparently 'saved from communist tyrrany'. Somebody put up a more impartial version.

Some of the characteristics of all totalitarian regimes is a) an absolute refusal for its citizens to leave its political area of control b) ardent sycophants of the regime (both in and out of the country) which tolerate no criticism of said regime c) an obsession with indoctrinating the children so that future generations will continue the totalitarian aspect of that regime. All three are very much evident here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CountNomis (talk • contribs) 02:05, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Somebody needs to learn that Communists have feelings, too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.204.231.122 (talk) 16:19, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

OK I took some of the POV out of this article but it may still need some work.--Rockero 23:19, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Wow, this page is incredibly POV. "They believed that providing their children with the opportunity of life in the United States, even without their parents, was preferable to saddling them with a lifetime of political repression under the communist system.". Furthermore, the only two sources used for this article are inherently bias sources. 1) Pedropan.org and 2) NoCastro.com. This is pretty silly. One of the bad sides of having an open encyclopedia like wikipedia. It seems that user IP 69.143.255.219 was responsible for the POV comments in the article. There was a POV template on this article before and the IP user removed it, you can see the page history of this article. Check out his previous contributions, all full of POV statements. I'm going to flag this article for POV.
 * 08:25, 24 September 2009 I have dificulty,there is no source for the Peter Pan Org. connection with the CIA. Make sure it is a Credible and Absolute information, not from other vias source.
 * 21:29, 1 January 2006 (hist) (diff) Culture of Life (→U.S. Politics)
 * 06:54, 31 December 2005 (hist) (diff) Love Potion No. 9 (top)
 * 06:53, 31 December 2005 (hist) (diff) Love Potion No. 9
 * 01:04, 24 December 2005 (hist) (diff) 68th Academy Awards
 * 13:27, 21 December 2005 (hist) (diff) Ninth Day of Creation (linked author)
 * 23:59, 11 December 2005 (hist) (diff) Lisa Kennedy Montgomery
 * 07:39, 7 December 2005 (hist) (diff) James E. West
 * 03:12, 7 December 2005 (hist) (diff) Template:Politics of Puerto Rico (top)
 * 16:49, 3 December 2005 (hist) (diff) Liberalism in Canada (→Liberalism as an ideology)
 * 01:39, 25 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Chickenhawk counterarguments)
 * 23:34, 21 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Chickenhawk counterarguments)
 * 21:27, 21 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Janice Dean (rv vandalism)
 * 13:18, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Misery Index (economic) (→External link)
 * 13:09, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Misery Index (economic)
 * 08:38, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Chickenhawk counterarguments)
 * 08:25, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Chickenhawk counterarguments)
 * 07:30, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Origin)
 * 07:30, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Origin)
 * 07:25, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Chickenhawk counterarguments)
 * 07:18, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Chickenhawk counterarguments - incorrect, Balkans conflict was offensive)
 * 07:17, 20 November 2005 (hist) (diff) Chickenhawk (politics) (→Origin)
 * 18:15, 31 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Laurie Coleman (added reference to husband's religion)
 * 18:15, 31 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Laurie Coleman
 * 21:53, 30 October 2005 (hist) (diff) U.S. presidential election, 1980 (→Results)
 * 18:49, 29 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Serenity (film) (→Story - g-32, not g-23)
 * 16:36, 28 October 2005 (hist) (diff) John McCain (revert vandalism)
 * 01:36, 25 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Stephenie LaGrossa (rv incorrect vandalism by 150.131.83.79)
 * 21:34, 23 October 2005 (hist) (diff) The Dharma Initiative (rv vandal)
 * 03:02, 22 October 2005 (hist) (diff) 24 (television) (No it's not!)
 * 17:01, 19 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Bill Maher (Maher's un-libertarian viewpoint is discussed in the article!)
 * 02:02, 19 October 2005 (hist) (diff) James Caviezel (no source for that)
 * 14:54, 17 October 2005 (hist) (diff) The West Wing (television) (rv vandalism by 143.210.12.132)
 * 06:09, 13 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Briana Banks (restoration)
 * 18:43, 5 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Democratic Party (United States) (Dems are libs, plain & simple)
 * 18:42, 5 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Third way (centrism)
 * 18:41, 5 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Third way (centrism) (Clinton by no means followed the "third way". Violated the 2nd amendment, raised taxes. He was a liberal!)
 * 03:28, 5 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Adrianne Curry (rv vandal)
 * 20:23, 1 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Khan Noonien Singh (revert vandalism)
 * 03:08, 1 October 2005 (hist) (diff) Brandon Routh (rm vandalism)
 * 23:39, 28 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Commander in Chief (television) (→Trivia - rm politically motivated speculation)
 * 21:28, 26 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Zefram Cochrane (He said "go boldly", not "going boldly".)
 * 21:26, 26 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Warpcore (→See Also)
 * 16:26, 26 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Historical rankings of U.S. Presidents
 * 12:17, 25 September 2005 (hist) (diff) George H. W. Bush (full name of GWB)
 * 12:16, 25 September 2005 (hist) (diff) George H. W. Bush
 * 12:13, 25 September 2005 (hist) (diff) George H. W. Bush (→World War II: decorated naval aviator)
 * 15:34, 18 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Mel Gibson (→Academy awards)
 * 15:32, 18 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Mel Gibson (→Gibson's politics and opinions)
 * 18:16, 13 September 2005 (hist) (diff) Commander in Chief (television)
 * 01:49, 11 September 2005 (hist) (diff) George Allen (politician) (rm obvious POV remark)-Jersey Devil 06:13, 4 January 2006 (UTC)


 * I've made some edits and I think it's neutral now. Not sure what all the stuff above is about. It should be possible to point out a POV problem without carrying on. In any case it's long ago and the entry is much changed. Bmclaughlin9 (talk) 15:35, 3 May 2016 (UTC)

Operation Peter Pan's Origin
After looking at many very solid sources in JSTOR, I am starting to believe that many of the claims made within the National Geographic article cited within the origins of Operation Pedro Pan are not credible on their own. The Nat'l Geographic article cites a book instead of being the primary source of information itself, which only represents a portion of what was truly happening that sprung the movement of Operation Pedro Pan forward. I am going to workshop this part of the article and see if I can bring a more holistic approach to what truly happened during this time period. It was not just that private schools were shutting down; it was mostly due to the fears coming from religious places of Castro. Jgarry25 (talk) 16:34, 30 March 2022 (UTC)

Radio Swan and other items
I'm reading "The Inevitable Battle," by Juan Carlos Rodriguez (Editorial Capitan San Luis, Havana, 2009; ISBN 978-959-211-337-4). Pages 59-63 are about Operation Peter Pan. According to Rodriguez:

Operation Peter Pan was run by David Atlee Phillips of the CIA, under the alias Harry Bishop. The operation started in October 1960 on the CIA's Radio Swan 8pm news:

"Cuban mother, don't let your child be taken away! The revolutionary government will take him away when he turns five years old and will return him to you at the age of eighteen. When this occurs, they will be monstrous materialists."

Later CIA broadcasts included "news" that Cuban government would send the children to Russia.

Radio Swan continued to broadcast this propaganda to Cuba for several months. In December 1960, Phillips met with Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh of the Catholic Service Bureau in Miami. Walsh agreed that his organization would appear to be the running the American side of the operation.

In Havana, Operation Peter Pan was run by Ramon Grau Alsina (nephew of the former president Ramón Grau), who was head of Catholic Welfare and a member of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (FRD), a counter-revolutionary organization linked to the CIA; his sister Leopoldina Grau Alsina; and James Baker, headmaster of the Ruston Academy in Havana.

On December 26, 1960, the first dozen children and their parents arrived at José Martí International Airport in Havana. The children had passports and visas and their parents sent them unaccompanied to Miami. Over the next few months 500 more children followed. In accordance with the Radio Swan broadcasts, visas were only issued to children between the ages of five and eighteen.

Years later, after she was released from prison, Leopoldina Grau Alsina explained the purpose of Operation Peter Pan: "It was a way of destabilizing the government. For people to start losing faith in the Revolution."

The following statements are questionable:

"designed to transport the children of parents who opposed the revolutionary government"

It was designed to destabilize the Cuban government. I don't see any reference that the CIA wanted to take children away from parents who opposed the revolution.

"later expanded to include children of parents concerned that their children would be shipped to Soviet labour camps"

The Russian part was later added to the Radio Swan "news." Saying that the parents were concerned about this is speculation.

"the children were placed with friends, relatives and group homes in 35 states."

That should be two sentences: "Children whose families had relatives or friends in the United States were sent to them. Children without relatives or friends were placed into foster care or group homes." These two outcomes are very different!

As this is a controversial article I will wait 30 days for comments before I make edits. --TDKehoe (talk) 02:32, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

Review
I agree that the tone of this article seems to somewhat veer from the encyclopedic tone of wikipedia. The aftermath and in culture sections, I feel could be arranged/written differently. --AshleyRenea (talk)

The writers of this page appear to have very clear opinions of right and wrong that definitely show through in the writing. It may help to start by checking the wording and phrasing choices used in this page to try to remove some of the bias.

- Ahouston5 (talk) 05:30, 9 November 2015 (UTC)

Peer Review
As others have mentioned above, the tone doesn't seem to be encyclopedia-like, its more of an educational piece on what happened from your view. In the opening section you write "This operation was the result of wary parents under the newly instated Castro Regime who did not want to give up their parental rights to the Cuban government. Largely unpublicized for fear of being viewed as political propaganda, this underground operation eventually became the largest recorded exodus of unaccompanied youth in the Western hemisphere." That is a very hard claim to substantiate without any sort of reference. The whole Demographics of Minors section could either be put in another section or completely deleted, because earlier you already state the children were Cuban, and their parents didn't agree with Castro, so it is in my belief their religion's and social status don't matter enough for its own section.- eo — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eodhiambo (talk • contribs) 17:52, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

CIA involvement
The section that describes "controversy over CIA involvement" dismisses the idea based on ... a court reading a statement from the CIA. How is this sufficient for an encyclopedia? 69.113.236.26 (talk) 03:16, 1 November 2022 (UTC)