Talk:Ramón Grau

Untitled
What is the wikipedia article naming policy for names w/ accents? Should they be omitted in the article search title since this is the English-language site? J. Parker Stone 00:47, 9 May 2005 (UTC)

The accent should be included in names of people but not names of countries (Mexico) where there is an obvious English usage without an accent. As I have moved the name of the article Ramon Grau is now a redirect. What you should have done is Ramón for the article and a created a redirect for Ramon, --SqueakBox 15:25, May 10, 2005 (UTC)

FYI:

Hi friends! I have scanned the following 1989-1996 Christmas cards (with legends or poems) from Ramon (Mongo) Grau Alcina -- nephew of Cuban President Ramon Grau San Martin (1944-48). Mongo was my sponsor and the benefactor of Cuban Pedro Pan children. He spent 28 years in a Cuban prison as a prisoner of conscience for helping the Cuban underground movement. I received 8 self-designed postcards from Mongo until his death. Please take the time to look at them -- as I'm hororing his memory and that of my father Jose Antonio Chinea y Figueroa. There's also a NYT article about Mongo's death in 1998. Love always -- Mig --

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E7DC173EF935A35752C1A96E958260

on Polita Grau http://www.library.miami.edu/chc/collections/finding_aids/chc0356_find.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by Migdiachinea (talk • contribs) 00:29, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Ramon Grau Alsina, 75, Cuban Who Aided Children's Escape
By MIRTA OJITO NYT Published: November 6, 1998 Ramon Grau Alsina, who helped organize an undercover operation code-named Pedro Pan that smuggled thousands of children to the United States from Cuba in the early years of the Castro Government, died Tuesday night in Miami, his home for the last 12 years.

He would have been 76 on Saturday.

Mr. Grau, whose nickname was Mongo, died of complications from pneumonia at Mercy Hospital. He was hospitalized last month for treatment for prostate cancer, said his sister Polita Grau.

Mr. Grau, who published a book about his life last year, came from a wealthy family with a long involvement in Cuban politics.

Born in Havana in 1922, Mr. Grau was the youngest of four children of Paulina Alsina and Francisco Grau San Martin. He was also the nephew of Ramon Grau San Martin, the President of Cuba from 1944 to 1948. When his father died, Mr. Grau was adopted by his uncle.

Mr. Grau and his family spent part of his childhood in Miami Beach because his family opposed the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. He returned to Cuba in the late 1930's, and, after studying medicine, declared politics his love and became a personal secretary to his uncle, the president. Later, Mr. Grau was elected to Cuba's House of Representatives.

In 1959, when Fidel Castro seized power, the Graus found themselves again in the opposition. Mr. Grau sent his wife, Avelina Castro, and his children to Miami, and then joined the underground movement against Mr. Castro.

Mr. Grau was later divorced. He is survived by his children, Pedro, Ramon and Pilar Grau, who live in Pompano Beach, Fla., and his sister.

In 1960, Mr. Grau, a Roman Catholic, and his sister joined a handful of others in organizing Operation Pedro Pan, a secret program run by the Catholic Church in the United States with the aid of the State Department, to smuggle out of Cuba children whose parents either feared Communist indoctrination or were involved in the resistance.

The church received the children, housing some in American camps and placing others in foster homes.

Mr. Grau's role was to distribute thousands of visa waivers, smuggled to him from the United States, to the parents who wanted their children to leave Cuba. He once told a researcher that he had walked the streets of Havana carrying the waivers inside his daughter's school bag, and a match and a bottle of alcohol in his pocket. If the police stopped him, he said, he was ready to burn the papers.

By the time the 21-month-old program ended, 14,000 children had left Cuba.

Ms. Grau and Mr. Grau were convicted of helping to smuggle the children, as well as of having connections with the C.I.A. and trying to overthrow the Castro Government. Both were sentenced to 30 years in prison in 1966. Ms. Grau was released in 1978, her brother in 1986. The smuggling operation was sanctioned by the United States State Department, but the C.I.A. has denied knowing of it.

Many of the children smuggled through Pedro Pan were separated from their parents for years. Some families were never reunited, and some of the children, now adults, resent the organization's role in their fate.

But many children said they were thankful for Mr. Grau's work.

He took a lot of risks for us, said Yvonne Conde, one of the smuggled children who lives in New York and is writing about about the Pedro Pan program. We can't forget that.

Mr. Grau died poor, his sister said. He did not own a car, relying on friends for transportation. He was a frequent guest on Spanish language radio shows and at Cuban political round-tables in Miami. --Mig (talk) 21:10, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

During Revolution
The article states that Grau simply retired after the 1959 revolution; however, this is incorrect. He represented the Cuban government in various foriegn affairs and served as head rector of University of Havana. I will update this later with sources. Does anyone have any other info related to this, or reason to believe that he infact did just retire home?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dionysiacforce (talk • contribs) 20:26, 21 March 2010 (UTC)