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Polita Grau

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Polita Grau (born Maria Leopoldina Grau-Alsina on 19 November 1915 in Havana, Cuba - 22 March 2000 in Miami, Florida) was a First Lady of Cuba, a Cuban political prisoner, and the "godmother" of Operation Peter Pan, a program to help children leave Cuba. The Peter Pan movement involved the Roman Catholic Church, while also encouraging Cubans to send their children to live with U.S families.

Contents

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Personal Life

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Family life[edit]

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Grau was the daughter of Paulina Alsina and Francisco Grau-San Martin, who died on 30 November 1930. Their family was then taken in by his brother, Ramón Grau San Martín. Her siblings were Paulina Grau-Alsina, Francisco Grau-Alsina (a Senator of Cuba), and Ramon Grau-Alsina (a Representative of Cuba). Her uncle, Ramon Grau-San Martin, was President of Cuba from 1933–1934 and again from 1944-1948. She served as first lady of Cuba during her uncle’s presidencies. Grau also grew up into a wealthy family. She was married twice, first to Roberto Lago-Pereda and then in 1939 to Jose Aguero-Cairo. She had two children, Ramon Francisco and Hilda Maria Aguero-Grau, and six grandchildren.

Marriages and Children

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Life in Cuba

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Life in Diaspora

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Academia [edit]

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Grau came to Miami from Havana for the first time during her senior year in high school, in where she graduated in a local parochial school. [1]

Politics[edit]

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Grau was involved in politics from her adolescence and spent four separate periods in exile. She opposed the Machado regime and the Batista regimes. She later supported the Cuban Revolution, but then opposed the Castro regime.

In 1961, Grau and her brother Ramon, along with Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh of the Archdiocese of Miami, started Operation Peter Pan. From 1961-1965, they helped more than 14,000 children leave Cuba without their parents, and later assisted with giving out 28,000 visas to those children's parents.

In 1965, Grau and her brother Ramon were accused of being CIA spies because of their work in Operation Peter Pan. She was also accused of involvement in a plot to poison Castro with a milkshake. They were tried, and each was sentenced to 30 years in prison, particularly for their connections with the CIA, espionage, and attempting to overthrow the Castro government.[2] Grau was released after serving 14 years in prison, and her brother Ramon was released after serving 21 years. She was released during the wider release of political prisoners in 1978, thanks to the assistance of Bernardo Benes. Her brother Ramon was later on released in 1986. Both Grau and her brother Ramon returned to Miami after their release. [3]

While Grau was in prison, she wrote substantially on her involvement in Operation Peter Pan. It was solely from these papers that the Cuban government finally discern the extent of the program, Operation Peter Pan. [4] Grau had described Operation Peter Pan as child abuse and stated that the Federal government of the United States's participation was inhumane. Grau was referring the U.S acting inhumanely to the incident that occur in the 1980s where the State Department denied a request from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to assist in reuniting the Cuban children with their parents. [5]

Involvement of Operation Peter Pan

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Imprisonment

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Death and legacy [edit]

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Polita Grau died at the Villa Maria Nursing Center located on the grounds of Mercy Hospital in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, of congestive heart disease.

In 2008, the City of Miami named a street after her: "Ramon and Polita Grau-Alsina Avenue".

References[edit]

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  • Saxon, Wolfgang. “Polita Grau, 84; Headed Effort On Behalf of Cuban Children.’” New York Times, March 25, 2000.
  • Levine, Robert M. & Asis, Moises; Cuban Miami, (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000), pp. 22, 24-27.
  • Bolender, Keith, and Noam Chomsky. Voices from the Other Side an Oral History of Terrorism against Cuba. London: Pluto Press, 2010.
  • Press, Associated. "CUBA'S POLITA GRAU; JAILED FOR HER ANTI-CASTRO EFFORTS: [CHICAGO SPORTS FINAL EDITION]." Chicago Tribune, Mar 24, 2000. http://access.library.miami.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/cubas-polita-grau-jailed-her-anti-castro-efforts/docview/419055767/se-2?accountid=14585.
  • Associated Press. "Cuba’s Polita Grau; Jailed for her anti-Castro Efforts.” Chicago, IL: Chicago Tribune, 1963.

External links[edit]

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  • The Polita Grau de Agüero Papers are available at the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami. Selected items from these Papers have been digitized and are searchable online at http://merrick.library.miami.edu/cubanHeritage/chc0356/.
  • http://www.miamidade.gov/govaction/legistarfiles/Matters/Y2007/073076.pdf
  • http://baracuteycubano.blogspot.com/2008/05/polita-grau.html
  • [1]
  • http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/2000/0403/milestones.html
  • http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46585
  1. ^ "New York Times New York State Poll, June 2000". ICPSR Data Holdings. 2001-01-25. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  2. ^ Bolender, Keith (2015-11-20). Voices From the Other Side. Pluto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-84964-561-4.
  3. ^ Bolender, Keith (2015-11-20). Voices From the Other Side. Pluto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-84964-561-4.
  4. ^ Bolender, Keith (2015-11-20). Voices From the Other Side. Pluto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-84964-561-4.
  5. ^ Bolender, Keith (2015-11-20). Voices From the Other Side. Pluto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-84964-561-4.
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