OPERATION PEDRO PAN

Parents Log

The Miami Herald Pedro Pan Network was created using the airport log as a source. This
log was kept by Jorge (George) Guarch, the Catholic Welfare Bureau employee who met the
flights at the airport. Mr. Guarch began keeping the log on May 26, 1961, and ended in
October 1962, when the flights stopped due to the Missile Crisis.
Concurrently, the staff of the Catholic Welfare Bureau was keeping a separate log, the
parents log, starting with the very first flight on December 26, 1960, and ending October
1965. This log was kept under the parents names. It lists the names of the parents of
children who, upon arrival in Miami, were taken under the care of the Catholic Welfare
Bureau. It does not list the childrens names. Parents of children who were met at the
airport and went to live with family and friends are not on this parents log. This log also
indicates the date of arrival of the child, or in some cases children, making the number of
children represented in this log greater than the 800+ recorded entries.
Officially, Operation Pedro Pan exodus ended with the Missile Crisis. However,
unaccompanied Cuban children were still arriving past that date as far as into 1965. Many
of these children also came under the care of the Catholic Welfare Bureau.
Pedro Pans Elosa Echazbal and Conchita Gutirrez have transcribed the information in the
parents log into a searchable report, covering the period prior to May 26, 1961, and past
October 1962, making this an excellent complement to the airport log. The information
on this report is exactly as the original log was kept. The original parents log was kept
manually and is part of the archives at Barry University. Ive had a photocopy of this log for
many years stashed away with other Pedro Pan memorabilia, but never got around to doing
anything with it,said Eloisa. In discussing the log with my high-school friend Conchita the
other day, we came to the conclusion that other Pedro Pans would love to know that it
exists and see it.
Before finalizing the report, Conchita and Eloisa met with one of the former staff members
at the Catholic Welfare Bureau who kept this record. She helped identify some names and
initials which were not very legible in the hand-written copy.
Conchita reminds us thatThis document, along with all the others in the collection, is of
great historical importance of a significant stage in the lives of many Cubans. It also brings
to light the courage and immense love these parents showed towards their children,
sending them to the USA to ensure for them a life of freedom. It also serves as genealogical
reference for descendants of those whose names appear on the list.