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Polita Grau
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, which were involved in encouraging Cubans to send their children to live with U.S families.
Personal Life
In 1934, Polita had returned to Cuba after she had gone to exile and married Roberto(Pepe) Lago who was a leader of a student movement. Grau’s husband, Roberto, had passed away in 1935 of appendicitis at Jackson Memorial Hospital located in Miami, Florida. Years later, in 1939, Polita got married to her second husband José Agüero, with whom she had two children, a son named Ramón Fransico also known as Monchi, and her daughter Hilda. Polita Grau was commonly known as Polita, this particular name never did appear on any official identification document. Before her post-prison arrival in the United States, Grau had the name of Maria Aguero which was taken from her second husband. After Polita became a U.S citizen, she had adopted a new name of “Pola Grau” which was the name on her naturalization certificate.
Polita Grau married Pepe Aguero in 1939 and had two children named Monchy and Chury. Polita Grau was the President of the Cuban Chapter of the Red Cross, while also being the coordinator of the women’s counter-revolutionary action organization called RESCATE (rescue). As Polita was directing Rescate, the women of her network were in charge of giving the CIA information on Soviet missiles and were in charge of those who were fighting underground out of the country and in spying. Rescate was engaged in a comprehensive propaganda campaign that wanted to discontent particularly the middle class from the Cuban revolution. Rescate had worked along with CIA-backed activities such as Radio Sawn, in which Rescate distributed leaflets that had anti-government writings. A consequential activity that began to cause panic among the citizens was to spread the rumor that the Cuban government was going to remove legal parental authority. This specific rumor was mentioned in 1961, and once again in the late 1960s. They had traveled across Cuba to distribute copies of the law that was not true but people were convinced it was to churches and other places. They had also used telephones as a method of spreading misinformation by calling people and explaining the law as a whole. Polita Grau and her brother Ramon Grau had distributed thousands of visa waivers right after the Bay of Pigs invasion. Grau had the name of Maria Aguero which was taken from her second husband. After becoming a U.S citizen, she had adopted a new name “Pola Grau” which was the name on her naturalization certificate.
Family Life
Polita Grau was the daughter of Paulina Alsina and Fransisco Grau San Martin. Her siblings were Paulina Grau-Alsina, Francisco Grau-Alsina (a Senator of Cuba), and Ramon Grau-Alsina (a Representative of Cuba). Her siblings were Paulina Grau-Alsina, Francisco Grau-Alsina (a Senator of Cuba), and Ramon Grau-Alsina (a Representative of Cuba). She was married twice, first to Roberto Lago-Pereda and then in 1939 to Jose Aguero-Cairo. She had a total of two children, Ramon Francisco and Hilda Maria Aguero-Grau, and six grandchildren. Polita Grau’s uncle, Dr.Ramón Grau San Martin was Cuba’s president from 1933 to 1934. Her uncle gave Polita the ceremonial title of the "First Lady" during his term presidential term. Ramón Grau San Martín was elected as president of Cuba in the year of 1944 who served for four years. He was shortly replaced by Carlos Prío Socarrás in 1952. Ramón Grau was one of many students who had organized protests going against the administration of General Gerardo Machado. Shortly after, he was sent to prison for his involvement in activities and was released only on the condition that he would leave Cuba. In 1959, Castro had removed former President Grau from his post at the university and had also taken all his properties away from him. In 1961, Castro had changed his mind, we are not sure why, it is likely due to his respect for Grau and his wisdom, his elderly age, and because he stays loyal to Cuba by not leaving, unlike many others. Castro had given Grau the opportunity to return to his university post, however, he had declined the offer. As Polita sent her children to the U.S, she had also sent her husband Pepe. She had sent her husband because he could put at risk the underground activities that Polita has been engaged in. Polita and her brother had seen Pepe outraged and yelled to a group of people “Go on conspiring, you are all going to end up in jail!”. Polita retells a past moment of her life when she was walking in downtown Miami when a woman asked her, “Aren’t you Polita Grau?” She also tells her that Polita has helped her bring her boy out to the U.S. Moments like these make Polita proud of what she has accomplished despite the consequences. Polita admits that she would do everything all over again, however, a bit more secretly. Polita Grau’s brother died in 1998. Francisco, Polita’s father, had passed away on November 30, 1930.
Life in Diaspora
In 1931, Grau San Martín and the Grau Alsina family had gone into exile in Miami, Florida. Once they had arrived in Miami, they had joined other Cubans who opposed the Machado government. When Machado was removed from Cuba in 1933, the Grau Alsina family had gone back to Cuba in which their uncle became president of Cuba. Grau’s family had gone again into exile, but this second time around was to Mexico and later on in Miami. Polita was exiled for the third time in 1935 to Miami due to her political involvement with her husband Roberto Lago (Pepe).
In 1952, Batista had organized his ‘coup d’etat’ and established his dictatorship which is when Polita Grau joined the resistance to him. Polita had left Cuba to join Antonio Varona which was part of the anti-Batista movement. Antonio Varona was an exiled politician and associate of her uncle in Miami. Polita Grau had stayed in Miami for five months after the dictator’s overthrow as she was doubtful of the movies of Batista’s successor. Polita Grau was also frightened by Castro’s belief in Communism, therefore being a part of an underground movement planning to overthrow the Cuban government. Varona had a counter-revolutionary group, that Polita had later joined famously known as “Movimiento de Rescate Revolucionario (Revolutionary Rescue Movement). This group had to find a safe place for underground operatives to attempt the assassination of Fidel Castro. Since Polita was a women’s coordinator, she had created a spy ring that was able to see Cuba in its entirety. When Polita Grau and her brother Ramón Grau arrived in Miami due to Politia's fourth and final exile, While being in Miami, many people looked up to her, particularly for her work in assisting in bringing thousands of children out of Cuba through Operation Pedro Pan. Ramón Grau was asked by a Miami Herald journalist Sergio López about the patria potestad scare in which he confessed: “The entire thing was a propaganda test to hurt Fidel. . . The idea was to create panic . . . . It was hoped that this would foster unrest and rebellion against him.
After Polita had been imprisoned for 14 years, she wanted to reunite with her family but she was unable to forget about the prisoners that she left behind in Cuba. Polita was determined to fight for the political prisoners. The only way that Polita can be calm is to see the political prisoners free from prison and Cuba. However, she says that it is a miracle that she is out of prison and that she feels resurrected. Polita was excited to see her husband, José Agüero, and her children for 18 years. Polita Grau had six grandchildren who she has never met before. Polita’s son had arrived in Miami days after his mother’s arrival to attempt to obtain liberty for his mother in Cuba.
Academia
Grau arrived in Miami from Havana for the first time during her senior year in high school. Grau completed her high school education at St. Patrick’s Academy located in Miami Beach. Polita Grau attended the Teresian school in Vedado, Cuba. Polita Grau, as a college student, was involved in radical campus movements in order to weaken the Gerardo Machado regime. The reason Grau turned against her support of Cuba’s 1959 revolution was after Castro began to nationalize industries.
Politics
In 1952, Fulgencio Batista led another coup de etat, Polita took this opportunity and became actively involved in the opposition led by Prío Socarrás. Ms. Grau and her brother, Ramon Grau Alsina, were children of parents who feared for their Communist indoctrination and were involved in the anti-Castro resistance. Dr. Ramon Grau San Martin by being named "The First Lady of Cuba," at seventeen years old. During her adolescent years, Grau was majorly involved in politics which resulted in her spending many years in exile. She opposed the Machado regime and the Batista regimes. She later supported the Cuban Revolution, but then opposed the Castro regime. Polita Grau gave shelter to multiple anti-government activists and had also assisted them to obtain political asylum in Havana. Being exiled did not stop Polita from doing what she believed in, she was exiled for the fourth time in Miami until 1959, specifically during the time that Castro took power.
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. Later in her life, Polita Grau had gone to the White House more than once to be interviewed with former President Bush. Ms. Grau had gone to ask for help, wanting for her brother Ramon Grau to be able to migrate to the United States from Cuba. Ramon Grau had been imprisoned for 22 years for sending thousands of Cuban children to the United States during Operation Peter Pan, ultimately becoming liberated in 1986.
Involvement of Operation Peter Pan
Polita was engaged in attempts that were deemed unsuccessful in the life of Fidel Castro. In 1961 it was the year where Polita Grau first caught the attention of the Operation when a group of women possibly sent by Penny Powers had gone towards her brother’s involvement in Operation Pedro Pan. She had her entire women’s group join the effort. The group of women had asked for his help in handing out documents to children. Most of these women had sent their children out of the country having the hope that the Catholic Church and the U.S government would take care of them properly. Each woman from the Graus organization had a specific task to accomplish during this operation. The Graud organization began to expand and was eventually all across Cuba and even outside of Havana. Every one of these women that was engaged in the Grau’s organization wanted to save the children in Cuba from Communism. Their main goal as an organization was to save the children, as well as being engaged in other activities that did not relate to this topic. Polita had stated that all of these activities were being executed under the help of the CIA.
Polita and her brother had created a secret network to perform their underground activities. Both of them had created a public front of a “socially active family” which enabled them to hide the people that were coming in and out of their home. Polita remembered that people would come to their home in Miramar, Florida which was right next to the office of the security police. The process of the counterfeiting operation was to have the people pass an interview and if passed would receive passports or visas or visa waivers. The people that would get a passport would receive a fake passport fabricated in concurrence with the Panamanian Embassy. People who had valid passports, but outdated visas would have the date on the visa changed by an artist that knew Polita. Lastly, the people with valid passports and without visas were able to get one stamped with the official embassy stamp that was handed out earlier on to the Graus through their connection with the CIA. The U.S visas that were being distributed were valid for a maximum of four years.
Mongo (Polita's brother) had agreed to helping out as well as Polita who was actively handing out exit papers and airline tickets. With the use of her Rescate network, Ms. Grau was able to complete the requests of many families. Due to her being famously known, former politicians from the provinces who were connected with her uncle’s political party had asked her for the documents. She had also gotten several other requests from priests and nuns that she knew who wanted to help children in their schools and congregations. The Cuban Baptist Church had also held several visa waivers for her to have. Despite Ms. Grau being well recognized and the benefits that derived from it, she struggled at times in finding spaces aboard airplanes for children. However, she used her friend, Juanita Castro, Fidel Castro’s sister who was against her brother, as she had connections at Havana’s airport. Polita and her brother’s involvement had perfect timing during Operation Pedro Pan. This is because after the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961, several underground networks had fallen, and many operatives were arrested by the government or forced to leave Cuba. Once Polita and her brother had gotten arrested in 1965, they had realized that not even their family name or the government’s need to keep their uncle in Cuba could save them.
Polita Grau and her brother Ramon had secretly distributed U.S letterhead invitations from their home in Havana which allowed 14,000 children to come to the United States in the early 1960s. Grau had also sent her daughter and son to Miami to stay along with her friends as she stayed in Cuba to take care of her elderly relatives.
Imprisonment
In 1965, Grau and her brother Ramon were accused of being CIA spies because of their work of helping thousands of children to leave Cuba under Castro’s regimein Operation Peter Pan. She was also accused of participating in a plan to poison Castro by giving him a milkshake, however, their plan was unsuccessful. They were both tried, and were sentenced to about 30 years in prison, particularly for their connections with the CIA, espionage, and attempting to overthrow the Castro government. Despite being convicted for their role in Pedro Pan and had dealt with the Central Intelligence Agency, they had denied their connection to this.
Before being released from prison in 1976, Polita Grau was interviewed by a Cuban journalist Luis Báez, who questioned her about the supposed threat to ‘patria potestad,’ which means 'taking away legal custody of your child.' She had admitted to having “encouraged the rumor that the communist government was the absolute owner of the muchachos and that parents would lose their rights over their children. That they would be sent to Russia.” Ms. Grau further explained that a false revolutionary government law relating to this topic was being printed out. In one of Polita's interviews, Polita Grau had mentioned that she did not believe it was entirely right but that she felt she had to do something to undermine the government. Polita believed that by doing so, the people would start their faith and hopes in the revolution. Grau was released after serving 14 years in prison, and her brother Ramon also known as “Mongo” Grau was released after serving 21 years. She was released during the wider release of political prisoners in 1978 dialogue between exiles and Castro, due to Bernardo Benes influences. Bernado at that time was a Miami businessman who described Polita Grau as being a brave woman who was not afraid of anything. Ms. Grau was freed also due to the encouragement of President Jimmy Carter who had encouraged Castro to release a significant number of political prisoners in Cuba. Her brother Ramon was later on released in 1986. Both Grau and her brother Ramon returned to Miami after their release, again being exiled.
While Grau was in prison, she wrote a significant amount of her involvement in Operation Peter Pan. It was only from these papers that the Cuban government finally was able to realize the extent of the program, Operation Peter Pan. 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 to the U.S acting inhumanely 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.
Death and Legacy
After Grau’s exile in 1959, until her time of death, Grau had not given up on her political activities against Castro’s regime. According to her daughter Hilda “Chury” Aguero, Grau had failing health years prior to her death. At the age of 84, Polita Grau died at the Villa Maria Nursing Center located on the grounds of Mercy Hospital in Coconut Grove, of congestive heart disease. There was no cemetery service for Polita Grau. Polita Grau preferred to have a cremation, and have her ashes buried in Cuba.
Polita Grau was published in newspapers and was highly spoken of. She was viewed as a symbol of ‘decorum,’ of the highest moral rank of Cuban women. She is remembered for her ‘beauty, her sweetness, her generosity of care, her integrity.’ Grau is well respected for her political involvement, particularly in Cuba and Miami.
In 2008, the City of Miami named a street after her: "Ramon and Polita Grau-Alsina Avenue," in honor of Polita and her brother's work.
References
- Arocha, Zita. “Polita Grau no puede olvidar a los todavia presos.” Miami, Florida: The Miami Herald, 1978
- Associated Press. "Cuba’s Polita Grau; Jailed for her anti-Castro Efforts.” Chicago, IL: Chicago Tribune, 1963.
- Bolender, Keith, and Noam Chomsky. Voices from the Other Side an Oral History of Terrorism against Cuba. London: Pluto Press, 2010.
- Conde, Yvonne M. Operation Pedro Pan the Untold Exodus of 14,048 Cuban Children. New York and London: Routledge, 1999. Accessed March 21, 2021.
- De los Angeles Torres, Maria. The Lost Apple: Operation Pedro Pan, Cuban Children in the United States and the Promise of a Better Future. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2003.
- De Los Angeles Torres, Maria. “Polita Grau, 85 was key figure in Pedro Pan.” Chicago, Illinois: Depaul University, 1998.
- Grau Alsina, Ramón, and University of Miami. Library. Cuban Heritage Collection, Host Institution. Ramón Grau Alsina Collection.
- Levine, Robert M. & Asis, Moises; Cuban Miami, (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000), pp. 22, 24-27.
- Medrano, Humberto. “Polita Grau: Símbolo de la Mujer Cubana.” Miami, Florida: Diario Las Américas, 1978
- Ojito, Mirta. “Polita Grau va a Washington.” Miami, Florida: El Nuevo Herald, 1989.
- “Polita Grau De Agüero Papers, University of Miami Libraries Digital Collections.” Accessed April 14, 2021. https://merrick.library.miami.edu/cubanHeritage/chc0356/.
- “Remarks on Cuban Independence Day.” Remarks on Cuban Independence Day | The American Presidency Project, May 20, 1993. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46585.
- Rosenberg, Carol. “Polita Grau, 85, dies: was first lady of Cuba.” Miami Florida: The Miami Herald, 2000
- Saxon, Wolfgang. “Polita Grau, 84; Headed Effort On Behalf of Cuban Children.’” New York Times, March 25, 2000.
- Shnookal, Deborah, and JSTOR. Operation Pedro Pan and the Exodus of Cuba's Children. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2020
- ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (25 March 2000). "Polita Grau, 84; Headed Effort On Behalf of Cuban Children". The New York Times.
- ^ Grau Alsina, Ramon (1882–2000). "Polita Grau de Agüero Papers," (Letters Clippings Photographs Personal correspondence) (in Spanish). Otto G. Richter Library. OCLC 51298851. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ De Los Angeles Torres, Maria. "Polita Grau, 85 was key figure in Pedro Pan". No. 1998. Chicago, Illinois: Depaul University.
- Torres, María de los Angeles (2003). The lost apple : Operation Pedro Pan, Cuban children in the U.S., and the promise of a better future. Boston: Beacon Press. pp. 134–136. ISBN 080700233X.
- Conde, Yvonne M. (2000). Operation Pedro Pan : the untold exodus of 14,048 Cuban children. New York: Routledge. pp. 50–70. ISBN 0415928230.
- ^ Triay, Victor Andres (1998). Fleeing Castro : Operation Pedro Pan and the Cuban Children's Program. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. p. 40. ISBN 0813017246.
- ^ Shnookal, Deborah (2020). Operation Pedro Pan and the exodus of Cuba's children. Gainesville. p. 125. ISBN 1683401824.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Arocha, Zita (1978). "Polita Grau no puede olvidar a los todavia presos". The Miami Herald (in Spanish). Miami, Florida.
- "New York Times New York State Poll, June 2000". ICPSR Data Holdings. 2001-01-25. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
- ^ Rosenberg, Carol (March 23, 2000). "Polita Grau, 85, dies; was first lady of Cuba". The Miami Herald.
- Ojito, Mirta (1989). "Polita Grau va a Washington". El Nuevo Herald. Miami, Florida.
- ^ Bolender, Keith (2015-11-20). Voices From the Other Side. Pluto Press. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-84964-561-4.
- Medrano, Humberto (1978). "Polita Grau: Símbolo de la Mujer Cubana". Diario Las Américas. Miami, Florida.
- Robertson, Linda. "Lost You'll need a history lesson to find your way on Miami's streets of many names". Retrieved 13 April 2021.
See also
- Cuban migration to Miami
- Cuban American
- Cuban exile
- History of Cuba
- Mariel boatlift
- Opposition to Fidel Castro
- Operation Baby Lift (South Vietnam, 1975)
- Timeline of Cuban history
External links
- Operation Pedro Pan Group, official site
- "Children of Cuba Remember their Flight to America", NPR
- "Cuban Refugee Children" by Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh
- Pedro Pan Network, hosted by the Miami Herald
- "Cuban Kids in Exile: Pawns of Cold War Politics", Chicago Sun-Times, 24 August 2003, review of Maria de los Angeles Torres' The Lost Apple
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