Between 1960 and 1962 the CIA-run Operation Pedro Pan airlifted 14,000 children out of Cuba to Miami, including Carlos Eire who was just 11 years old when separated from his home and family by the Cuban revolution. Eire will tell his stunning, evocative, and unforgettable first-hand story of the exodus to escape Castro’s communist regime at the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando, Fla., on April 3.
Eire, born in Havana in 1950, left his homeland in 1962 for America, and after living in a series of foster homes in Florida and Illinois, he was reunited with his mother in Chicago in 1965, but his father was never able to leave Cuba. Former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, also a Pedro Pan child, will introduce Eire.
Eire has written several books including his 2003 memoir of the airlift, “Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy,” which won the 2003 National Book Award for Nonfiction. It has been translated into 13 languages, but is banned in Cuba, where he is considered an enemy of the state. After earning his Ph.D. at Yale in 1979, Eire taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota for two years and at the University of Virginia for 15 years. He is now the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies at Yale University.
The Artists & Authors Series dinner provides an intimate connection to captivating personalities like Eire who bring history to life. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by a dinner, the program, and a book signing. The event is $40 for each ticket and $280 for a table of eight for Historical Society members, and $50 for each ticket and $360 for a table of eight for non-members. For reservations, please call (407) 836-7010.
