The Americas

Cuba: Refugees Who Became U.S. Diplomats

From Cuba to the service of the United States.

After the revolution

Fidel Castro took power on January 1, 1959. Over the following years, hundreds of thousands of Cubans left for the United States, starting with those who had served the old government and soon including professionals, business owners, and families of every background.

Operation Pedro Pan

From 1960 to 1962, Operation Pedro Pan brought roughly 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children to the United States, many of whom waited months or years to be reunited with their parents. At least two Pedro Pan children later became U.S. ambassadors.

Later waves

The Freedom Flights of 1965 to 1973 carried hundreds of thousands more. The Mariel boatlift of 1980 brought about 125,000 people in a matter of months. Cuban Americans have since served the Department of State at every level, including as ambassadors and as deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Figures are approximate and vary between sources.

Diplomats from Cuba

Eduardo Aguirre Jr.Arrived alone from Cuba at fifteen through Operation Pedro Pan; later ambassador to Spain.Omar CardenteyGranted refugee status from Cuba at three; later a public diplomacy officer from Kyiv to Baghdad to The Hague.Alberto M. FernandezCame from Cuba as a refugee in 1959 and spent a career as a public diplomacy officer in the Middle East.Victor Garcia-RiveraFled Castro's Cuba as a child with almost nothing and joined the Foreign Service once it opened to gay Americans.Lino GutiérrezFled Cuba after the Bay of Pigs, waited fourteen months in Colombia, and became ambassador to Nicaragua and Argentina.Hugo LlorensOne of the Operation Pedro Pan children flown out of Cuba alone, later ambassador to Honduras.Carlos PascualLeft Cuba at three on one of the last flights out; later U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Mexico.José S. SorzanoFled communist Cuba in 1960 and became the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.