Cuba
Hugo Llorens: From Cuba to American Diplomacy
One of the Operation Pedro Pan children flown out of Cuba alone, later ambassador to Honduras.
- Fled
- Cuba
- Status
- Refugee
- Arrived in the U.S.
- 1962
- Service
- U.S. Ambassador to Honduras (2008 to 2011); Special Chargé d'Affaires in Afghanistan (2016 to 2017)
- Region
- Cuba
Hugo Llorens was seven years old when he arrived in the United States in April 1962 as one of the unaccompanied children of Operation Pedro Pan, the airlift that brought thousands of Cuban children out of the country after the revolution.
He made a career in the Foreign Service, serving as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, as Assistant Chief of Mission in Kabul, and as Special Chargé d'Affaires in Afghanistan.
Read the history behind this story on the Cuba page, or browse all the diplomats.