Polita Grau (born Maria Leopoldina Grau-Alsina 19 November 1915–22 March 2000) was the First Lady of Cuba, a Cuban political prisoner, and the "godmother" of Operation Peter Pan, also known as Operación Pedro Pan, a program to help children leave Cuba. Operation Peter Pan involved the Roman Catholic Church and Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh from 1960 to 1962, which were involved in encouraging Cuban parents to send their children to live with U.S families to rescue them from Communism.
Early life
Polita Grau was the daughter of Paulina Alsina and Fransisco Grau San Martin, who died on November 30, 1930. Her siblings were Paulina Grau-Alsina, Francisco Grau-Alsina (a Senator of Cuba), and Ramon Grau-Alsina (a Representative of Cuba).
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 presidential term. Ramón Grau San Martín was elected as president of Cuba for his second term in the year of 1944, in which he served for four years. He was replaced by Carlos Prío Socarrás in 1948. In addition, 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, he 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. Researchers are not sure why Castro changed his mind, it is likely due to his respect for Grau, his wisdom, his elderly age, or his loyalty to Cuba by not leaving, unlike many others. Castro had given Grau the opportunity to return to his university post, however, he declined the offer. As Polita sent her children to the U.S, she had also sent her husband Pepe. She sent her husband because he was a high risk for the underground activities that Polita was 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!" Later in her life, 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 son to the United States. 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 later died in 1998.
Education
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 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.
Personal life
Polita Grau 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. Grau’s first husband, Roberto, had died in 1935 of appendicitis at Jackson Memorial Hospital located in Miami, Florida. Years later, in 1939, Polita married her second husband José Agüero (Pepe), with whom she had two children, a son named Ramón Fransisco also known as Monchy, and her daughter Hilda, known as Chury.
Polita Grau was commonly known as Polita, but this particular name never appeared 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.
Four periods of exile
First exile
In 1931, Grau San Martín and the Grau Alsina family went into exile in Miami, Florida. Once they had arrived in Miami, they 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, which was when Polita's uncle became president of Cuba.
Second exile
Grau's family had gone again into exile in 1933, but this second time around was to Mexico and later on in Miami. 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.