The legacy of the Cuban children who took part in the famed Operation Pedro Pan will be center stage at Monday’s inauguration.
Rev. Luis Leon of St. John's Episcopal Church, located across the street from the White House, will give the benediction to President Barrack Obama as he begins his second term.
“It’s an honor to be a part of such a moment in American history, which all inaugurations are. And it’s a special honor because as an immigrant to this country, this is the only place where something like this can happen,” Leon told El Nuevo Herald on Wednesday.
“I feel that I am at some level representing the Hispanic community in the U.S. in an event like this. We are part of an important part of this country...”
Back in 1961, Leon arrived alone in Miami as an 11-year-old — part of the legion of 14,048 children sent without their parents to the U.S. to escape indoctrination by Fidel Castro’s new regime.
Leon was selected for the honor after the Rev. Louie Giglio, an Atlanta pastor, stepped aside when it was revealed he made an anti-gay sermon he gave in the mid-1990s.
When interviewed in 2009, Leon said: ''I don't think President Obama knows my story,'' said the 63-year-old clergyman, who occasionally hosts the presidential family at his church.
But previous president George W. Bush knew that the Episcopalian clergyman had been sent alone without his parents from Cuba by his parents who feared how he would fall under Communist indoctrination. ''He talked to me about it during a function at the White House,'' he said. ``He was very interested.''
Castro’s rise to power seriously impacted the Leon family — all but disbanding it.
Leon’s father died in Cuba in 1963 after his children left the island. By the time his mother made it to the U.S. in 1965, Leon was at the Berry Academy in Georgia and his sister was off to college, all thanks to the Episcopalian church.
His mother landed a job at Agnes School College in Decatur, GA. and they saw each other on weekends,
''We did not live together again as a family,'' he said. ``The clan was never re-gathered. That always bothered my mother.”
Leon said he feels his parents rescued him from the Communist island: "They did the right thing in getting me out of Cuba.'' But adds: "I don't know if I could do the same thing for my children.''
Leon is the second Cuban-American playing a major role at the inauguration. Poet Rick Blanco, whose parents are Cuban but was born in Spain, is the inaugural poet.
It’s not Leon’s first time at an Obama inauguration. Before the 2009 oath taking , Obama and his wife Michelle attended services led by Leon.
To learn more about Operation Pedro Pan go to http://www.miamiherald.com/pedropan
An Operation Pedro Pan veteran to give benediction at Monday’s inauguration
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An Operation Pedro Pan veteran to give benediction at Monday’s inauguration
