DEFINING FREEDOM IN EXILE Between 1960 and 1962 more than 14,000 Cuban children escaped Fidel Castro's communist regime as part of an airlift known as Operación Pedro Pan. LORENZO PABLO MARTÍNEZ was one of these children. In CUBA, ADIÓS: A Young Man's Journey to Freedom, Martínez vividly recounts his participation in a program that bridged two different cultures and achieved great political significance over the years. At eighteen, he forfeits a music scholarship to Prague to accept an unknown future of exile in America without knowing the language, money to pursue an education, or family to help. Plagued by guilt around his sexual identity and having to care for a younger brother, Martínez forges ahead to become the composer of his future; later he opens the door that enable his sisters and parents to join him after a harrowing sojourn in Mexico City. With the same determination, he attends college and pursues a music education, obtaining a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music, then a doctorate from Columbia University. Even after his music compositions are published and performed on television and at international festivals, Martínez feels restless and spiritually unfulfilled. Until, that is, he is able to define the true music of his freedom. CUBA, ADIÓS is a poignant, thoughtful account of one boy's survival and self-acceptance, written with unflinching honesty and a wry humor.
About the Author: Born in Cuba, Lorenzo Martinez was part of Operation Pedro Pan, a secretive mass exodus of children that landed in America between 1960 to 1962 fleeing the Castro regime. He holds a master's from the Manhattan School of Music and a doctorate in education from Teachers College, Columbia University. As a composer, he contributed music to the television show Captain Kangaroo. A book of his children's songs, The Circus was published by Clarus Music Ltd. Some of his children's compositions were performed at a music festival in Puerto Rico; one was featured in a book published by Viking, Group Soup. He translated all twelve episodes of The Second Voyage of the Mimi produced by Bank Street College of Education for PBS, and has written two bilingual stories for children that are awaiting publication. A picture book for children he authored, The Ballerina and the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, was recently published by XLibris. Over the years he has played an important role in the non-profit arena, overseeing the development and communications/marketing departments at a number of international organizations in the areas of education, health, and the arts. He has represented those organizations at international conferences and has been a lecturer at several New York institutions such as New York University, the New School, York College of the City University of New York and the 92nd Street Y.