BBC ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1961: Exiles invade Cuba at Bay of Pigs About This Site | Text Only 1961: Exiles invade Cuba at Bay of Pigs Reports from Cuba say the island has been invaded by counter-revolutionary forces trying to overthrow the country's leader, Fidel Castro. The only news coming out of Cuba is broadcast by the government-run radio station. All other communications with the island have been cut. THe first landing is reported to have taken place in the early hours of this morning. Broadcasts from Cuban government radio appealing for medical help indicate that the raiders have successfully penetrated 25 miles (40km) inland. They appear to have come ashore on an area of the coast known as the Bah�a de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs, south-east of the capital, Havana. There is no indication as to the size of the invasion force, but Dr Castro, in a speech on Cuban government radio, said they are supported by aircraft and warships. "The glorious soldiers of the revolutionary army and the national militia are battling the enemy at all the points where they have landed," he said.

High alert The Cuban military have been on high alert for an imminent invasion for some days. In a speech yesterday, Fidel Castro told the Cuban people he intended to resist such an attack with "an iron hand". Cuban exiles based in the United States, who are organising the attempt to overthrow the Castro regime, say thousands of Cubans have joined the rebel forces. However, there is no independent confirmation of the level of support for the invasion from within Cuba. The leader of the Cuban exile movement in the US, Dr Miro Cardona, said the battle had begun "to liberate our homeland from the despotic rule of Fidel Castro". Dr Cardona played a part in Fidel Castro's revolution against the dictatorship of President Batista in 1959, and was prime minister for 45 days before Dr Castro himself took over. US denial In a statement in Washington, the US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, has again denied US involvement in the invasion of Cuba. He said the United States had not, and would not intervene in Cuba, with armed forces or otherwise.

Strong suspicions that the United States is sponsoring an offensive against the Castro government have been fuelled by the bombing of three of Cuba's military air bases two days ago. The US denied all knowledge of the episode, saying Cuban Air Force pilots defecting to Florida were responsible. But reporters who watched one of the planes land in Miami after carrying out the attack described features which indicated it was American-made. The Bay of Pigs invasion begins - Apr 17, 1961 - HISTORY.com Within the CIA, the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 was regarded as the "perfect failure." Cold War The Bay of Pigs invasion begins Share this: The Bay of Pigs invasion begins Author The Bay of Pigs invasion begins URL Publisher A+E Networks The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure. Fidel Castro had been a concern to U.S. policymakers since he seized power in Cuba with a revolution in January 1959. Castro’s attacks on U.S.

companies and interests in Cuba, his inflammatory anti-American rhetoric, and Cuba’s movement toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union led U.S. officials to conclude that the Cuban leader was a threat to U.S. interests in the Western Hemisphere. In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered the CIA to train and arm a force of Cuban exiles for an armed attack on Cuba. John F. Kennedy inherited this program when he became president in 1961. Though many of his military advisors indicated that an amphibious assault on Cuba by a group of lightly armed exiles had little chance for success, Kennedy gave the go-ahead for the attack. On April 17, 1961, around 1,200 exiles, armed with American weapons and using American landing craft, waded ashore at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The hope was that the exile force would serve as a rallying point for the Cuban citizenry, who would rise up and overthrow Castro’s government.

The plan immediately fell apart–the landing force met with unexpectedly rapid counterattacks from Castro’s military, the tiny Cuban air force sank most of the exiles’ supply ships, the United States refrained from providing necessary air support, and the expected uprising never happened. Over 100 of the attackers were killed, and more than 1,100 were captured. The failure at the Bay of Pigs cost the United States dearly. Castro used the attack by the “Yankee imperialists” to solidify his power in Cuba and he requested additional Soviet military aid. Eventually that aid included missiles, and the construction of missile bases in Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962, when the United States and the Soviet Union nearly came to blows over the issue. Further, throughout much of Latin America, the United States was pilloried for its use of armed force in trying to unseat Castro, a man who was considered a hero to many for his stance against U.S. interference and imperialism. Kennedy tried to redeem himself by publicly accepting blame for the attack and its subsequent failure, but the botched mission left the young president looking vulnerable and indecisive. Related Videos The Bay of Pigs - John F.

Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum The Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs On April 17, 1961, 1400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. The US government distrusted Castro and was wary of his relationship with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union. Before his inauguration, John F. Kennedy was briefed on a plan by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) developed during the Eisenhower administration to train Cuban exiles for an invasion of their homeland. The plan anticipated that the Cuban people and elements of the Cuban military would support the invasion. The ultimate goal was the overthrow of Castro and the establishment of a non-communist government friendly to the United States. Training President Eisenhower approved the program in March 1960. The CIA set up training camps in Guatemala, and by November the operation had trained a small army for an assault landing and guerilla warfare.

José Miró Cardona led the anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the United States. A former member of Castro's government, he was the head of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, an exile committee. Cardona was poised to take over the provisional presidency of Cuba if the invasion succeeded. Despite efforts of the government to keep the invasion plans covert, it became common knowledge among Cuban exiles in Miami. Through Cuban intelligence, Castro learned of the guerilla training camps in Guatemala as early as October 1960, and the press reported widely on events as they unfolded. Shortly after his inauguration, in February 1961, President Kennedy authorized the invasion plan. But he was determined to disguise U.S. support. The landing point at the Bay of Pigs was part of the deception. The site was a remote swampy area on the southern coast of Cuba, where a night landing might bring a force ashore against little resistance and help to hide any U.S. involvement. Unfortunately, the landing site also left the invading force more than 80 miles from refuge in Cuba's Escambray Mountains, if anything went wrong. The Plan The original invasion plan called for two air strikes against Cuban air bases.

A 1,400-man invasion force would disembark under cover of darkness and launch a surprise attack. Paratroopers dropped in advance of the invasion would disrupt transportation and repel Cuban forces. Simultaneously, a smaller force would land on the east coast of Cuba to create confusion. The main force would advance across the island to Matanzas and set up a defensive position. The United Revolutionary Front would send leaders from South Florida and establish a provisional government. The success of the plan depended on the Cuban population joining the invaders. The Invasion The first mishap occurred on April 15, 1961, when eight bombers left Nicaragua to bomb Cuban airfields. The CIA had used obsolete World War II B-26 bombers, and painted them to look like Cuban air force planes. The bombers missed many of their targets and left most of Castro's air force intact. As news broke of the attack, photos of the repainted U.S. planes became public and revealed American support for the invasion. President Kennedy cancelled a second air strike. On April 17, the Cuban-exile invasion force, known as Brigade 2506, landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs and immediately came under heavy fire.

Cuban planes strafed the invaders, sank two escort ships, and destroyed half of the exile's air support. Bad weather hampered the ground force, which had to work with soggy equipment and insufficient ammunition. The Counterattack Over the next 24 hours, Castro ordered roughly 20,000 troops to advance toward the beach, and the Cuban air force continued to control the skies. As the situation grew increasingly grim, President Kennedy authorized an "air-umbrella" at dawn on April 19—six unmarked American fighter planes took off to help defend the brigade's B-26 aircraft flying. But the B-26s arrived an hour late, most likely confused by the change in time zones between Nicaragua and Cuba. They were shot down by the Cubans, and the invasion was crushed later that day. Some exiles escaped to the sea, while the rest were killed or rounded up and imprisoned by Castro's forces. Almost 1,200 members of Brigade 2056 surrendered, and more than 100 were killed. The Aftermath The brigade prisoners remained in captivity for 20 months, as the United States negotiated a deal with Fidel Castro.

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy made personal pleas for contributions from pharmaceutical companies and baby food manufacturers, and Castro eventually settled on $53 million worth of baby food and medicine in exchange for the prisoners. On December 23, 1962, just two months after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a plane containing the first group of freed prisoners landed in the United States. A week later, on Saturday, December 29, surviving brigade members gathered for a ceremony in Miami's Orange Bowl, where the brigade's flag was handed over to President Kennedy. "I can assure you," the president promised, "that this flag will be returned to this brigade in a free Havana." The disaster at the Bay of Pigs had a lasting impact on the Kennedy administration. Determined to make up for the failed invasion, the administration initiated Operation Mongoose—a plan to sabotage and destabilize the Cuban government and economy. The plan included the possibility of assassinating Castro. More than 50 years later, relations between Castro's Cuba and the United States remain strained and tenuous. Letter from President Kennedy to Chairman Khrushchev.

April 18, 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion - Cold War - HISTORY.com Bay of Pigs Invasion A+E Networks Introduction On January 1, 1959, a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro (1926-) drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), the nation’s American-backed president. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to push Castro from power. Finally, in April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the invasion did not go well: The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. Cuba: The Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961) Cuban Defenders during the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images The Bay of Pigs Invasion In April of 1961 the United States government sponsored an attempt by Cuban exiles to assault Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro and the communist government he led. The exiles were well armed and trained in Central America by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). The attack failed because of the selection of a poor landing site, inability to disable the Cuban Air Force and overestimation of the Cuban people’s willingness to support a strike against Castro. The diplomatic fallout from the failed Bay of Pigs invasion was considerable and led to an increase of cold war tensions. Background Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Fidel Castro had grown increasingly antagonistic towards the United States and their interests. The Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations authorized the CIA to come up with ways to remove him: attempts were made to poison him, anticommunist groups inside Cuba were actively supported, and a radio station beamed slanted news at the island from Florida. continue reading below our video Overview of The Bay of Pigs The CIA even contacted the mafia about working together to assassinate Castro. Nothing worked. Meanwhile, thousands of Cubans were fleeing the island, legally at first, then clandestinely.

These Cubans were mostly upper and middle class who had lost properties and investments when the communist government took over. Most of the exiles settled in Miami, where they seethed with hatred for Castro and his regime. It didn’t take the CIA long to decide to make use of these Cubans and give them the chance to overthrow Castro. Preparation When word spread in the Cuban exile community of an attempt to re-take the island, hundreds volunteered. Many of the volunteers were former professional soldiers under Batista, but the CIA took care to keep Batista cronies out of the top ranks, not wanting the movement to be associated with the old dictator. The CIA also had its hands full keeping the exiles in line, as they had already formed several groups whose leaders often disagreed with one another. The recruits were sent to Guatemala, where they received training and weapons. The force was named the Brigade 2506, after the enlistment number of a soldier who was killed in training. In April, 1961, the 2506 Brigade was ready to go. They were moved to the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, where they made their final preparations.

They received a visit from Luís Somoza, dictator of Nicaragua, who laughingly asked them to bring him some hairs from Castro’s beard. They boarded different ships and set sail on April 13. Bombardment The US Air Force sent bombers to soften up Cuba’s defenses and take out the small Cuban Air Force. Eight B-26 Bombers left from Nicaragua on the night of April 14-15: they were painted to look like Cuban Air Force planes. The official story would be that Castro’s own pilots had rebelled against him. The bombers hit airfields and runways and did manage to destroy or damage several Cuban aircraft. Several people working at the airfields were killed. The bombing raids did not destroy all of Cuba’s airplanes, however, as some had been hidden. The bombers then “defected” to Florida. Air strikes continued against Cuban airfields and ground forces. Assault On April 17, the 2506 Brigade (also called the “Cuban Expeditionary Force”) landed on Cuban soil. The brigade consisted of over 1,400 well-organized and armed soldiers.

Rebel groups within Cuba had been notified of the date of the assault and small-scale attacks broke out all over Cuba, although these had little lasting effect. The landing site which had been selected was the “Bahía de los Cochinos” or “Bay of Pigs” on the southern coast of Cuba, about a third of the way from the westernmost point. It is a part of the island that is sparsely populated and far from major military installations: it was hoped that the attackers would gain a beachhead and set up defenses before running into major opposition. It was an unfortunate choice, as the area selected is swampy and difficult to cross: the exiles would eventually become bogged down. The forces landed with difficulty and quickly did away with the small local militia that resisted them. Castro, in Havana, heard of the attack and ordered units to respond. There were still a few serviceable aircraft remaining to the Cubans, and Castro ordered them to attack the small fleet that had brought the invaders. At first light, the airplanes attacked, sinking one ship and driving off the rest. This was crucial, because although the men had been unloaded, the ships were still full of supplies including food, weapons and ammunition.

Part of the plan had been to secure an airstrip near Playa Girón. 15 B-26 bombers were part of the invading force, and they were to land there to carry out attacks on military installations all over the island. Although the airstrip was captured, the lost supplies meant that it could not be put into use. The bombers could only operate for forty minutes or so before being forced to return to Central America to refuel. They were also easy targets for the Cuban Air force, as they had no fighter escorts. Prev Bay of Pigs Invasion Encyclopedia > History > Latin America and the Caribbean > Cuban History Bay of Pigs Invasion Bay of Pigs Invasion, 1961, an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, supported by the U.S. government. On Apr. 17, 1961, an armed force of about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed in the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the south coast of Cuba. Trained since May, 1960, in Guatemala by members of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with the approval of the Eisenhower administration, and supplied with arms by the U.S.

government, the rebels intended to foment an insurrection in Cuba and overthrow the Communist regime of Fidel Castro. The Cuban army easily defeated the rebels and by Apr. 20, most were either killed or captured. The invasion provoked anti-U.S. demonstrations in Latin America and Europe and further embittered U.S.-Cuban relations. Poorly planned and executed, the invasion subjected President Kennedy to severe criticism at home. Cuban exile leader José Miró Cardona, president of the U.S.-based National Revolutionary Council, blamed the failure on the CIA and the refusal of Kennedy to authorize air cover for the invasion force, but perhaps more crucial was the fact that the uprising the exiles hoped and needed to spark did not happened. Much later it was revealed that the CIA task force planning the invasion had predicted that the invasion's goals unachievable without U.S. military involvement; it is unclear whether Kennedy or CIA chief Allen Dulles knew of the assessment. In Dec., 1962, Castro released 1,113 captured rebels in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine raised by private donations in the United States. See K. E. Meyer and T.

Szulc, The Cuban Invasion (1962); H. B. Johnson, The Bay of Pigs (1964). The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Cuban History Bay of Pigs invasion | Cuban-United States history | Britannica.com Bay of Pigs invasion Cuba Bay of Pigs invasion, (April 17, 1961), abortive invasion of Cuba at the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), or Playa Girón (Girón Beach) to Cubans, on the southwestern coast by some 1,500 Cuban exiles opposed to Fidel Castro . The invasion was financed and directed by the U.S. government.

A group of captured U.S.-backed Cuban exiles, known as Brigade 2506, being lined up by Fidel … Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images The Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 marked the total … Within six months of Castro’s overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s dictatorship in Cuba (January 1959), relations between Castro’s government and the United States began to deteriorate. The new Cuban government confiscated private property (much of it owned by North American interests), sent agents to initiate revolutions in several Latin-American countries, and established diplomatic and economic ties with leading socialist powers. Castro himself often and vociferously accused the United States of trying to undermine his government. Several U.S. congressmen and senators, from early 1960, denounced Castro; and by June the Congress had passed legislation enabling President Dwight D. Eisenhower to take retaliatory steps: the United States cut off sugar purchases from Cuba and soon thereafter placed an embargo on all exports to Cuba except food and medicine. In January 1961, Eisenhower, in one of the final acts of his administration, broke diplomatic ties with Cuba.

An invasion of Cuba had been planned by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since May 1960. The wisdom of proceeding with the invasion had been debated within the newly inaugurated administration of President John F. Kennedy before it was finally approved and carried out. On April 15, 1961, three U.S.-made airplanes piloted by Cubans bombed Cuban air bases. Two days later the Cubans trained by the United States and using U.S. equipment landed at several sites. The principal landing took place at the Bay of Pigs on the south-central coast. The invasion force was unequal to the strength of Castro’s troops, and by April 19 its last stronghold had been captured, along with more than 1,100 men. In the aftermath of the invasion, critics charged the CIA with supplying faulty information to the new president and also noted that, in spite of Kennedy’s orders, supporters of Batista were included in the invasion force, whereas members of the noncommunist People’s Revolutionary Movement, considered the most capable anti-Castro group, were excluded.

Similar Topics Milestones: 1961–1968 - Office of the Historian Milestones: 1961–1968 The Bay of Pigs Invasion and its Aftermath, April 1961–October 1962 A left-wing revolution in Cuba had ended in 1959 with the ouster of President Fulgencia Batista and the establishment of a new government under Premier Fidel Castro. The Castro regime quickly severed the country’s formerly strong ties with the United States by expropriating U.S. economic assets in Cuba and developing close links with the Soviet Union. Skyhawks from the USS Essex fly sorties over combat areas during the Bay of Pigs. (Robert L. Lawson Photograph Collection) These developments proved a source of grave concern to the United States given Cuba’s geographical proximity to the United States and brought Cuba into play as a new and significant factor in the Cold War. In March 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop a plan for the invasion of Cuba and overthrow of the Castro regime.

The CIA organized an operation in which it trained and funded a force of exiled counter-revolutionary Cubans serving as the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front, known as Brigade 2506. Following his election in November 1960, President John F. Kennedy learned of the invasion plan, concluded that Fidel Castro was a Soviet client posing a threat to all of Latin America and, after consultations with his advisors, gave his consent for the CIA-planned clandestine invasion of Cuba to proceed. Launched from Guatemala, the attack went wrong almost from the start. Components of Brigade 2506 landed at the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961 and were defeated within 2 days by Cuban armed forces under the direct command of Castro. The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro’s administration, which proceeded to openly proclaim its intention to adopt socialism and pursue closer ties with the Soviet Union. It also led to a reassessment of Cuba policy by the Kennedy administration. The President established a committee under former Army Chief of Staff General Maxwell Taylor and Attorney General Robert Kennedy to examine the causes of the defeat suffered at the Bay of Pigs.

This examination and policy assessment, initiated in May 1961, led in November of that year to a decision to implement a new covert program in Cuba, with the codename of Operation Mongoose. Oversight for Operation Mongoose was provided by the 5412/2 Special Group, under the auspices of the National Security Council, expanded to include General Taylor and Attorney General Kennedy. Operation Mongoose was designed to do what the Bay of Pigs invasion failed to do: remove the Communist Castro regime from power in Cuba. Orchestrated by the CIA and Department of Defense under the direction of Edward Lansdale, Operation Mongoose constituted a multiplicity of plans with wide-ranging purpose and scope. Lansdale presented the Project’s six-phase schedule to Attorney General Kennedy on February 20, 1962, and President Kennedy received a briefing on the operation’s components on March 16, 1962. Lansdale outlined the coordinated program of political, psychological, military, sabotage, and intelligence operations, as well as proposed assassination attempts on key political leaders, including Castro.

Monthly components of the operation were to be set in place to destabilize the communist regime, including the publication of Anti-Castro propaganda, provision of armaments for militant opposition groups, and establishment of guerilla bases throughout the country, all leading up to preparations for an October 1962 military intervention in Cuba. Some (though not all) of the planned Operation Mongoose actions were deployed during 1962, but the military intervention did not occur, and the Castro regime remained in power. Although not considered as significant a U.S. foreign policy failure and embarrassment as the Bay of Pigs invasion, Operation Mongoose failed to achieve its most important goals. Meanwhile, throughout the spring and summer of 1962, U.S. intelligence reports indicated expanded arms shipments from the Soviet Union to Cuba. Amidst growing concern in Washington over whether the Soviet weapons being introduced into Cuba included ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, in October 1962 the Kennedy administration suspended Operation Mongoose in the face of this far more serious threat—one that resulted in the most dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

1961: the Bay of Pigs: a force of Cuban exiles trained and equipped by the U.S. invaded Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. - Free Online Library 1961: the Bay of Pigs: a force of Cuban exiles trained and equipped by the U.S. invaded Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro. Page URL: HTML link: <a href=" Citations: MLA style: "1961: the Bay of Pigs: a force of Cuban exiles trained and equipped by the U.S. invaded Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.." The Free Library. 2006 Scholastic, Inc. 20 Jan. 2017 Chicago style: The Free Library. S.v. 1961: the Bay of Pigs: a force of Cuban exiles trained and equipped by the U.S. invaded Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.." Retrieved Jan 20 2017 from APA style: 1961: the Bay of Pigs: a force of Cuban exiles trained and equipped by the U.S.

invaded Cuba in a failed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro.. (n.d.) >The Free Library. (2014). Retrieved Jan 20 2017 from Well before dawn on Monday, April 17, 1961, a brigade of 1,500 Cuban exiles landed on the beaches of the Bay of Pigs in southern Cuba. They hoped to trigger a counter-revolution that would overthrow the fledgling socialist and pro-Soviet regime headed by Fidel Castro. Instead, within three days almost all of the exiles who formed Brigade 2506 were dead or captured. The United States, which had sponsored their invasion, was reeling from a major diplomatic and military embarrassment. The increased mistrust between the two countries would contribute one year later to the Cuban missile crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Forty-five years later, the repercussions are still being felt in Washington's relations with Cuba and with Latin America. Two years before the Bay of Pigs invasion, Castro's rebel army had toppled the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista and seized power. Though Castro quickly nationalized U.S.

corporations in Cuba, few people were certain whether he was a revolutionary populist or a full-fledged communist. COMMUNIST THREAT? President Dwight D. Eisenhower didn't want to take any chances on Soviet-sponsored communism gaining a foothold in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida: The U.S. feared Cuba would serve as a beachhead for Soviet expansion in the Western Hemisphere, a base for exporting communist revolution to Latin America. Planning for an operation that would overthrow the Castro regime began in April 1960. The blueprint for an invasion by Cuban exiles, many of whom had fled to the U.S. when Castro seized power, was already in place when President John F. Kennedy was inaugurated in January 1961. Looking back, the warnings of a disaster in the making seemed to have been everywhere. It was almost an open secret that Cuban exiles were being trained, armed, and directed by America's Central Intelligence Agency in Florida and Guatemala to invade Cuba. In a decision that would be debated for years, the Times published a story about the preparations early in April 1961. But, because of concerns about national security, references to the C.I.A.

and an impending attack were deleted. President Kennedy, who was angry that any story at all had been published before the invasion, would later confide to a Times editor: "If you had printed more about the operation, you would have saved us from a colossal mistake." 'ENEMY CLOSING IN' The Bay of Pigs was apparently named for the fierce animals that once inhabited its swampy shores on Cuba's south coast (see map, p. 22). The 1,500 fighters who slipped ashore on landing craft from five freighters in darkness that April 17 had hoped to be greeted as heroes and ignite a coup or an uprising against Castro. Instead, without the element of surprise, unable to destroy Castro's air force, and out-numbered 10-to-1 by Castro's soldiers, they were crushed within 72 hours. A brigade commander radioed these final messages: "Out of amino. Enemy closing in," and "Help must arrive in next hour." It never did. Of about 1,500 commandos, 114 died and 1,189 were captured.

(In December 1962, Castro released 1,113 in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine; the money was raised in the U.S.) From a military standpoint, without support from American warplanes and troops, the mission was doomed. From a diplomatic perspective, the prospects for success weren't much better. The C.I.A. itself, in a scathing self-examination (made public in 1998 in response to a Freedom of Information Act request), concluded that the operation suffered from ignorance and incompetence, and that once "success had become dubious," the agency should have recommended to the President that the invasion be canceled. Tad Szulc (pronounced Shultz), the Times correspondent who covered the Bay of Pigs invasion, would later write that Brigade 2506 was the "pathetically brave and pathetically inadequate" force enlisted in "one of the worst conceived, planned, and executed military-intelligence operations in modern history." Szulc compared their crusade to that of the fictional Don Quixote, who dressed as a knight and attacked windmills.

"Like Cervantes's hero, the brigade was possessed with lofty, idealistic, and visionary aims in the best Spanish tradition--to liberate Cuba from the totalitarian Castro regime," Szulc wrote. "And, like Don Quixote, it approached its enterprise in the most impracticable way imaginable." SOVIET MISSILES After the invasion, Castro's acceptance of a Soviet offer of nuclear missiles ignited another crisis with the U.S. that could have resulted in nuclear war. In October 1961, after tense negotiations over 13 days and an American naval blockade of Cuba, the Soviet missiles were withdrawn (so were American missiles in Turkey, near the Soviet border). Washington vowed never again to invade Cuba. But the U.S. government would continue to pursue a covert campaign to eliminate Castro or topple his pro-Soviet dictatorship. Those efforts would include burning fields of sugar cane to create economic chaos and even attempts to assassinate Castro. (His chief lieutenant, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was said to have been executed in 1967 by U.S.-trained government forces in Bolivia, where he was fomenting a communist revolution.) POVERTY & REPRESSION Castro survived not only the U.S.

campaign to undermine him, but also the collapse in 1991 of the Soviet Union, Cuba's chief economic and political patron. Castro is now tangling with his 10th American president. Though Castro has greatly expanded his nation's education system, Cuba's economy is dismal, and poverty and political repression are rampant. Today, the beaches abutting the Bay of Pigs are tourist resorts. An American economic embargo against Cuba, put in place by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, continues. But a Cuban baseball team was granted an exception to participate in this spring's World Baseball Classic in the U.S. Veterans of the Bay of Pigs invasion reunited in 2001 in Cuba at an unusual conference of soldiers, spies, and scholars. "Good thing you didn't shoot me," Castro told Alfredo Duran, who was a 24-year-old member of Brigade 2506 in 1961 and later became a lawyer in Miami. "My guys would have shot you," Castro said, "and neither of us would be here." Sam Roberts is urban affairs correspondent for The New York Times.

BACKGROUND Fidel Castro's overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959 was followed by the implementation of socialist policies, including expropriation of foreign industries. Thousands of Cubans fled. In 1961, Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist and sided with the Soviet Union, raising great concern in the United States. CRITICAL THINKING * Note the intelligence failure alluded to on page 25, where it states that the invaders hoped to be greeted as heroes. * Then refer students to the CIA report that characterized the invasion as the product of "ignorance and incompetence." * Ask students what clues the article offers to help explain this colossal mistake," as President Kennedy termed the invasion. (Did the invaders "lofty, idealistic, and visionary aims" cloud their better judgment? Why did the Americans, who presumably had a better understanding of military tactics, not understand the problem more cleary?) * Link the 1261 intelligence failure to a more recent event. Can students identify a major intelligence failure associated with Iraq? (U.S. and other intelligence services believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.) DISCUSSION QUESTIONS * Should the U.S.

have come to the aid of the invaders with warplanes and troops? * Why do you think the U.S. did not aid the invaders? (News analyses later said the U.S. hoped to present the invasion as a purely Cuban exile venture.) * Should the U.S. have later carried out its own invasion of Cuba? What would have been the pros and cons? WRITING PROMPT The U.S. allows tourists to visit Communist China but bans visits to Cuba. Write a brief essay explaining why the U.S. should continue this policy or should allow visits to Cuba. FAST FACT * Four days before the Bay of Pigs, Castro had thousands of potential opponents arrested. WEB WATCH ~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/ Primary source documents about the Bay of Pigs invasion. Includes links to phone calls by President Kennedy, statements by Fidel Castro, and much more. COPYRIGHT 2006 Scholastic, Inc. No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder. Copyright 2006, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

Article Details Bay of Pigs Invasion Blog Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs invasion was intended to provoke popularity for an uprising against Fidel Castro , who had overthrown American-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista . Instead, it gave Castro a military victory and a permanent symbol of Cuban resistance to American aggression. The Bay of Pigs was not originally John F. Kennedy 's idea. As the communist nature of Fidel Castro 's regime became apparent, the urge to topple his government grew. Dwight D. Eisenhower 's administration planned the invasion, which would be handled by the CIA . By the time of Kennedy's inauguration, the order to invade was the only remaining piece of the plan to put into place. Planning for the invasion began in 1960, before diplomatic ties with Cuba had been broken. The situation was delicate, since the plan was to overthrow a government with which the United States was not at war. Various aspects, including propaganda and military strategies, were included in the plan, along with the directive that the U.S. should not appear to be involved. During the presidential campaign, Kennedy had accused Eisenhower of not doing enough about Castro.

In fact, Eisenhower might have launched an invasion himself, had a proper excuse presented itself. Instead, he bequeathed an advanced plan to Kennedy, who was strongly inclined to pursue it. Others in the government were not convinced. The Cubans had presented evidence to the United Nations as early as October that the United States was hiring and training mercenaries. American involvement was not likely to remain much of a secret. Senator J. William Fulbright told Kennedy that this sort of hypocrisy was just the sort of thing of which the United States accused the Soviets. Under Secretary of State Chester Bowles advised Secretary of State Dean Rusk that the plan was wrong on both moral and legal grounds. Those in favor of the plan also included former Vice President Richard Nixon, John's brother Robert F. Kennedy , and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara . On April 12, 1961, Kennedy told a press conference that the United States unequivocally had no intention of intervening in Cuban affairs. Five days later, the invasion took place. The invasion force had been assembled in Guatemala. It departed in six ships from a port in Nicaragua on April 14.

On April 15, the American-backed Cuban exiles began to bomb airfields near two points in the Bay of Pigs and the Zapata swamps in Cuba. In a clumsy effort to make the attacks appear to have been made by defectors, the attacking B-26 airplanes were disguised to look like Cuban aircraft. An actual defector named Mario Zï¿½ï¿½iga was presented to the press along with his airplane, but so many important details were missing and the press had uncovered so much of the truth, that the cover-up effort had little success. Within the first few hours of the operation, it began to appear that the invasion would fail because it had not garnered the support from locals on which they were counting. Much to the CIAï¿½s surprise, locals firmly supported Castro and the Revolution. Adlai E. Stevenson , the American ambassador to the U.N., flatly denied the Cuban ambassador's charges about the attack and showed the official photographs to support the defectorï¿½s story. Unfortunately, the truth came out within a few hours and Stevenson was humiliated.

He also learned that Kennedy had referred to him as ï¿½my official liar." The attack began shortly after midnight on April 16. Coral reefs, misidentified by U-2 spy planes as seaweed, held up landings. Two ships were stranded 80 yards from shore and some heavy equipment was lost. With the invasion plainly underway, Rusk announced on Monday, April 17, that the U.S. would not intervene in Cuba nor would it in the future. Because world opinion was against the U.S., Kennedy decided not to provide further air cover until it could be launched from a landing strip somewhere in Cuba. This never happened, and Cuban forces had complete control of the air. A final desperate attempt at air support resulted in the loss of four American airmen on April 19, but the outcome was already sealed. The invaders surrendered on the afternoon of April 19. More than 200 people been killed; another 1,197 were taken captive. On April 20, Kennedy told the American Society of Newspaper Editors that the episode was Cubans fighting Cubans and that the U.S. had not been involved.

A few months later, the three responsible for planning the invasion ï¿½ Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Allen Dulles , Deputy Director of Operations Richard Bissell, and Air Force General Charles Cabell ï¿½ were fired. Mass trials of the captured men were held and nearly all were sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. After 20 months of negotiations, they were released in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine. The failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion set the stage for further aggressions against Castro from his northern aggressor. President Kennedy made little effort to conceal his continued desire to see Castro deposed. Castroï¿½s insecurity about the future of his rule over Cuba led to the installation of Soviet nuclear missiles there, prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. - - - Books You May Like Include: ----

Question: Where, in 1961, did US-supported Cuban exiles invade Cuba?
Answer: Bay of Pigs