BAY OF PIGS

[Dealey Joe]

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the invading combatants within three days.The main invasion landing took place at a beach named Playa Girón, located at the mouth of the bay. The invasion is named after the Bay of Pigs, although that is only a modern translation of the Spanish Bahía de Cochinos. In Latin America, the conflict is often known as La Batalla de Girón, or just Playa Girón.After the success of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, counter-revolutionary groups grew, particularly in the Escambray Mountains, where the War Against the Bandits guerrilla war continued sporadically until 1965. Prior to the invasion, the CIA supported and supplied various groups with arms and other resources, but they were not included in the invasion plans due to concerns about information security.[7]:64 No quarter was given during the suppression of the resistance in the Escambray Mountains, where former rebels from the War Against Batista took different sides.[12] On 11 March 1961, Jesus Carreras and American William Alexander Morgan (a former Castro ally) were executed after a trial.[13][14]On 3 April 1961, a bomb attack on militia barracks in Bayamo killed four militia, and wounded eight more. On 6 April, the Hershey Sugar factory in Matanzas was destroyed by sabotage.[15] On 14 April 1961, guerrillas led by Agapito Rivera fought Cuban government forces near Las Cruces, Montembo, Las Villas, where several government troops were killed and others wounded.[15] Also on 14 April 1961, a Cubana airliner was hijacked and flown to Jacksonville, Florida; resultant confusion then helped discovery of the staged 'defection' of a B-26 and pilot at Miami on 15 April.In April 1960, the CIA began to recruit anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the Miami area. Until July 1960, assessment and training was carried out on Useppa Island and at various other facilities in South Florida, such as Homestead AFB. Specialist guerrilla training took place at Fort Gulick, Panama and at Fort Clayton, Panama.[16][18]:78 For the increasing ranks of recruits, infantry training was carried out at a CIA-run base code-named JMTrax near Retalhuleu in the Sierra Madre on the Pacific coast of Guatemala.[19] The exiles group named themselves Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506).[19] In summer 1960, an airfield (code-named JMMadd, aka Rayo Base) was constructed near Retalhuleu, Guatemala. Gunnery and flight training of Brigade 2506 aircrews was carried out by personnel from Alabama ANG (Air National Guard), using at least six Douglas B-26 Invaders in the markings of FAG (Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca), legitimate delivery of those to the FAG being delayed by about six months. An additional 26 B-26s were obtained from US military stocks, 'sanitized' at 'Field Three' to obscure their origins, and about 20 of them were converted for offensive operations by removal of defensive armament, standardization of the 'eight-gun nose', addition of underwing drop tanks and rocket racks.[20][21] Paratroop training was at a base nicknamed Garrapatenango, near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Training for boat handling and amphibious landings took place at Vieques Island, Puerto Rico. Tank training took place at Fort Knox, Kentucky and Fort Benning, Georgia. Underwater demolition and infiltration training took place at Belle Chase near New Orleans.[10]The CIA used Douglas C-54 transports to deliver people, supplies, and arms from Florida at night. Curtiss C-46s were also used for transport between Retalhuleu and the CIA base code-named JMTide (aka Happy Valley), at Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. On 9 April 1961, Brigade 2506 personnel, ships, and aircraft started transferring from Guatemala to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.[14]In early 1961, Cuba's army possessed Soviet-designed T-34 and IS-2 Stalin tanks, SU-100 self-propelled 'tank destroyers', 122 mm howitzers, other artillery and small arms, plus Italian 105 mm howitzers. The Cuban air force armed inventory included Douglas B-26 Invader light bombers, Hawker Sea Fury fighters, and Lockheed T-33 jets, all remaining from the Fuerza Aérea del Ejército de Cuba (FAEC), the Cuban air force of the Batista government.[19]Anticipating an invasion, Che Guevara stressed the importance of an armed civilian populace, stating "all the Cuban people must become a guerrilla army, each and every Cuban must learn to handle and if necessary use firearms in defense of the nation.The invasion is often recognized as making Castro even more popular, adding nationalistic sentiments to the support for his economic policies. Following the 15 April air attacks on Cuban airfields, he declared the revolution "Marxist-Leninist".[24] After the invasion, he pursued closer relations with the Soviet Union, partly for protection, that helped pave the way for the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro was then increasingly wary of further US intervention, and more open to Soviet suggestions of placing nuclear weapons on Cuba to ensure its security.Bay of Pigs Memorial in Little Havana- Miami, Florida.In March 2001, shortly before the 40th anniversary of the invasion, a conference took place in Havana, attended by about 60 American delegates. The conference was titled Bay of Pigs: 40 Years After, co-sponsored by the University of Havana and the US-based National Security Archive.[61]There are still yearly nationwide drills in Cuba during the 'Dia de la Defensa' (Defense Day), to prepare the population for an invasion.[edit]Invasion legacy for Cuban exilesMany who fought for the CIA in the conflict remained loyal after the event; some Bay of Pigs veterans became officers in the US Army in Vietnam, including six colonels, 19 lieutenant colonels, nine majors, and 29 captains.[62] By March 2007, about half of the Brigade had died.[63]In April 2010, the Cuban Pilot's Association debuted a monument at the Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport memorializing the 16 aviators for the exile side killed during the battle.[64] The memorial consists of an obelisk and a restored B-26 replica aircraft atop a large Cuban flag.

[kenmurray]

Bay Of Pigs Invasion, Cuba: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKlnM_n1s1E