Bay of Pigs Cheet Sheet

Photo Credit: Bay of Pigs

When you visit Cuba you may come across references to The Bay of Pigs Invasion. There are even excursions from Varadero to visit the site. Here's a bit of background information.

In 1959, Fidel Castro and his rebel army succeeded in overthrowing the Cuban government forcing many people to flee the country. Anti-Castro Cuban exiles, based in the US, quickly plotted to invade Cuba and remove Castro from power. The US government supported the invasion but wanted to keep their involvement hidden. They helped by providing military equipment including airplanes for the invasion.

The plan was to launch an initial air strike to destroy the Cuban Air Force, establish a presence at the Bay of Pigs and move forward to Havana. The exiles believed that the Cuban people would rise up in support of their cause and help to overthrow Castro. A group of 1300 Cuban exiles, many with little or no military training were set to invade Cuba by landing at the Bay of Pigs.

Fidel Castro outmanouvers the exiles

News of the invasion leaked out and Castro was able to anticipate the attack. He moved much of his air force out of harms way. The exiles believing that they had destroyed most of the Cuban Air Force launched their land invasion on April 17th, 1961. Their lack of training coupled with Cuba's ability to support troops from the air sealed their fate. The US, even though they supported the invasion refused to be involved directly with it and did not provide any reinforcements for the exiles. More than 100 of them were killed and the remaining exiles were imprisoned.

The Kennedy administration was deeply embarrassed as the world found out about the US involvement in the failed attack. The invasion actually strengthened Castro's support among the people and increased their suspicions of the US. Fidel Castro eventually negotiated the return of the exiles to the United States by trading them for $54 million dollars in aid to his country.

The US government to this day continues to maintain policies designed to destabilize Castro's government.

If you are interested in more information on The Bay of Pigs Invasion here are a few interesting links to check out:

• You can browse through the CIA's database of declassified Bay of Pigs Invasion Documents.



• The National Archives has a collection of links to A Collection of documents relating to the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban missile crisis.



• You can watch a short news report video on The Invasion of Cuba.