Bay of Pigs Invasion
"I want to just splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the wind."—President John F. Kennedy
The Bay of Pigs Invasion (known as Invasión de Bahía de Cochinos, La Batalla de Girón, or Invasión de Playa Girón) was an unsuccessful attempt by CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba with support from US government armed forces, to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. Launched shortly after John F. Kennedy assumed presidency in 1961, the operation intended to employ similar tactics as those used in the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
Recruitment by the CIA for the project began in April 1960, with recruitment of anti-Castro Cubans in the Miami area. Cuba became aware of an American plot for invasion due to their intelligence network and prepared by readying a military presence. The CIA planned to involve preexisting Cuban anti-Castro groups in the plot.
(April 15th) As a prelude to the invasion bombings on three Cuban airfields, the bombings included at least one deception bomber that would be redirected back to the United States were conducted. Following the bombings Cuban Foreign Minister Raúl Roa attempted to accuse the US of being involved. US ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson stated that US armed forces would not "under any conditions" intervene in Cuba, doing so while uninformed of the CIA's actions.
(April 16th) On the night of April 16th, a diversionary flight failed to land and an attempted staged armed rising at Las Delicias Estate in Las Villas was completely quelled. No more air strikes were planned for the 16th due to overestimated expectations of damage, due to exaggerated claims by pilots. Later the invasion force began to form and prepare themselves for the invasion of Cuba.
(April 17th) Just as the clock ticked down to April 17th, the US forces moved into the Bay of Pigs, ferrying the exiled Cuban forces under them to Cuba. The exiled Cuban forces along with paratroopers were moved into Cuba and quickly began to make ground. They were soon met with resistance by Cuban infantry and tanks deployed to counter their efforts.
(April 18th) The initial invasion force became increasingly disorganized and scattered as skirmishes broke out between the invasion forces and the Cuban military forces. Little progress was made as the invasion force was further depleted by Cuban forces.
(April 19th) More equipment and supplies were moved in to support the invasion force. A final bombing attack was slated but mostly failed with two of the five assigned bomber being promptly shot down. As the day drew to a close American naval ships moved in to evacuate American soldiers still in Cuba, but were eventually forced to move out when under tank fire from the shore.
(April 20th) With the invasion more or less failed, naval vessels carefully scanned the Cuban shoreline for surviving Brigade soldier finding another 30-40 survivors before departing. The invasion was a disaster, with the invading force's beachhead no bigger than half a mile long and a quarter mile deep at any point during the fighting.
The failure embarrassed the Kennedy Administration and made Castro wary of future US intervention in Cuba. The event was also noteworthy for bolstering support for Castro in Cuba. Despite several preexisting rebellious efforts in Cuba, the number of rebels dropped to nearly zero in the wake of the quelled rebellion. Kennedy was so angered with the CIA's failure he claimed he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the wind."
Film
- The invasion is an important background element in the movie Thirteen Days, which is set during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Video Games
- The first mission in Call of Duty Black Ops, "Operation 40," takes place on April 17th. The mission objective is to kill Fidel Castro while the invasion takes place. Castro's double takes the bullet.
- The Boss mentions her involvement in the invasion as part of her backstory in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.