Bay of Pigs

[bubbrubb]

ive read some very brief material on the subject and i was wondering whether it was u.s. troops or soldiers trainded by the u.s. im not to that part yet in anderson's book

[Sylvia]

Both. U.S army trained exiled Cubans and sent them back to fight.

[Monty Cantsin]

4 US pilots died because they sent them in to scare the cubans but ended up get shoot down!

[monkeydust]

As far as I know the vast majority of those ordered to attack the Bay of Pigs (as it was called after the event) were Cuban exiles. The US barely trained them, merely gave them weapons and equipment and sent them in. As you know, the attack failed miserably.

[Solace]

The Bay of Pigs is such a stains in US history. It's also very funny.

The Americans thaught that the Cubans would jump in with them. USA is always thinking that people need to liberate be liberated by them. And what's even funnier is that this event actually helped Castro.


The US barely trained them, merely gave them weapons and equipment and sent them in. As you know, the attack failed miserably.

That's not quite it. They were trained and US gave them arms and support. It failed mainly because of the positive opinion of the Cubans of Castro and America's twisted vision of reality.

[Monty Cantsin]

whats really funny is they had it planed for a different place and jfk said to move it, they moved it to one of the places that the revolution was most supported (fidel spent alot of time there).

they thought the place was really isolated but they didint know that the cubans had built some new roads through the area. all in all it was a big $#@$ up.

[LSD]

Not to mention that originally the invasion was supposed to be supported by air, but jfk pulled out the air cover and didn't tell the exiles!!
So not only were they outnumbered, outgunned, and unpopular with the local population, but they fought with the expectation that there were planes above them backing them up.

Needless to say, they were quite resoundingly defeated.

[Solace]

And now here's something a little less funny. Actually, it makes me sad each time I read it. :(

I have no pity for the trained exiled Cuban, but I hate the way USA turns it's back on everyone.


On the same day [Kennedy reversed his decision] Brigade commander Perez San Roman transmites a final radio message from Brigade 2506: “We have nothing left to fight with, “ San Roman said, his voice breaking, “how can you people [the U.S.] do this to us, our people, our country?” Around 200 soldiers are killed in the fighting, while 1000 others are captured as prisoners of war. Among the prisoners are men who had previously owned in Cuba 914,859 acres of land, seventy factories, five mines, two banks and 10 sugar mills

Source (http://www.marxists.org/history/cuba/subject/bay-of-pigs/)

[Monty Cantsin]

there's also the idea that jfk and the rest new, the exiles couldnt win. but they didnt wont to have so many men pissed off because they could have taken over the country they where, because they were better armed and trained. so instead they sent them to die.

[TC]

The bay of pigs was so funny. First they bombed Cuban airfields with American planes with communist markings. Then they told their Ambassador to the UN that it was a Cuban mutany without telling him it was a lie, so they lied to their own UN ambassador who proudly displayed pictures of the fake planes before being publically humilated without even anticipating it. When they actually sent their exile paramilitaries in (with CIA commanders) they where already surrounded by Cuban soldiers. They weren't just defeated, they weren't even allowed to retreat, their entire invasion force was captured or killed.

[Inti]

They got what they deserved those pinches exile cubans. But the ones captured, does anyone know if they all got executed, sent back to the states or sent to prison? I think its hilarious that the former landowners got back so that the Cubans could have a go on them.

[Monty Cantsin]

"But the ones captured, does anyone know if they all got executed, sent back to the states or sent to prison?"

they got sent back to the states, and cuba got 53m in aid for them. so i worked out pretty good for the motherland cubans.

[pastradamus]

Well to just get right down to it....basically what happened was:

Castro takes over,Cappies basically flee from cuba.A group of angry cuban emigrants round up some troops who recieve training off the US army & CIA.They attacked in boats & castro used the small cuban airforce to attack the small boats used in the invasion & the boats were cut to shreads.

US air support was promised but there are disputes about wheather it came or not,certainly it was not good enough and the invasion proved a failure.Castro accused the American Government of First degree murder shortly after the events.

[pandora]

[Note after rechecking source have made edits (changes) sorry for temporary inaccuracies should have checked source first--thanks for understanding]

Interesting that one person called the captured "pinche exiles" and said "have a go at them" and this is one of my few deep questions regarding Guevara's leadership.
Having interviewed a former Peace Corp volunteer trained later at Camp Crozer [sampling latrines] in Puerto Rico and who had some contact with the men from Bay of Pigs when they trained in Quetzal Teango, Guatemala with the forces from Guantanamo Bay I received some word of abuse of the captives.

My source, a female, interviewed a former captive named John prior to that time in Lafayette Indiana, and was saddened to learn that many of the men, including John, had been raped as a form of humiliation. Whether or not the order came from Guevara, or was simply a reaction of the men is not known.

The result of the of being raped in such a way upon a man in that time period was much more traumatic than it would perhaps it would perhaps be today due to the isolationary effect of late 50's early 60's society.

The survivor she spoke to, John, was released with a very brief debriefing and little assistance to go back to Lafayatte, Indiana where he was completely isolated and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder till he went out of his mind and had a psychatric break unable to deal with the two realities, literally seeing God in an soda shop and was shortly after institutionalized.

What was remarkable was his ability to talk about the situation, but this further isolated him from polite society at the time, as he openly spoke of many of the men being raped repeatedly and by many Cuban soldiers as a form of degradation on the enemy. To make matters worse the CIA operatives, many of whom did not speak a word of Spanish were shown under internal investigation to have treated the Cuban Exiles like well dogs, garbage, human refuse, the whole thing was abominable.

No I don't entirely blame Guevara and the Cuban government for defending their borders against a hostile action, but Guevara has never been very nice to prisoners, usually he shot them so they didn't come at him again it was almost his signature style. Still he was never a swarthy bastard about it like Raul Castro who only would stop in Occidental after the war for the light for his camera so he could capture all his executions for posterity. Many of Raul's actions sicken me and I hope he hasn't a chance in hell of taking Castro's post.

The United States has never taken good care of its servicemen who are traumatized by such events, and many events did move against homosexuals in Cuba afterwards. Whether there is a correlation here or not is subsidary. Still I believe the rape of the American servicemen, as well as some of the exiles no doubt related to a bigger picture: the feminization of Cuba in the eyes of American diplomats for many years and Cuba's retailation to this as a form of disrespect associating feminine with weak; which no doubt in the eyes of American foreign affairs officers was their point in referring to it in the feminine.

This anger against the state department that perhaps led to the rape is a seperate issue from socialist politics. It speaks to a broader definition of intimidation on the part of the United States towards other smaller nations it wishes to control, and an wrong association with that which is feminine as being weak on the part of both nations.
To Whom do we tell what happened on the Earth, for whom do we place everywhere huge Mirrors in the hope that they will be filled up and will stay so?--Czeslaw Milosz, "ANNALENA"[COLOR=purple]

[Fidel Castro]

The Cuban Exile Movement are the biggest bunch of criminals, scumbags and traitors ever to be dropped on this planet! Put it this way, if there were no exiles in Miami, then the USA would not show half the interest in Cuba that they do today.

As for the Bay of Pigs, that will forever remain as a reminder to the USA and the Exiles as to what awaits them should they attempt military action again.

[M.L]

After their humilating defeat at the Bay of pigs Castro for the first time mentioned the magic words; socialistic revolution.
He said that just because Cuba had become a socialistic country they (USA) thought they would have to "liberate" the people.
Allso Che wrote a letter to USA were he thanked them for the attack. The reason why he thanked them was because the attack had given the revolution a push in the right direction!

[Danton]

The bay of pigs, an apt name indeed...
Bay of pigs little known fact #1- Gloria Estefan's father was one of the invading gusano's, tragically he survived ...