View source for Bay of Pigs Invasion

{{Short description|Failed landing operation of Cuba in 1961}}
{{Redirect|Invasion of Cuba|the War of Jenkins' Ear battles|Invasion of Cuba (1741)|the United States intervention in Cuba in 1898|Spanish–American War}}
{{Page numbers needed|date=April 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Bay of Pigs Invasion
| partof            = the [[Cold War]] and the<br />[[Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution]]
| image             = File:Attack near Playa Giron. April 19, 1961. - panoramio.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = Counterattack by [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces]] near [[Playa Girón]] on 19 April 1961
| date              = 17–20 April 1961
| place             = [[Bay of Pigs]], southwestern coast of [[Cuba]]
| coordinates       = {{coord|22.0616|-81.0319|type:event_globe:earth_region:CU|display=title,inline}}
| casus             = [[Cuban Revolution]]
| territory         =
| result            = Cuban victory
* Failure to topple Castro's government
* All surviving rebels captured
* [[Cuba–Soviet Union relations|Increased cooperation]] between Cuba and the [[Soviet Union]]
| map_type          = Cuba
| map_size          = 290
| combatant1        = {{flag|United States|1960}}<br />{{flagdeco|Cuba|1902}} [[Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front|Cuban DRF]]
| combatant2        = {{flag|Cuba}}
| commander1        = {{flagdeco|United States|1960}} '''[[John F. Kennedy]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1960}} [[Robert McNamara]]<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1960}} [[Robert F. Kennedy]]<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1960}} [[Maxwell D. Taylor]]<br>{{flagdeco|United States|1960}} [[Charles Cabell]]<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba|1902}} [[Pepe San Román]]{{POW}}<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba|1902}} [[Erneido Oliva]]{{POW}}<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba|1902}} [[Félix Rodríguez (soldier)|Félix Rodríguez]]
| commander2        = {{flagdeco|Cuba}} '''[[Fidel Castro]]'''<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba}} [[Che Guevara]]<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba}} [[Juan Almeida Bosque|Juan A. Bosque]]<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba}} [[Ramiro Valdés]]<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba}} [[Raúl Castro]]<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba}} [[Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo|Eloy Gutierrez]]<br>{{flagdeco|Cuba}} [[Carlos Franqui]]
| units1            = {{flagicon image|Flag of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.svg}} [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]
* {{flagicon image|Flag of Brigade 2506.svg}} [[Brigade 2506]]
[[File:Flag of the United States Air Force.svg|24px]] [[U.S. Air Force]]
* [[File:Emblem of the Alabama Air National Guard.svg|23px]] [[Alabama Air National Guard]]
{{flag|United States Navy|name=U.S. Navy}}
| units2            = {{flagicon image|FAR emblem.svg}} [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces]]<br />{{flagicon image|Policía Nacional Revolucionaria.png}} [[National Revolutionary Police Force]]<br />[[National Revolutionary Militia]]
| strength1         = {{plainlist|
* {{nowrap|1,500 ground forces{{efn|name=enB2|1,500 ground forces (including 177 paratroops) – c. 1,300 landed. Also Cuban exile and American aircrews, as well as CIA operatives<ref name=fernandez/>}}}}
* 16 [[Douglas A-26 Invader|B-26 Invader]] bombers<br /> 4 [[Martin B-26 Marauder|B-26 Marauder]] bombers<br /> 45 [[Vought F4U Corsair|F4U Corsair]] fighters
* 8 [[Curtiss C-46 Commando|C-46]] transport planes <br /> 6 [[Douglas C-54 Skymaster|C-54]] transport planes
* 5 [[M41 Walker Bulldog|M41]] light tanks
* Plus artillery, mortars, [[Willys Jeep|Jeeps]], and trucks
* 5 supply ships
}}
| strength2         = {{plainlist|
* 25,000 [[Cuban Army]]<ref name=szulc1986/>
* 200,000 [[National Revolutionary Militia|Militia]]<ref name=szulc1986/><ref name=frusx>FRUS X, documents [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d19 19], [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d24 24], [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d35 35], [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d245 245], [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d271 271].</ref>
* 9,000 armed [[National Revolutionary Police Force|National Police]]<ref name=szulc1986/><ref name=frusx/>{{efn|name=enA|Across the country}}
* 4 [[Lockheed T-33]] jets
* 4 [[Hawker Sea Fury]] fighters
* 7 [[Douglas A-26 Invader|B-26 Invader]] bombers
* 100+ tanks
** [[T-34-85]] medium tanks
** [[IS-2]] heavy tanks
* [[SU-100]] self-propelled guns
* Several 76.2-mm and 122-mm artillery pieces
}}
| casualties1       = '''Brigade 2506''':
* 118 killed
* 360 wounded{{efn|name=enE}}
* 1,202 captured (including wounded){{efn|name=enF|1,202 Brigade members captured (1,179 tried; 14 tried previously for pre-invasion crimes; 9 died in transit)<ref name=fernandez/>}}
* Hundreds executed<ref name=triay/>
* 5 B-26 bombers shot down
'''United States''':
* 4 killed
* 2 B-26 bombers shot down
* 2 supply ships lost
| casualties2       = '''Cuban Armed Forces:'''
* 176 killed
* 400–500 wounded{{efn|name=enC}}{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=46}}
* 1 B-26 bomber shot down
* 1 Hawker Sea Fury shot down
* 1 patrol ship sunk
* Unknown number of T-34-85 tanks and SU-100 guns destroyed
}}
{{History of Cuba}}
{{Covert United States involvement in regime change}}
{{John F. Kennedy series}}

The '''Bay of Pigs Invasion''' ({{Langx|es|Invasión de Bahía de Cochinos}}, sometimes called {{lang|es|Invasión de Playa Girón}} or {{lang|es|Batalla de Playa Girón}} after the [[Playa Girón]]) was a failed military [[landing operation]] on the southwestern coast of [[Cuba]] in 1961 by the United States of America and the [[Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front]] (DRF), consisting of Cuban exiles who opposed [[Fidel Castro]]'s [[Cuban Revolution]], [[Clandestine operation|clandestinely]] financed and directed by the [[U.S. government]]. The operation took place at the height of the [[Cold War]], and its failure influenced relations between Cuba, the United States, and the [[Soviet Union]].

In 1952, the American-allied dictator General [[Fulgencio Batista]] led a [[1952 Cuban coup d'état|coup]] against President [[Carlos Prío Socarrás|Carlos Prío]] and forced Prío into exile in [[Miami|Miami, Florida]]. Prío's exile inspired Castro's [[26th of July Movement]] against Batista. The movement succeeded in overthrowing Batista during the Cuban Revolution in January 1959. Castro nationalized American businesses, including banks, oil refineries, and sugar and coffee plantations. The [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) began planning the overthrow of Castro, which U.S. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] approved in March 1960, and the U.S. began [[United States embargo against Cuba|its embargo of the island]]. This led Castro to reach out to its Cold War rival, the Soviet Union, after which the US [[Cuba–United States relations|severed diplomatic relations]].

Cuban exiles who had moved to the U.S. following Castro's takeover had formed the [[counter-revolutionary]] military unit [[Brigade 2506]], which was the armed wing of the DRF. The CIA funded the brigade, which also included approximately 60 members of the [[Alabama Air National Guard]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-2134|title=Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Alabama Air National Guard|website=Encyclopedia of Alabama|language=en|access-date=20 November 2017}}</ref> and trained the unit in [[Guatemala]].

Over 1,400 paramilitaries, divided into five infantry [[battalion]]s and one paratrooper battalion, assembled and launched from Guatemala and [[Nicaragua]] by boat on 17 April 1961. Two days earlier, eight CIA-supplied [[Douglas A-26 Invader|B-26]] bombers had attacked Cuban airfields and then returned to the U.S. On the night of 17 April, the main invasion force landed on the beach at Playa Girón in the [[Bay of Pigs]], where it overwhelmed a local revolutionary militia. Initially, [[José Ramón Fernández]] led the [[Cuban Revolutionary Army]] counter-offensive; later, Castro took personal control. {{anchor|AirSupport}}

As the invasion force lost the strategic initiative, the international community found out about the invasion, and U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]] decided to withhold further air support.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13066561 |title=The 'perfect failure' of Cuba invasion |access-date=17 May 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213152510/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13066561 |archive-date=13 February 2016  |work=BBC News |date=14 April 2011 |last1=Voss |first1=Michael}}</ref> The plan, devised during Eisenhower's presidency, had required the involvement of U.S. air and naval forces. Without further air support, the invasion was being conducted with fewer forces than the CIA had deemed necessary. The invading force was defeated within three days by the [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces]] (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias – FAR) and surrendered on 20 April. Most of the surrendered counter-revolutionary troops were publicly interrogated and put into Cuban prisons with further prosecution.

The invasion was a [[Foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]] failure. The Cuban government's victory solidified Castro's role as a national hero and widened the political division between the two formerly allied countries, as well as emboldened other Latin American groups to undermine U.S. influence in the region. As stated in a memoir from [[Chester Bowles]]: “The humiliating failure of the invasion shattered the myth of a New Frontier run by a new breed of incisive, fault-free supermen. However costly, it may have been a necessary lesson.”   It also pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union, setting the stage for the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] in 1962.

==Background==
===United States interventions in Cuba===
{{Further|Platt Amendment}}
Since 1492, Cuba had been part of the [[Spanish Empire]]. In the late 19th century, Cuban nationalist revolutionaries rebelled against Spanish rule, resulting in three liberation wars: the [[Ten Years' War]] (1868–1878), the [[Little War (Cuba)|Little War]] (1879–1880) and the [[Cuban War of Independence]] (1895–1898). In 1898, the United States government proclaimed war on the Spanish Empire, resulting in the [[Spanish–American War]]. The U.S. subsequently invaded the island and forced the [[Spanish Army]] out. A special operations attempt to land a group of at least 375 Cuban soldiers on the island succeeded in the [[Battle of Tayacoba]].

On 20 May 1902, a new independent government proclaimed the foundation of the [[Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)|Republic of Cuba]], with U.S. Military Governor [[Leonard Wood]] handing over control to President [[Tomás Estrada Palma]], a Cuban-born U.S. citizen.<ref name="Gott 113">[[#Got04|Gott 2004]]. p. 113.</ref> Subsequently, large numbers of U.S. settlers and businessmen arrived in Cuba, and by 1905, 60% of rural properties were owned by non-Cuban-born North American citizens.<ref name="Gott 115">[[#Got04|Gott 2004]]. p. 115.</ref> Between 1906 and 1909, 5,000 [[U.S. Marines]] were stationed across the island, and returned in 1912, 1917 and 1921 to intervene in internal affairs, sometimes at the behest of the Cuban government.<ref name="Gott 115-116">[[#Got04|Gott 2004]]. pp. 115–116.</ref>

===Cuban Revolution===
{{Main|Cuban Revolution}}
{{Quote box
| quote = Until Castro, the US was so overwhelmingly influential in Cuba that the American ambassador was the second most important man, sometimes even more important than the Cuban president.
| source = — [[Earl E. T. Smith]], former American Ambassador to Cuba, during 1960 testimony to the US Senate<ref>''Ernesto "Che" Guevara (World Leaders Past & Present)'', by Douglas Kellner, 1989, Chelsea House Publishers, {{ISBN|1555468357}}, p. 66.</ref>
| align = right
| width = 25em
}}

In March 1952, a Cuban general and politician, Fulgencio Batista, seized power on the island, proclaimed himself president, and deposed the discredited president Carlos Prío Socarrás of the [[Partido Auténtico]]. Batista canceled the planned presidential elections and described his new system as "disciplined democracy."

Although Batista gained some popular support, many Cubans saw it as the establishment of a one-man dictatorship.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 64–65.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 37–39.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. pp. 57–62.</ref><ref>[[#Got04|Gott 2004]]. p. 146.</ref> Many opponents of the Batista regime took to armed rebellion in an attempt to oust the government, sparking the Cuban Revolution. One of these groups was the National Revolutionary Movement (''Movimiento Nacional Revolucionario''), a militant organization containing largely middle-class members that had been founded by the Professor of Philosophy [[Rafael García Bárcena]].<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 71–72.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 45.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 72.</ref> Another was the [[Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil|Directorio Revolucionario Estudantil]], which had been founded by the Federation of University Students President [[José Antonio Echevarría]].<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 122, 129–130.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 102–104, 114, 116.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 109.</ref>

However, the best known of these anti-Batista groups was the "26th of July Movement" (MR-26-7), founded by Fidel Castro. With Castro as the MR-26-7's head, the organization was based upon a [[clandestine cell system]], with each cell containing ten members, none of whom knew the whereabouts or activities of the other cells.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 68–69.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 50–52.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 65.</ref>

Between December 1956 and 1959, Castro led a guerrilla army against the forces of Batista from his base camp in the [[Sierra Maestra]] mountains. Batista's repression of revolutionaries had earned him widespread unpopularity, and by 1958 his armies were in retreat. On 31 December 1958, Batista resigned and fled into exile, taking with him an amassed fortune of more than $300 million.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 158–159.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 203, 207–208.</ref><ref name="Coltman 2003. p. 137">[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 137.</ref> The presidency fell to Castro's chosen candidate, the lawyer [[Manuel Urrutia Lleó]], while members of the MR-26-7 took control of most positions in the cabinet.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 153, 161.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 216.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. pp. 126, 141–142.</ref>

On 16 February 1959, Castro took on the role of [[Prime Minister of Cuba|Prime Minister]].<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 173.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 228.</ref> Dismissing the need for elections, Castro said the revolution had created [[direct democracy]], in which the people and the government had a close bond.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 313.</ref> In contrast, critics condemned the new regime as un-democratic. The [[United States Secretary of State|U.S. Secretary of State]] [[Christian Herter]] announced that Cuba was adopting the Soviet model of communist rule, with a one-party state, government control of trade unions, suppression of civil liberties and the absence of freedom of speech and press.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 330.</ref>

===Post-revolutionary government===
{{Main|Agrarian reforms in Cuba}}
{{See also|Consolidation of the Cuban Revolution}}
After the success of the revolution a popular uproar across Cuba demanded that those figures who had been complicit in the widespread torture and killing of civilians be brought to justice. Although he remained a moderating force and tried to prevent the mass reprisal killings of Batistanos advocated by many Cubans, Castro helped to set up trials of many figures involved in the old regime across the country, resulting in hundreds of executions. Critics, in particular from the U.S. press, argued that many of these did not meet the standards of a [[Right to a fair trial|fair trial]], and condemned Cuba's new government as being more interested in vengeance than justice.

Castro retaliated strongly against such accusations, proclaiming that "revolutionary justice is not based on legal precepts, but on moral conviction." In a show of support for this "revolutionary justice," he organized the first [[Havana]] trial to take place before a mass audience of 17,000 at the [[Estadio Latinoamericano|Sports Palace stadium]]. When a group of 19 pilots accused of bombing a village was found not guilty, Castro ordered a retrial, in which they were found guilty and each sentenced to 30 years in prison.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 163, 167–169.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 224–225, 228–330.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. pp. 147–249.</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=16 March 1959 |title=Cuba: One-Man Court |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,936996,00.html |access-date=8 March 2023 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

In early January 1959, Fidel Castro appointed various economists such as [[Felipe Pazos]], [[Rufo López-Fresquet]], Ernesto Bentacourt, Faustino Pérez, and [[Manuel Ray Rivero]]. By June 1959, these appointed economists would begin to express disillusionment with Castro's proposed economic policies.<ref name=Castro>{{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Thomas |date=2004 |title=Fidel Castro A Biography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63sFubdrEVcC&dq=matos+affair&pg=PA52 |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=49–51 |isbn=0313323011}}</ref>

In early 1959, the Cuban government began agrarian reforms which redistributed the ownership of Cuba's land. Expropriated lands would be put into state ownership, and the newly formed Instituto de la Reforma Agraria (INRA) was to oversee the expropriations and be headed by Fidel Castro. In [[Camagüey Province]] there was growing opposition to the Cuban government due to the resistance of conservative farmers to the agrarian reforms and distaste for [[Raúl Castro]] and [[Che Guevara]]'s promotion of communist ideals in the local government and military. The anti-communist opposition within the Cuban government assumed that Fidel Castro was unaware of growing communist influence because of Fidel Castro's frequent public disavowals of communism.<ref name=Castro />

On 17 July 1959, Conrado Bécquer, the sugar workers' leader, demanded Cuban President Urrutia's resignation. Castro himself resigned as Prime Minister of Cuba in protest, but later that day appeared on television to deliver a lengthy denouncement of Urrutia, claiming that Urrutia had "complicated" the government, and that his "fevered anti-communism" was having a detrimental effect. Castro's sentiments received widespread support as organized crowds surrounded the presidential palace demanding Urrutia's resignation, which was duly received. On July 23, Castro resumed his position as premier and appointed loyalist [[Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado|Osvaldo Dorticós]] as the new president.<ref name="thomas"/>

==Prelude==
===Huber Matos affair===
{{Main|Huber Matos affair}}
[[File:Huber Matos B..jpg|thumb|right|Cuban Army officer [[Huber Matos]] after his arrest, being transported to [[La Cabaña]].]]

On 20 October 1959, Cuban army commander and veteran of the [[Cuban Revolution]], [[Huber Matos]], resigned and accused Castro of "burying the revolution". Fifteen of Matos' officers resigned with him. Immediately after the resignation, Castro accused Matos of disloyalty and sent [[Camilo Cienfuegos]] to arrest Matos and his accompanying officers. Matos and the officers were taken to Havana and imprisoned in [[La Cabaña]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Anderson |first=John Lee |date=2010 |title=Che Guevara A Revolutionary Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aCw19CUXpqkC&dq=huber+matos+affair&pg=PA427 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=427 |isbn=978-0802197252|edition=Revised}}</ref>  Cuban communists later claimed Matos was helping plan a counter-revolution organized by the American [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and other Castro opponents, an operation that became the Bay of Pigs Invasion.<ref>Fabián Escalante, ''The Secret War: CIA Covert Operations Against Cuba: 1959–62'' (1995)</ref>{{page needed|date=February 2016}}

The scandal is noted for its occurrence alongside a greater trend of removals of Castro's former collaborators in the revolution. It marked a turning point where Castro was beginning to exert more personal control over the new government in Cuba. Matos' arresting officer and former collaborator of Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, would soon die in a mysterious plane crash shortly after the incident.<ref name=Eagle>{{cite book |date=2013 |title=Beyond the Eagle's Shadow New Histories of Latin America's Cold War |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbPQAQAAQBAJ&dq=huber+matos+affair&pg=PA115 |location= |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |pages=115–116 |isbn=978-0826353696}}</ref>

Shortly after Matos' arrest, the prime minister and Che Guevara made a speech to members of the INRA that Cuba would continue to turn in a socialist direction. [[Manuel Artime]] viewed the arrest of Matos and affirmation of socialism in Cuba as precedent for him to resign. On 7 November 1959 his resignation letter from INRA and the revolutionary army was published on the front page of ''Avance'' newspaper, one of the last newspapers not controlled by the government. Artime then entered an underground organization run by Jesuits in Cuba to hide fugitives; it is unclear what exactly made Artime immediately turn to hiding and later defect.

While in a Havana safehouse Artime formed the Movement for Revolutionary Recovery with other dissidents. Artime then contacted the American embassy in Havana, and on 14 December 1959, the CIA arranged for him to travel to the US on a Honduran freighter ship. He became closely involved with [[Gerry Droller]] (alias ''Frank Bender'', alias "Mr. B") of the CIA in recruiting and organizing Cuban exiles in Miami for future actions against the Cuban government. Artime's organization MRR thus grew to become the principal counter-revolutionary movement inside Cuba, with supporting members in Miami, Mexico, Venezuela etc. Involved were [[Tony Varona]], [[José Miró Cardona]], [[Rafael Quintero]], and [[Aureliano Sánchez Arango|Aureliano Arango]]. Infiltration into Cuba, arms drops, etc. were arranged by the CIA.<ref name="Rodriguez">Rodriguez  (1999){{page needed|date=April 2023}}</ref><ref name="Johnson">Johnson (1964){{page needed|date=April 2023}}</ref><ref name=Eagle />

Artime became the future leader of [[Brigade 2506]] in the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He gained this position from the notoriety he gained after defecting and engaging in a tour of Latin America denouncing the new government in Cuba. This notoriety as a Cuban dissident gave him credit to be picked as the leader for the invasion when it was first conceived by the CIA.<ref name=Eagle/>

===Sanctions and assassination attempts===
{{Further|United States embargo against Cuba|La Coubre explosion}}
[[File:La Coubre explosion.jpg|thumb|250px|The ship ''La Coubre'' after exploding in the Havana harbor, 1960. Shortly after Castro would deem the explosion a result of American sabotage, worsening US-Cuba relations.]]
Castro's Cuban government ordered the country's oil refineries – then controlled by U.S. corporations [[Esso]], [[Standard Oil]], and [[Shell Oil Company|Shell]] – to process crude oil purchased from the Soviet Union, but under pressure from the U.S. government, these companies refused. Castro responded by expropriating the refineries and nationalizing them under state control. In retaliation, the U.S. canceled its import of Cuban sugar, provoking Castro to nationalize most U.S.-owned assets, including banks and sugar mills.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 205–206.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 316–319.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 173.</ref> Relations between Cuba and the U.S. were further strained following the explosion and sinking of a French vessel, the ''[[La Coubre]]'', in [[Havana Harbor]] in March 1960. The cause of the explosion was never determined, but Castro publicly mentioned that the U.S. government was guilty of sabotage.<ref>[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. pp. 201–202.</ref><ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 302–302.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 172.</ref> On 13 October 1960, the U.S. government then prohibited the majority of exports to Cuba – the exceptions being medicines and certain foodstuffs – marking the start of [[United States embargo against Cuba|an economic embargo]]. In retaliation, the [[Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria|Cuban National Institute for Agrarian Reform]] took control of 383 private-run businesses on 14 October, and on 25 October a further 166 U.S. companies operating in Cuba had their premises seized and nationalized, including [[Coca-Cola]] and [[Sears|Sears Roebuck]].<ref name="Bourne 1986. p. 214">[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. p. 214.</ref><ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 177.</ref> On 16 December, the U.S. ended its import quota of Cuban sugar.<ref name="Bourne 1986. p. 215">[[#CITEREFBourne1986|Bourne 1986]]. p. 215.</ref>

The U.S. government was becoming increasingly critical of Castro's revolutionary government. At an August 1960 meeting of the [[Organization of American States]] (OAS) held in Costa Rica, U.S. Secretary of State Christian Herter publicly proclaimed that Castro's administration was "following faithfully the [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] pattern" by instituting a single-party political system, taking governmental control of [[trade union]]s, suppressing [[civil liberties]], and removing both the [[freedom of speech]] and [[freedom of the press]]. He furthermore asserted that [[World communism|international communism]] was using Cuba as an "operational base" for spreading revolution in the western hemisphere, and called on other OAS members to condemn the Cuban government for its breach of human rights.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 329.</ref> In turn, Castro lambasted the treatment of black people and the working classes he had witnessed in [[New York City]], which he ridiculed as that "superfree, superdemocratic, superhumane, and supercivilized city." Proclaiming that the U.S. poor were living "in the bowels of the imperialist monster," he attacked the mainstream U.S. media and accused it of being controlled by big business.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 344.</ref> Superficially the U.S. was trying to improve its relationship with Cuba. Several negotiations between representatives from Cuba and the U.S. took place around this time. Repairing international financial relations was the focal point of these discussions. Political relations were another hot topic of these conferences. The U.S. stated that they would not interfere with Cuba's domestic affairs but that the island should limit its ties with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//NSAEBB/NSAEBB494/docs/Document%202.pdf|title=Memorandum of Meeting with Cuban Representatives|last=Eagleburger|first=Lawrence S.|author-link=Lawrence Eagleburger|date=11 January 1975|website=National Security Archive|publisher=United States Department of State|access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref>

Tensions percolated when the CIA began to act on its desires to snuff out Castro. Efforts to assassinate Castro officially commenced in 1960,<ref name="Castro Assassination Plots"/> though the U.S. public did not become aware of them until 1975, when the Senate [[Church Committee]], set up to investigate CIA abuses, released a report entitled "Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders".<ref name="Castro Assassination Plots">{{cite web|title=Castro Assassination Plots|url=https://www.maryferrell.org/pages/Castro_Assassination_Plots.html|website=maryferrel.org|publisher=Mary Ferrell Foundation|access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref> Some methods that the CIA undertook to assassinate Castro were creative, for example: "poison pills, an exploding seashell, and a planned gift of a diving suit contaminated with toxins."<ref name="Castro Assassination Plots"/> More traditional ways of assassinating Castro were also planned, such as elimination via high-powered rifles with telescopic sights.<ref name="Castro Assassination Plots"/>

In August 1960, the CIA contacted the [[Chicago Outfit|Cosa Nostra in Chicago]] with the intention to draft simultaneous assassinations of Fidel Castro, [[Raúl Castro]] and Che Guevara. In exchange, if the operation were a success and a pro-U.S. government were restored in Cuba, the CIA agreed that the [[American Mafia|Mafia]] would get their "monopoly on gaming, prostitution and drugs".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/27/usa.cuba |title=CIA conspired with mafia to kill Castro |access-date=8 September 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160921052217/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/27/usa.cuba |archive-date=21 September 2016  |newspaper=The Guardian |date=27 June 2007 |last1=Tisdall |first1=Simon }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Church Committee|url=https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94465.pdf|title=Alleged assassination plots involving foreign leaders|date=20 November 1975|author-link=Church Committee}}</ref> In 1963, at the same time the Kennedy administration initiated secret peace overtures to Castro, Cuban revolutionary and undercover CIA agent [[Rolando Cubela Secades|Rolando Cubela]] was tasked with killing Castro by CIA official [[Desmond Fitzgerald (CIA officer)|Desmond Fitzgerald]], who portrayed himself as a personal representative of [[Robert F. Kennedy]].<ref name="Castro Assassination Plots"/>

=== United States foreign policy debate ===
{{Further|1960 United States presidential election}}
[[File:Kennedy Nixon Debate (1960).jpg|thumb|250px|[[Nixon]] and [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]] debating during the 1960 US Presidential election.]]
The U.S. initially recognized Castro's government after the Cuban Revolution ousted Batista,<ref name="auto">[[#Amb07|Ambrose 2007]]. p. 475.</ref> but the relationship quickly soured as Castro repeatedly condemned the U.S. in his speeches for its misdeeds in Cuba over the previous 60 years.<ref name="perez_fear_of_castro">{{Cite journal |last=Pérez |first=Louis A. |date=2002 |title=Fear and Loathing of Fidel Castro: Sources of US Policy toward Cuba |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3875788 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=227–254 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X02006387 |jstor=3875788 |s2cid=145715732 |issn=0022-216X |via=JSTOR}}</ref> Many U.S. officials began to view Castro as a threat to national security as he legalized the [[Communist Party of Cuba|Communist Party]],<ref name="auto"/> nationalized property owned by U.S. citizens totaling $1.5 billion,<ref name="perez_fear_of_castro"/> and strengthened ties with the Soviet Union.<ref name="perez_fear_of_castro"/>

In recently declassified documents, the feelings of the CIA toward Fidel Castro have become more clear. The CIA had written a comprehensive study of the background between the United States and Cuba, beginning with Castro's regime. This study was top secret and around 400 pages in length. At the very beginning of Castro, the CIA needed to decipher the alleged pro-communist beliefs. They had inside men working to make a clear decision on the belief of the new Cuban official. According to Volume III of the ''Official History of the Bay of Pigs'', the top-secret CIA document, two agents were placed in the ranks of the communist party of Cuba (''Partido Socialista Popular''). In 1958, both agents were either captured or snuck their way into the ranks of Fidel Castro's forces. They explained the so-called 'anti-American' sentiment of the regime.<ref name="nsarchive2.gwu.edu">{{Cite web |title=Top Secret CIA 'Official History' of the Bay of Pigs: Revelations |url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/ |access-date=24 April 2024 |website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu}}</ref>

In 1959, Fidel Castro planned on visiting America. The invitation was extended by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.<ref name="nsarchive2.gwu.edu"/> The already tense relations between Cuba and the US become increasingly futile. According to the written document detailing the conflict, the ''Official History of the Bay of Pigs'', written by the CIA, America was apprehensive. The CIA was aware that Castro would not plan on appealing to Heads of State, but instead, the masses, as he addressed the workers and farmers of America. The CIA was not impressed with Castro and believed that his officials and people among his ranks were Communists, and therefore the Castro regime was a Communist regime. Despite the optimistic and seemingly friendly view that Castro revealed, American officials were not convinced. They perceived Castro to be a serious threat, one that needed to be addressed.<ref name="nsarchive2.gwu.edu"/>

By early 1960, President Eisenhower had begun contemplating ways to remove Castro, in the hopes that he might be replaced by a Cuban government-in-exile, though none existed at the time.<ref>[[#Amb07|Ambrose 2007]]. p. 499.</ref> In accordance with this goal, he approved [[Richard M. Bissell Jr.|Richard Bissell's]] plan which included training the paramilitary force that would later be used in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.<ref>[[#Amb07|Ambrose 2007]]. pp. 499–500.</ref>

Cuba became a focal point in the 1960 U.S. presidential election, with both candidates promising to "get tough with the Communists".<ref>[[#Amb07|Ambrose 2007]]. p. 497.</ref> Kennedy in particular attacked [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] and the Eisenhower administration for allowing communism to flourish so close to the U.S. In response, Nixon revealed plans for an embargo against Cuba, but the Democrats criticized it as ineffective.{{sfn|Quirk|1993|p=349}} Ultimately, Nixon lost the election, convinced that Cuba had brought him down,<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 350.</ref> and Kennedy inherited the thorny issue near the height of its prominence.

Despite the focus on Cuba in the elections and deteriorating relations between Cuba and the U.S.{{snd}}exacerbated when Castro accused most of the U.S. State Department personnel in Havana of being spies and subsequently ordering them to leave the country, to which Eisenhower responded by withdrawing recognition of Castro's government<ref>[[#Amb07|Ambrose 2007]]. pp. 533–534.</ref>{{snd}}Kennedy hesitated to commit to the CIA's plans. Under [[Allen Dulles|Dulles]] and Bissell's insistence of the increasingly urgent need to do something with the troops being trained in Guatemala, Kennedy eventually agreed, although to avoid the appearance of American involvement, he requested the operation be moved from the city of [[Trinidad, Cuba|Trinidad]], Cuba to a less conspicuous location.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 363.</ref> Thus, the final plan was for an invasion at the Bay of Pigs.

As Eisenhower's tenure in office expired, John F. Kennedy replaced him as president of the United States. Having come to power and being adequately informed about the plans to invade Cuba, President Kennedy did not take any action until mid-March 1961.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1979|p=176}}</ref> His immediate actions concerning the invasion could be traced to the 11th and 15th days of March 1961, and were directly connected to the consideration of the best possible invasion strategy. First, it was the TRINIDAD plan that was debated which before Kennedy was commonly agreed as the main plan to be deployed during the Cuban invasion.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1979|pp=175-177}}</ref> The TRINIDAD plan aimed to use ships and boats to land troops on the coast of Cuba.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1979|pp=175-180}}</ref> This was to be done in conjunction with the deployment of soldiers from airplanes and helicopters to a means to quickly secure areas inside Cuba.<ref name="Pfeiffer 1979 174-182">{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1979|pp=174-182}}</ref> The support from the sea and air was planned to start simultaneously with the military landing deployment, and not before them.

In addition, the TRINIDAD also considered a preemptive attack on Castro's airfields in the days leading up to the main operation which was termed the Pre-Day strikes.<ref name="Pfeiffer 1979 174-182" /> This was aimed to weaken Cuba's aerial defense capabilities before the actual invasion was to be carried out. Among other things, the TRINIDAD plan was to utilize six US pilots. This was such that with each pilot flying a B-26, was to hit one or more of the fields where Castro's combat aircraft were stationed.<ref name="Pfeiffer 1979 174-182" /> However, with Kennedy assuming power, and as discussions continued, the TRINIDAD plan became less strategic, and was to be replaced with a more strategic plan named the ZAPATA.

This was not just a simple tweak but a shift towards a more specific target area within Cuba. It aimed to focus on executing a combined sea and air landing operation in the ZAPATA region.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1979|pp=174-183}}</ref> The ZAPATA plan anticipated the immediate use of B-26 aircraft, which were to be brought in and operated from a temporary airstrip at Playa Girón as soon as the troops landed. President Kennedy called to settle on the ZAPATA plan was based on the advice of Mr. Rusk who was a CIA planner. Kennedy and the CIA viewed ZAPATA as a more immediate air support that would ensure the protection of the invaders from Castro's counterattacks. And more importantly, as cover to maintain the secrecy of the U.S. involvement to the outside world.

===Internal opposition to Fidel Castro===
{{Further|Escambray rebellion}}
Soon after the success of the Cuban Revolution, militant counter-revolutionary groups developed in an attempt to overthrow the new regime. Undertaking armed attacks against government forces, some set up guerrilla bases in Cuba's mountainous regions, leading to the six-year [[Escambray rebellion|Escambray Rebellion]]. These dissidents were funded and armed by various foreign sources, including the exiled Cuban community, the CIA and [[Rafael Trujillo]]'s regime in the [[Dominican Republic]].<ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 167.</ref><ref name="Ros">[[#Ros06|Ros 2006]]. pp. 159–201.</ref><ref>Jones 2008 p. 64.</ref>

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.<ref>Dreke (2002), pp. 40–117.</ref> 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.<ref name=corzo>Corzo (2003), pp. 79–90.</ref> On 14 April 1961, guerrillas led by Agapito Rivera fought Cuban government forces in [[Villa Clara Province]], where several government troops were killed and others wounded.<ref name=corzo /> Also on 14 April 1961, a [[Cubana de Aviación|Cubana]] airliner was hijacked and flown to [[Jacksonville, Florida]]; resultant confusion then helped the staged 'defection' of a B-26 military aircraft and pilot at [[Miami]] on 15 April.<ref name=fernandez />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>Schlesinger 1965, p. 245.</ref>

Castro's government began a crackdown on this opposition movement, arresting hundreds of dissidents.{{sfn|Bourne|1986|pp=181, 197}}<ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. p. 168.</ref> Though it rejected the physical torture Batista's regime had used, Castro's government sanctioned psychological torture, subjecting some prisoners to solitary confinement, rough treatment, hunger, and threatening behavior.<ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. pp. 176–177.</ref> After conservative editors and journalists began expressing hostility towards the government following its leftward turn, the pro-Castro printers' trade union began to harass and disrupt editorial staff actions. In January 1960, the government proclaimed that each newspaper was obliged to publish a "clarification" by the printers' union at the end of every article that criticized the government. These "clarifications" signaled the start of press censorship in Castro's Cuba.{{sfn|Bourne|1986|p=197}}<ref>[[#Col03|Coltman 2003]]. pp. 166–166.</ref>

On 11 March 1961, Jesús Carreras Zayas and American [[William Alexander Morgan]] (a former Castro ally) were executed after a trial.<ref name=thomas>Thomas (1971)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=nsa />

==Preparation==
===Early plans===
The idea of overthrowing Castro's government emerged within the CIA in early 1960. Founded in 1947 by the [[National Security Act of 1947|National Security Act]], the CIA was "a product of the [[Cold War]]", having been designed to counter the espionage activities of the Soviet Union's own national security agency, the [[KGB]].{{citation needed|date=March 2024}} As the perceived threat of international communism grew larger, the CIA expanded its activities to undertake covert economic, political, and military activities that would advance causes favorable to U.S. interests, often resulting in brutal dictatorships that favored U.S. interests.<ref name="Quirk 1993. p. 303">[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 303.</ref> [[Director of Central Intelligence|CIA Director]] [[Allen Dulles]] was responsible for overseeing covert operations across the world, and although widely considered an ineffectual administrator, he was popular among his employees, whom he had protected from the accusations of [[McCarthyism]].<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 304.</ref> Recognizing that Castro and his government were becoming increasingly hostile and openly opposed to the United States, Eisenhower directed the CIA to begin preparations for invading Cuba and overthrowing the Castro regime.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/bay-of-pigs|title=State Department Office of the Historian|website=US State Department Office of the Historian: Milestones 1961–1968}}</ref> An early plan to thwart Castro was devised on 11 February 1960 by Tracy Barnes, Jake Esterline, Al Cox, Dave Phillips, and Jim Flannery to sabotage both Cuban and American Sugar mills. They, along with Allen Dulles, director of the CIA at that point in time, decided that that would be a good preliminary course of action given that Castro's government was heavily dependent on the sugar industry. If they could sabotage it, that would hurt Castro financially and politically. Unfortunately, President Eisenhower was less than thrilled to attack Cuba's economy and sent Dulles back to the drawing board to devise plans involving covert action. If one was made, then it could be sent to special groups for approval and then discussion with the president again to carry on.  Two men, however, decided to run full speed ahead with the sugar sabotage and cut back oil supply to Cuba while raising money for their sugar mission as well whilst the group in the office began to devise other plans to take down Castro.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the Bay of Pigs vol. 3 |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/bop-vol3.pdf |website=CIA.GOV |access-date=1 May 2024}}</ref>
[[Richard M. Bissell Jr.]] was charged with overseeing plans for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. He assembled agents to aid him in the plot, many of whom had worked on the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état|1954 Guatemalan coup]] six years before; these included [[David Atlee Phillips|David Philips]], Gerry Droller and [[E. Howard Hunt]].<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 307.</ref>

Bissell placed Droller in charge of liaising with anti-Castro segments of the [[Cuban Americans|Cuban American]] community living in the United States, and asked Hunt to fashion a [[government in exile]], which the CIA would effectively control.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 307–308.</ref> Hunt proceeded to travel to Havana, where he spoke with Cubans from various backgrounds and discovered a brothel through the [[Mercedes-Benz]] agency.<ref name="Quirk 1993. p. 308">[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 308.</ref> Returning to the U.S., he informed the Cuban Americans with whom he was liaising that they would have to move their base of operations from [[Florida]] to [[Mexico City]], because the State Department refused to permit the training of a militia on U.S. soil. Although unhappy with the news, they conceded to the order.<ref name="Quirk 1993. p. 308"/>

Eisenhower had meetings with President-elect Kennedy at the [[White House]] on 6 December 1960 and 19 January 1961.<ref name=kennedyinvasion /> In one conversation, Eisenhower stated that since March 1960, the U.S. government had trained "in small units{{snd}}but we had done nothing else{{snd}}[...] some hundreds of refugees" in Guatemala, "a few in Panama, and some in Florida."<ref name=kennedyinvasion /> However, Eisenhower also expressed disapproval of the idea of Batista returning to power and was waiting for the exiles to agree on a leader who was opposed to both Castro and Batista.<ref name=kennedyinvasion />

===Eisenhower's planning===
On 17 March 1960, the CIA put forward their plan for the overthrow of Castro's administration to the [[U.S. National Security Council]], where Eisenhower lent his support,<ref name="Quirk 1993. p. 303"/> approving a CIA budget of $13,000,000 to explore options to remove Castro from power.<ref name="kennedyinvasion"/> The first stated objective of the plan was to "bring about the replacement of the Castro regime with one more devoted to the true interests of the Cuban people and more acceptable to the U.S. in such a manner to avoid any appearance of U.S. intervention."<ref>FRUS VI, [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d481 document 481].</ref> Four major forms of action were to be taken to aid anti-communist opposition in Cuba at the time. These included providing a powerful propaganda offensive against the regime, perfecting a covert intelligence network within Cuba, developing paramilitary forces outside of Cuba, and acquiring the necessary logistical support for covert military operations on the island. At this stage, however, it was still not clear that an invasion would take place.<ref>{{harvnb|Pfeiffer|1979}}</ref> Documents obtained from the [[Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum and Boyhood Home|Eisenhower Library]] revealed that Eisenhower had not ordered or approved plans for an amphibious assault on Cuba.<ref name="kennedyinvasion">{{Cite web|url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/161188|title=It's Time to Stop Saying that JFK Inherited the Bay of Pigs Operation from Ike|last=Gellman|first=Irwin F.|date=5 December 2015|website=History News Network|publisher=Columbian College of Arts & Sciences|access-date=20 February 2020}}</ref>

By 31 October 1960, most guerrilla infiltrations and supply drops directed by the CIA into Cuba had failed, and developments of further guerrilla strategies were replaced by plans to mount an initial amphibious assault, with a minimum of 1,500 men. The election of John Kennedy as U.S. president sped up preparations for the invasion;<ref name=kennedyinvasion /> Kennedy had specifically denied any support for Batista supporters: "Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years{{snd}}a greater proportion of the Cuban population than the proportion of Americans who died in both World Wars, and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state{{snd}}destroying every individual liberty."<ref name=nonbatistaattempt>{{cite web|title=Remarks of Senator John F. Kennedy at Democratic Dinner Columbus Ohi|url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/cincinnati-oh-19601006-democratic-dinner|website=www.jfklibrary.org/|date=6 October 1960}}</ref> On 18 November 1960, Dulles and Bissell first briefed President-elect Kennedy on the outline plans. Having experience in actions such as the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, Dulles was confident that the CIA was capable of overthrowing the Cuban government. On 29 November 1960, Eisenhower met with the chiefs of the CIA, Defense, State, and Treasury departments to discuss the new concept. None expressed any objections, and Eisenhower approved the plans with the intention of persuading Kennedy of their merit. On 8 December 1960, Bissell presented outline plans to the "[[Oversight of United States covert operations|Special Group]]" while declining to commit details to written records. Further development of the plans continued, and on 4 January 1961 they consisted of an intention to establish a "lodgement" by 750 men at an undisclosed site in Cuba, supported by considerable air power.{{sfn|Gleijeses|1995|pages=9–19}}

Meanwhile, in the [[1960 United States presidential election|1960 presidential election]], both main candidates, Richard Nixon of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] and Kennedy of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]], campaigned on the issue of Cuba, with both candidates taking a hardline stance on Castro.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. pp. 346–347.</ref> Nixon – who was [[Vice President of the United States|vice president]] – insisted that Kennedy should not be informed of the military plans, to which Dulles conceded.<ref>[[#CITEREFQuirk1993|Quirk 1993]]. p. 347.</ref> To Nixon's chagrin, the Kennedy campaign released a scathing statement on the Eisenhower administration's Cuba policy on 20 October 1960 which said that "we must attempt to strengthen the non-Batista democratic anti-Castro forces [...] who offer eventual hope of overthrowing Castro", claiming that "Thus far these fighters for freedom have had virtually no support from our Government."<ref name=batistaattempt>{{cite web|title=Statement on Cuba by Senator John F. Kennedy|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=74127|website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu|date=20 October 1960}}</ref> At the last election debate the next day, Nixon called Kennedy's proposed course of action "dangerously irresponsible" and even lectured Kennedy on international law,<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4725795/nixon-speaks-cuba|date=21 October 1960|title=Fourth Nixon-Kennedy presidential debate|minutes=19|website=[[C-SPAN]]}}</ref> in effect denigrating the policy that Nixon himself favored.<ref>{{cite book|last=Prados|first=John|title=Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA|date=2006|publisher=Ivan R. Dee|isbn=978-1615780112|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3OCDelYICIsC&pg=PA240 240]. For Nixon's support of the Cuba project, see p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=3OCDelYICIsC&pg=PA238 238]}}</ref>

===Kennedy's operational approval===
[[File:Kennedy on Cuba 12 April 1961.ogg|thumb|[[John F. Kennedy]] answered difficult questions on Cuba on 12 April, only five days before the invasion.]]
On 28 January 1961, Kennedy was briefed, together with all the major departments, on the latest plan (code-named ''Operation Pluto''), which involved 1,000 men landed in a ship-borne invasion at Trinidad, Cuba, about 270&nbsp;km (170&nbsp;mi) south-east of Havana, at the foothills of the Escambray Mountains in [[Sancti Spíritus|Sancti Spiritus]] province. Kennedy authorized the active departments to continue and to report progress.{{sfn|Gleijeses|1995|page=20}} Trinidad had good port facilities, it was closer to many existing counter-revolutionary activities, and it offered an escape route into the Escambray Mountains. That scheme was subsequently rejected by the State Department because the airfield there was not large enough for B-26 bombers and, since B-26s were to play a prominent role in the invasion, this would destroy the façade that the invasion was just an uprising with no American involvement. Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] raised some eyebrows by contemplating airdropping a bulldozer to extend the airfield.<ref>{{cite book|last=Prados|first=John|title=Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA|date=2006|publisher=Ivan R. Dee|isbn=978-1615780112|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3OCDelYICIsC&pg=PA246 246]}}</ref> Kennedy rejected Trinidad, preferring a more low-key locale.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=16}} On 4 April 1961, Kennedy approved the Bay of Pigs plan (also known as ''Operation Zapata''), because it had a sufficiently long airfield, it was farther away from large groups of civilians than the Trinidad plan, and it was less "noisy" militarily, which would make denial of direct U.S. involvement more plausible.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=17}} The invasion landing area was changed to beaches bordering the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) in [[Santa Clara Province|Las Villas Province]], 150&nbsp;km southeast of Havana, and east of the [[Zapata Peninsula]]. The landings were to take place at Playa Girón (code-named ''Blue Beach''), [[Ciénaga de Zapata|Playa Larga]] (code-named ''Red Beach''), and Caleta Buena Inlet (code-named ''Green Beach'').<ref name=jones>Jones (2008)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=higgins>Higgins (2008)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=faria>Faria (2002), pp. 93–98.</ref><ref name=kornbluh>Kornbluh (1998)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

Top aides to Kennedy, such as Rusk and both joint chiefs of staff, later said that they had hesitations about the plans but muted their thoughts. Some leaders blamed these problems on the "Cold War mindset" or the determination of the Kennedy brothers to oust Castro and fulfill campaign promises.<ref name="jones" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}} Military advisers were skeptical of its potential for success as well.<ref name=kennedyinvasion /> Despite these hesitations, Kennedy still ordered the attack to take place.<ref name=kennedyinvasion /> In March 1961, the CIA helped Cuban exiles in Miami to create the [[Cuban Revolutionary Council]], chaired by José Miró Cardona, former Prime Minister of Cuba. Miró became the de facto leader-in-waiting of the intended post-invasion Cuban government.<ref>Bethell (1993)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

===Training===
[[File:BayofPigsPrep2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Douglas A-26 Invader]] "B-26" bomber aircraft disguised as a Cuban model]]

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 Air Reserve Base|Homestead Air Force Base]]. Specialist guerrilla training took place at [[Fort Gulick]] and [[Fort Clayton]] in [[Panama]].<ref name=fernandez>Fernandez (2001)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=78}} The force that became Brigade 2506 started with 28 men, who initially were told that their training was being paid for by an anonymous Cuban millionaire émigré, but the recruits soon guessed who was paying the bills, calling their supposed anonymous benefactor "Uncle Sam", and the pretense was dropped.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=10}} The overall leader was Dr. Manuel Artime while the military leader was [[Pepe San Román|José "Pepe" Peréz San Román]], a former [[Cuban National Army]] officer imprisoned under both Batista and Castro.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=10}}

[[File:BayofPigsPrep3.jpg|thumb|left|Cuban defectors practicing parachute drops]]
For the increasing number of recruits, infantry training was carried out at a CIA-run base code-named ''JMTrax''. The base was on the Pacific coast of Guatemala between [[Quetzaltenango]] and [[Retalhuleu]], in the Helvetia coffee plantation.<ref name="Wise, David 1964 pp. 23-50">{{Cite book |last1=Wise |first1=David |author-link=David Wise (journalist) |title=The Invisible Government |title-link=The Invisible Government |last2=Ross |first2=Thomas B. |author-link2=Thomas B. Ross |publisher=[[Random House]] |year=1964}}</ref><ref name="BOPC1961">{{cite book |last1=Quesada |first1=Alejandro de |title=The Bay of Pigs: Cuba 1961 |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1846038198 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EE-1CwAAQBAJ&dq=JMTrax&pg=PA11 |language=en}}</ref> The exiled group named themselves Brigade 2506 (''Brigada Asalto 2506'').<ref name="Johnson" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}} In summer 1960, an airfield (code-named ''JMadd'', aka ''Rayo Base'') was constructed near Retalhuleu, Guatemala.<ref name="BOPC1961"/> Gunnery and flight training of Brigade 2506 aircrews was carried out by personnel from the Alabama Air National Guard under General Reid Doster, using at least six [[Douglas B-26 Invader]]s in the markings of the [[Guatemalan Air Force]].{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=11–12}}

An additional 26 B-26s were obtained from U.S. military stocks, 'sanitized' at [[Duke Field|'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', and addition of underwing drop tanks and rocket racks.<ref>[http://www.laahs.com/artman/publish/article_50.shtml]{{dead link|date=August 2014}}</ref><ref name=hagedorn2006>Hagedorn (2006)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} Paratroop training was at a base nicknamed ''Garrapatenango'', near Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Training for boat handling and amphibious landings took place at [[Vieques, Puerto Rico|Vieques]] Island, [[Puerto Rico]].

Tank training for the Brigade 2506 [[M41 Walker Bulldog]] light tanks{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} took place at [[Fort Knox]], [[Kentucky]] and [[Fort Benning]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. Underwater demolition and infiltration training took place at [[Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans|Belle Chasse]] near [[New Orleans]].<ref name=kornbluh/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} To create a navy, the CIA purchased five cargo ships from the Cuban-owned, Miami-based Garcia Line, thereby giving "[[plausible deniability]]" as the State Department had insisted no U.S. ships could be involved in the invasion.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=13}} The first four of the five ships, namely the ''Atlántico'', the ''Caribe'', the ''Houston'' and ''Río Escondido'' were to carry enough supplies and weapons to last thirty days while the ''Lake Charles'' had 15 days of supplies and was intended to land the provisional government of Cuba.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=13}} The ships were loaded with supplies at New Orleans and sailed to [[Puerto Cabezas]], Nicaragua.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=13}} Additionally, the invasion force had two old [[Landing Craft Infantry]] (LCI) ships, the ''Blagar'' and ''Barbara J'' from [[World War II]] that were part of the CIA's "ghost ship" fleet and served as command ships for the invasion.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=13}} The crews of the supply ships were Cuban while the crews of the LCIs were Americans, borrowed by the CIA from the [[Military Sealift Command|Military Sea Transportation Service]] (MSTS).{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=13}} One CIA officer wrote that MSTS sailors were all professional and experienced but not trained for combat.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=13}}

In November 1960, the Retalhuleu recruits took part in quelling an officers' rebellion in Guatemala, in addition to the intervention of the [[U.S. Navy]].<ref name="revolutionaries">{{cite book|pages=97–99|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5s4263Q-xGgC&pg=PA98|title=Revolution and revolutionaries: Guerrilla movements in Latin America|isbn=978-0842026260|last1=Castro|first1=Daniel|year=1999| publisher=SR Books }}</ref><ref name="Wise, David 1964 pp. 23-50" /> The CIA transported people, supplies, and arms from Florida to all the bases at night, using [[Douglas C-54]] transports.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

On 9 April 1961, Brigade 2506 personnel, ships, and aircraft started transferring from Guatemala to Puerto Cabezas.<ref name="nsa">[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html Bay of Pigs, 40 Years After: Chronology] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205084130/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html |date=5 February 2011 }}. The National Security Archive. The George Washington University.</ref> [[Curtiss C-46]]s were also used for transport between Retalhuleu and a CIA base (code-named ''JMTide'', aka ''Happy Valley'') at Puerto Cabezas.

Facilities and limited logistical assistance were provided by the governments of General [[Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes]] in Guatemala, and General [[Luis Somoza Debayle]] in Nicaragua, but no military personnel or equipment of those nations was directly employed in the conflict.<ref name="hagedorn2006" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>Hagedorn 1993</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} Both governments later received military training and equipment, including some of the CIA's remaining B-26s.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In early 1961, Cuba's army possessed Soviet-designed [[T-34-85]] medium tanks, [[IS-2]] heavy tanks, [[SU-100]] [[tank destroyer]]s, 122&nbsp;mm [[howitzer]]s, other artillery and small arms plus [[Italy|Italian]] 105&nbsp;mm howitzers. The Cuban air force armed inventory included B-26 Invader light bombers, [[Hawker Sea Fury]] fighters and [[Lockheed T-33]] jets, all remaining from the ''Fuerza Aérea del Ejército de Cuba'', the Cuban air force of the Batista government.<ref name="Johnson" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}} Anticipating an invasion, Che Guevara stressed the importance of an armed civilian populace, stating: "all of 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".<ref>[[#refKellner1989|Kellner 1989]], pp.&nbsp;54–55.</ref>

==Participants==

===U.S. government personnel===
In April 1960, DRF rebels were taken to Useppa Island, Florida, which was covertly leased by the CIA at the time. Once the rebels had arrived, they were greeted by instructors from [[United States Army Special Forces|U.S. Army Special Forces]] groups, members of the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] and the [[Alabama Air National Guard]], and members of the CIA. The rebels were trained in amphibious assault tactics, guerrilla warfare, infantry and weapons training, unit tactics and land navigation.<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-story-archive/the-bay-of-pigs-invasion.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160621043713/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2016-featured-story-archive/the-bay-of-pigs-invasion.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=21 June 2016 | title=The Bay of Pigs Invasion |website=Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref> At the head of the operation was Joaquin Sanjenis Perdomo, former police chief in Cuba, and intelligence officer Rafael De Jesus Gutierrez. The group included David Atlee Philips, Howard Hunt and [[David Sánchez Morales]].<ref>[http://www.siporcuba.it/cn-avv-gyr.htm '' Operation 40. Playa Girón: the links with current terrorism '']. Sipor Cuba. Cuba informs.</ref> The recruiting of Cuban exiles in Miami was organized by CIA staff officers E. Howard Hunt and Gerry Droller. Detailed planning, training and military operations were conducted by [[Jacob Esterline]], Colonel [[Jack Hawkins (US Marine Corps officer)|Jack Hawkins]], [[Félix Rodríguez (soldier)|Félix Rodríguez]], Rafael De Jesus Gutierrez and Colonel Stanley W. Beerli under the direction of Richard Bissell and his deputy [[Tracy Barnes]].<ref name="kornbluh" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

===Cuban government personnel===
Already, Fidel Castro was known as, and addressed as, the commander-in-chief of [[Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces|Cuban Armed Forces]], with a nominal base at "Point One" in Havana. In early April 1961, his brother Raúl Castro was assigned command of forces in the east, based in [[Santiago de Cuba]]. Che Guevara commanded western forces, based in [[Pinar del Río]]. Major [[Juan Almeida Bosque]] commanded forces in the central provinces, based in [[Santa Clara, Cuba|Santa Clara]]. Raúl Curbelo Morales was head of the [[Cuban Revolutionary Air and Air Defense Force|Cuban Air Force]]. [[Sergio del Valle Jiménez]] was Director of Headquarters Operations at Point One. [[Efigenio Ameijeiras]] was the Head of the Revolutionary National Police. [[Ramiro Valdés|Ramiro Valdés Menéndez]] was [[Ministry of the Interior (Cuba)|Minister of the Interior]] and head of G-2 (Seguridad del Estado, or state security). His deputy was Comandante [[Manuel Piñeiro|Manuel Piñeiro Losada]], also known as 'Barba Roja'. Captain [[José Ramón Fernández]] was head of the School of Militia Leaders (Cadets) at Matanzas.<ref name=szulc1986/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=169}}<ref name=wyden>Wyden (1979)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name="kellnerp69">[[#refKellner1989|Kellner 1989]], p. 69.</ref><ref>Alfonso, Pablo. 2001. Los Ultimos Castristas. Centro de Documentacion y Formacion, Caracas. {{ISBN|978-9800756577}}, pp. 125–126.</ref>

Other commanders of units during the conflict included Major Raúl Menéndez Tomassevich, Major Filiberto Olivera Moya, Major René de los Santos, Major [[Augusto Martínez Sánchez]], Major Félix Duque, Major Pedro Miret, Major Flavio Bravo, Major [[Antonio Lussón]], Captain Orlando Pupo Peña, Captain [[Victor Dreke]], Captain Emilio Aragonés, Captain Ángel Fernández Vila, [[Arnaldo Ochoa]], and Orlando Rodríguez Puerta.<ref name=fernandez/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=dreke>Dreke (2002)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} Soviet-trained Spanish advisors were brought to Cuba from [[Eastern Bloc]] countries. These advisors had held high staff positions in the Soviet armies during World War II and became known as "Hispano-Soviets," having long resided in the Soviet Union. The most senior of these was the Spanish communist veterans of the [[Spanish Civil War]], [[Francisco Ciutat de Miguel]], [[Enrique Líster]] and Cuban-born [[Alberto Bayo]].<ref>Paz-Sanchez (2001), pp. 189–199.</ref> Ciutat de Miguel (Cuban alias: Ángel Martínez Riosola, commonly referred to as "Angelito"), was an advisor to forces in the central provinces. The role of other Soviet agents at the time is uncertain, but some of them acquired greater fame later. For example, KGB colonels Vadim Kochergin and Victor Simanov were first sighted in Cuba in about September 1959.<ref>British Foreign Office. Chancery American Department, Foreign Office, London 2 September 1959 (2181/59) to British Embassy Havana classified as restricted Released 2000 by among British Foreign Office papers. Foreign Offices Files for Cuba Part 1: Revolution in Cuba "in our letter 1011/59 May 6 we mentioned that a Russian workers' delegation had been invited to participate in the May Day celebrations here, but had been delayed. The interpreter with the party, which arrived later and stayed in Cuba a few days, was called Vadim Kotchergin although he was at the time using what he subsequently claimed was his mother's name of Liston (?). He remained in the background, and did not attract any attention". These two agents went on to train overseas personnel including Carlos the Jackal (Ilich Ramírez Sánchez) and subcomandante Marcos (Rafael Sebastián Guillén).</ref><ref>{{cite web|publisher=Cuban American Foundation |access-date=25 January 2009 |title=El campo de entrenamiento 'Punto Cero' donde el Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) adiestra a terroristas nacionales e internacionales |date=7 November 2005 |url=http://www.canf.org/2005/1es/noticias-de-Cuba/2005-nov-07-el-campo-de-entrenamiento.htm |language=es |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828201858/http://www.canf.org/2005/1es/noticias-de-Cuba/2005-nov-07-el-campo-de-entrenamiento.htm |archive-date=28 August 2008 }}</ref>

==Prior warnings of invasion==
The Cuban security apparatus knew the invasion was coming, in part due to indiscreet talk by members of the brigade, some of which was heard in Miami and repeated in U.S. and foreign newspaper reports. Nevertheless, days before the invasion, multiple acts of sabotage were carried out, such as the [[El Encanto fire]], an arson attack in a department store in Havana on 13 April that killed one shop worker.<ref name=fernandez/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|pages=123–125}} The Cuban government also had been warned by senior KGB agents Osvaldo Sánchez Cabrera and 'Aragon', who died violently before and after the invasion, respectively.<ref>Welch and Blight (1998), p. 113.</ref> The general Cuban population was not well informed of intelligence matters, which the US sought to exploit with propaganda through CIA-funded [[Pirate radio in Central America and Caribbean Sea|Radio Swan]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.firmaspress.com/viaje-al-corazon-de-cuba.pdf | title = Viaje al Corazón de Cuba | language = es | publisher = Plaza & Janés | year = 1999 | last = Montaner | first = Carlos Alberto | access-date = 18 February 2007 | archive-date = 23 September 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090923112051/http://www.firmaspress.com/viaje-al-corazon-de-cuba.pdf | url-status = dead }}</ref> As of May 1960, almost all means of public communication were under public ownership.<ref>{{cite news | title = The New York Times | date = 26 May 1960 | page = 5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.cidh.oas.org/countryrep/Cuba83eng/chap.5.htm | title = The Situation of Human Rights in Cuba, Seventh Report – Chapter V | publisher = Organization of American States | date = 4 October 1983 | access-date = 24 December 2004 | author = Inter-American Commission on Human Rights}}</ref>

On 29 April 2000, a ''[[Washington Post]]'' article, "Soviets Knew Date of Cuba Attack", reported that the CIA had information indicating that the Soviet Union knew the invasion was going to take place and did not inform Kennedy. On 13 April 1961, [[Radio Moscow]] broadcast an English-language newscast, predicting the invasion "in a plot hatched by the CIA" using paid "criminals" within a week. The invasion took place four days later.<ref>{{cite web | last=Galbraith | first=James K. | year=2000 | title=A Crime So Immense | publisher=utip.gov.utexas.edu | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904201459/http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/jg/archive/2000/crimesoimmense.pdf | url=http://utip.gov.utexas.edu/jg/archive/2000/crimesoimmense.pdf | archive-date=4 September 2006 | access-date=25 September 2019 }}</ref>

[[David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech|David Ormsby-Gore]], the [[List of ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States|British ambassador to the U.S.]], stated that British intelligence analysis made available to the CIA indicated that the Cuban people were overwhelmingly behind Castro and that there was no likelihood of mass defections or insurrections.<ref>Schlesinger 1965. p. 264.</ref>

==Prelude to invasion==

===Acquisition of aircraft===
From June to September 1960, the most time-consuming task was the acquisition of the aircraft to be used in the invasion.  The anti-Castro effort depended on the success of these aircraft.  Although models such as the [[Curtiss C-46 Commando]] and [[Douglas C-54 Skymaster]] were to be used for airdrops and bomb drops as well as for infiltration and exfiltration, they were looking for an aircraft that could perform tactical strikes. The two models that were going to be decided on were the Navy's [[Douglas A-1 Skyraider|Douglas AD-5 Skyraider]] or the Air Force's light bomber, the Douglas B-26 Invader. The AD-5 was readily available and ready for the Navy to train pilots, and in a meeting among a special group in the office of the [[Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency|Deputy Director of the CIA]], the AD-5 was approved and decided upon. After a cost-benefit analysis, word was sent that the AD-5 plan would be abandoned and the B-26 would take its place.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/bop-vol1-part1.pdf |title=Official History Of The Bay Of Pigs Operation |volume=Volume I: Air Operations, March 1960 – April 1961 |publisher=Dci-8, [[Central Intelligence Agency]] |via=National Security Archive, [[George Washington University]]}}</ref>

===Fleet sets sail===
Under cover of darkness, the invasion fleet set sail from Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua and headed towards the Bay of Pigs on the night of 14 April.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=19}} After on-loading the attack planes in [[Norfolk Naval Base]] and taking on prodigious quantities of food and supplies sufficient for the seven weeks at-sea to come, the crew knew from the hasty camouflage of the ship and aircraft identifying numbers that a secret mission was on hand. Combatants were supplied with forged Cuban local currency, in the form of 20 [[Cuban peso|Peso bills]], identifiable by the serial numbers F69 and F70. The aircraft carrier group of the {{USS|Essex|CV-9|6}} had been at sea for nearly a month before the invasion; its crew was well aware of the impending battle. En route, ''Essex'' had made a night time stop at a Navy arms depot in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], to load tactical nuclear weapons to be held ready during the cruise. The afternoon of the invasion, one accompanying destroyer rendezvoused with ''Essex'' to have a gun mount repaired and put back into action; the ship displayed numerous shell casings on deck from its shore bombardment actions. On 16 April ''Essex'' was at [[general quarters]] for most of a day; Soviet [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15|MiG-15s]] made feints and close range fly overs that night.<ref>Crew member recollections of a fire-control man, USS ''Essex''</ref>

===Air attacks on airfields===
During the night of 14/15 April, a [[diversionary airfield|diversionary landing]] was planned near [[Baracoa]], [[Oriente Province]], by about 164 Cuban exiles commanded by Higinio 'Nino' Diaz. Their mother ship, named ''La Playa'' or ''Santa Ana'', had sailed from [[Key West]] under a Costa Rican ensign. Several U.S. Navy destroyers were stationed offshore near [[Guantánamo Bay]] to give the appearance of an impending invasion fleet.<ref>Wyden (1979), p. 172 (footnote †)</ref> The reconnaissance boats turned back to the ship after their crews detected activities by Cuban Militia forces along the coastline.<ref name=szulc1986/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name="Johnson"/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|pages=156–159}}<ref name=triay>Triay (2001), pp.&nbsp;83–113</ref><ref>FRUS X, [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d198 document 198].</ref> As a result of those activities, at daybreak, a [[reconnaissance]] sortie over the Baracoa area was launched from Santiago de Cuba by an FAR [[Lockheed T-33|T-33]], piloted by Lt. Orestes Acosta, and it crashed fatally into the sea. On 17 April, his name was falsely quoted as a defector among the disinformation circulating in Miami.<ref name="ferrer" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

The CIA, with the backing of the Pentagon, had originally requested permission to produce [[sonic boom]]s over Havana on 14 April to create confusion. The request was a form of psychological warfare that had proven successful in the [[1954 Guatemalan coup d'état|overthrow of Jacobo Arbenz]] in Guatemala in 1954. The point was to create confusion in Havana and have it be a distraction to Castro if they could "break all the windows in town."<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu"/> The request was denied, however, since officials thought such would be too obvious a sign of involvement by the United States.<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu">{{cite web|url=http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/ |title=Top Secret CIA 'Official History' of the Bay of Pigs: Revelations |access-date=15 July 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416205355/http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/ |archive-date=16 April 2016  }}</ref>

On 15 April 1961, at about 06:00, Cuban local time, eight B-26B Invader bombers in three groups simultaneously attacked three Cuban airfields at [[San Antonio de los Baños]] and at Ciudad Libertad (formerly named Campo Columbia), both near Havana, plus the [[Antonio Maceo Airport|Antonio Maceo International Airport]] at Santiago de Cuba. The B-26s had been prepared by the CIA on behalf of Brigade 2506 and had been painted with the [[false flag]] markings of the FAR. Each came armed with bombs, rockets, and machine guns. They had flown from Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua and were crewed by exiled Cuban pilots and navigators of the self-styled ''Fuerza Aérea de Liberación'' (FAL). The purpose of the action (code-named ''Operation Puma'') was reportedly to destroy most or all of the armed aircraft of the FAR in preparation for the main invasion.

At Santiago, the two attackers destroyed a [[Douglas C-47 Skytrain|C-47]] transport, a [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|PBY Catalina]] flying boat, two B-26s and a civilian [[Douglas DC-3]] plus various other civilian aircraft. At San Antonio, the three attackers destroyed three FAR B-26s, one Sea Fury and one T-33, and one attacker diverted to [[Cayman Islands|Grand Cayman]] because of low fuel. Aircraft that diverted to the Caymans were seized by the United Kingdom since they were suspicious that the Cayman Islands might be perceived as a launch site for the invasion.<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu" /> At Ciudad Libertad, the three attackers destroyed only non-operational aircraft such as two [[Republic P-47 Thunderbolt]]s.

One of those attackers was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and ditched about {{convert|50|km|abbr=on}} north of Cuba,<ref name="shono">Shono (2012) p. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190929071036/https://books.google.com/books?id=o_v1XshI7mIC&pg=PA67&dq=ditched 67]</ref> with the loss of its crew Daniel Fernández Mon and Gaston Pérez. Its companion B-26, also damaged, continued north and landed at [[Naval Air Station Key West|Boca Chica Field]], Florida. The crew, José Crespo and Lorenzo Pérez-Lorenzo, were granted [[political asylum]], and made their way back to Nicaragua the next day via Miami and the daily CIA C-54 flight from [[Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport|Opa-Locka Airport]] to [[Puerto Cabezas Airport]]. Their B-26, purposely numbered 933, the same as at least two other B-26s that day for disinformation reasons, was held until late on 17 April.<ref name="ferrer">Ferrer (1975)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=130}}

===Deception flight===
About 90 minutes after the eight B-26s had taken off from Puerto Cabezas to attack Cuban airfields, another B-26 departed on a deception flight that took it close to Cuba but headed north towards Florida. Like the bomber groups, it carried false FAR markings and the same number 933 as painted on at least two of the others. Before departure, the cowling from one of the aircraft's two engines was removed by CIA personnel, fired upon, then re-installed to give the false appearance that the aircraft had taken ground fire at some point during its flight. At a safe distance north of Cuba, the pilot feathered the engine with the pre-installed bullet holes in the cowling, radioed a [[mayday]] call, and requested immediate permission to land at Miami International airport. He landed and taxied to the military area of the airport near an Air Force C-47 and was met by several government cars. The pilot was Mario Zúñiga, formerly of the FAEC (Cuban Air Force under Batista), and after landing, he masqueraded as 'Juan Garcia' and publicly claimed that three colleagues had also defected from the FAR. The next day he was granted political asylum, and that night he returned to Puerto Cabezas via Opa-Locka.<ref name=hagedorn2006/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=ferrer/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>Szulc, Tad. [http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/NYT-4-17-61d.htm "Asylum Granted to Three Airmen"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424025617/http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/bay-of-pigs/NYT-4-17-61d.htm |date=24 April 2016 }}. ''The New York Times''. 17 April 1961</ref> This deception operation was successful at the time in convincing much of the world media that the attacks on the FAR bases were the work of an internal anti-Communist faction and did not involve outside actors.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=20–21}}

===Reactions===
At 10:30 on 15 April at the [[United Nations]] (UN), Cuban Foreign Minister [[Raúl Roa García|Raúl Roa]] accused the U.S. of aggressive air attacks against Cuba and that afternoon formally tabled a motion to the Political (First) Committee of the UN General Assembly. Only days earlier, the CIA had unsuccessfully attempted to entice Raúl Roa into defecting.<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu"/> In response to Roa's accusations before the UN, [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations]] [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] stated that U.S. armed forces would not "under any conditions" intervene in Cuba and that the U.S. would do everything in its power to ensure that no U.S. citizens would participate in actions against Cuba. He also stated that Cuban defectors had carried out the attacks that day, and he presented a [[United Press International|UPI]] wire photo of Zúñiga's B-26 in Cuban markings at Miami airport.<ref name=nsa/> Stevenson was later embarrassed to realize that the CIA had lied to him.<ref name=faria/>

Kennedy supported the statement made by Stevenson: "I have emphasized before that this was a struggle of Cuban patriots against a Cuban dictator. While we could not be expected to hide our sympathies, we made it repeatedly clear that the armed forces of this country would not intervene in any way".<ref>UPI Radio Archives (JFK) [http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1961/Bay-of-Pigs-Invasion/12295509433760-3/ upi.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726231148/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1961/Bay-of-Pigs-Invasion/12295509433760-3/ |date=26 July 2013 }}</ref>

On 15 April, the Cuban national police, led by Efigenio Ameijeiras, started the process of arresting thousands of suspected anti-revolutionary individuals and detaining them in provisional locations such as the [[Karl Marx Theatre]], the moat of La Cabaña and the Principe Castle, all in Havana, and the baseball park in Matanzas.<ref name=thomas/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} In total, between 20,000 and 100,000 people would be arrested.<ref>{{harvnb|Bourne|1986|pp=221–222}}; {{harvnb|Quirk|1993|p=371}}.</ref>

===Phony war===
On the night of 15/16 April, the Nino Diaz group failed in a second attempted diversionary landing at a different location near Baracoa.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} On 16 April, Merardo Leon, Jose Leon, and 14 others staged an armed uprising at Las Delicias Estate in Las Villas, with only four surviving.<ref name="corzo" />

Following the airstrikes on the Cuban airfields on 15 April, the FAR prepared for action with its surviving aircraft which numbered at least four T-33 jet trainers, four Sea Fury fighters and five or six B-26 medium bombers. The T-33s and B-26s were armed with machine guns and the Sea Furies with 20&nbsp;mm cannon for air-to-air combat and strafing ships and ground targets. CIA planners had failed to discover that the U.S.-supplied T-33 trainer jets had long been armed with [[M3 machine gun]]s. The three types could also carry bombs and rocket pods for attacks against ships and tanks.<ref name="macphall">MacPhall, Doug & Acree, Chuck (2003). [http://www.laahs.com/content/19-Bay-of-Pigs-The-Men-and-Aircraft-of-the-Cuban-Revolutionary-Air-Force "Bay of Pigs: The Men and Aircraft of the Cuban Revolutionary Air Force"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809040410/http://www.laahs.com/content/19-Bay-of-Pigs-The-Men-and-Aircraft-of-the-Cuban-Revolutionary-Air-Force |date=9 August 2016 }}.</ref>

No additional airstrikes against Cuban airfields and aircraft were specifically planned before 17 April, because B-26 pilots' exaggerated claims gave the CIA false confidence in the success of 15 April attacks, until [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]] reconnaissance photos taken on 16 April showed otherwise. Late on 16 April, President Kennedy ordered the cancellation of further airfield strikes planned for dawn on 17 April, to attempt plausible deniability of direct U.S. involvement.<ref name="kornbluh" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

Late on 16 April, the CIA/Brigade 2506 invasion fleet converged on 'Rendezvous Point Zulu', about {{convert|65|km|mi}} south of Cuba, having sailed from Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua where they had been loaded with troops and other [[materiel]], after loading arms and supplies at New Orleans. The U.S. Navy operation was code-named ''Bumpy Road'', having been changed from ''Crosspatch''.<ref name="kornbluh" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}} The fleet, labeled the 'Cuban Expeditionary Force' (CEF), included five 2,400-ton (empty weight) freighter ships chartered by the CIA from the Garcia Line, and subsequently outfitted with anti-aircraft guns. Four of the freighters, ''Houston'' (code name ''Aguja''), ''Río Escondido'' (code name ''Ballena''), ''Caribe'' (code name ''Sardina''), and ''Atlántico'' (code-name ''Tiburón''), were planned to transport about 1,400 troops in seven battalions and armaments near to the invasion beaches. The fifth freighter, ''Lake Charles'', was loaded with follow-up supplies and some Operation 40 infiltration personnel.

The freighters sailed under Liberian ensigns. Accompanying them were two LCIs outfitted with heavy armament at Key West. The LCIs were ''Blagar'' (code-name ''Marsopa'') and ''Barbara J'' (code-name ''Barracuda''), sailing under Nicaraguan ensigns. After exercises and training at Vieques Island, the CEF ships were individually escorted (outside visual range) to ''Point Zulu'' by [[U.S. Navy]] destroyers {{USS|Bache|DD-470|6}}, {{USS|Beale|DD-471|6}}, {{USS|Conway|DD-507|6}}, {{USS|Cony|DDE-508|6}}, {{USS|Eaton|DD-510|6}}, {{USS|Murray|DD-576|6}}, and {{USS|Waller|DDE-466|6}}. US Navy Task Group 81.8 had already assembled off the Cayman Islands, commanded by Rear Admiral John E. Clark onboard aircraft carrier USS ''Essex'', plus helicopter assault carrier {{USS|Boxer|CV-21|6}}, destroyers {{USS|Hank|DD-702|6}}, {{USS|John W. Weeks|DD-701|6}}, {{USS|Purdy|DD-734|6}}, {{USS|Wren|DD-568|6}}, and submarines {{USS|Cobbler|SS-344|6}} and {{USS|Threadfin|SS-410|6}}.

Command and control ship {{USS|Northampton|CLC-1|6}} and carrier {{USS|Shangri-La|CVA-38|6}} were also reportedly active in the Caribbean at the time. {{USS|San Marcos|LSD-25|6}} was a [[Landing Ship Dock]] that carried three [[Landing Craft Utility]] (LCUs) which could accommodate the Brigade's M41 tanks and four [[LCVP (United States)|Landing Craft, Vehicles, Personnel]] (LCVPs). ''San Marcos'' had sailed from [[Vieques]] Island. At ''Point Zulu'', the seven CEF ships sailed north without the USN escorts, except for ''San Marcos'' that continued until the seven landing craft were unloaded when just outside the {{convert|5|km|mi|0}} Cuban territorial limit.<ref name="fernandez" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name="nsa" /><ref>FRUS X, [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d87 document 87].</ref>

==Invasion==

===Invasion day 17 April===
[[File:BahiadeCochinos40b.png|thumb|left|[[Bay of Pigs|Bahia de Cochinos]] 1961]]

During the night of 16/17 April, a mock diversionary landing was organized by CIA operatives near [[Bahía Honda, Cuba|Bahía Honda]], [[Pinar del Río Province]]. A flotilla containing equipment that broadcast sounds and other effects of a shipborne invasion landing provided the source of Cuban reports that briefly lured Fidel Castro away from the Bay of Pigs battlefront area.<ref name=fernandez/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=183}}

At midnight on 17 April 1961, the two LCIs ''Blagar'' and ''Barbara J'', each with a CIA 'operations officer' and an Underwater Demolition Team of five [[Frogman|frogmen]], entered the Bay of Pigs. They headed a force of four transport ships (''Houston'', ''Río Escondido'', ''Caribe'' and ''Atlántico'') carrying about 1,400 Cuban exile ground troops of Brigade 2506, plus the brigade's M41 tanks and other vehicles in the landing craft.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=24–25}} At about 01:00, ''Blagar'', as the battlefield command ship, directed the principal landing at Playa Girón (code-named ''Blue Beach''), led by the frogmen in rubber boats followed by troops from ''Caribe'' in small aluminum boats, then the LCVPs and LCUs with the M41 tanks.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} ''Barbara J'', leading ''Houston'', similarly landed troops 35&nbsp;km further northwest at Playa Larga (code-named ''Red Beach''), using small fiberglass boats.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}}

The unloading of troops at night was delayed because of engine failures and boats damaged by unseen coral reefs; the CIA had originally believed that the coral reef was seaweed. As the frogmen came in, they were shocked to discover that Red Beach was lit with floodlights, which led to the location of the landing being hastily changed.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} As the frogmen landed, a firefight broke out when a [[Willys Jeep|Jeep]] carrying Cuban Militia happened by.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} The few militias in the area succeeded in warning Cuban Armed Forces via radio soon after the first landing, before the invaders overcame their token resistance.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|pages=161, 167}} Castro was awakened at about 03:15 to be informed of the landings, which led him to put all militia units in the area on the highest state of alert and to order airstrikes.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} The Cuban regime planned to strike the ''brigadistas'' at Playa Larga first as they were inland before turning on the ''brigadistas'' at Girón at sea.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} Castro departed personally to lead his forces into battle against the ''brigadistas''.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}}

At daybreak around 06:30, three FAR Sea Furies, one B-26 bomber and two T-33s started attacking those CEF ships still unloading troops. At about 06:50, south of Playa Larga, ''Houston'' was damaged by several bombs and rockets from a Sea Fury and a T-33, and about two hours later Captain Luis Morse intentionally beached it on the western side of the bay.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} About 270 troops had been unloaded, but about 180 survivors who struggled ashore were incapable of taking part in further action because of the loss of most of their weapons and equipment. The loss of ''Houston'' was a great blow to the ''brigadistas'' as that ship was carrying much of the medical supplies, which meant that wounded ''brigadistas'' had to make do with inadequate medical care.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=25}} At about 07:00, two FAL B-26s attacked and sank the [[Cuban Navy]] patrol escort ship ''El Baire'' at [[Nueva Gerona]] on the [[Isla de la Juventud|Isle of Pines]].<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=ferrer/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} They then proceeded to Girón to join two other B-26s to attack Cuban ground troops and provide distraction air cover for the paratroop C-46s and the CEF ships under air attack. The M41 tanks had all landed by 07:30 at Blue Beach and all of the troops by 08:30.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=28}} Neither San Román at Blue Beach nor [[Erneido Oliva]] at Red Beach could communicate as all of the radios had been soaked in the water during the landings.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=28}}

[[File:SU 100 in Havana Cuba.jpg|thumb|left|alt=The SU-100 from which Fidel Castro reportedly shelled the freighter Houston during the morning of 17 April.|The [[SU-100]] from which Fidel Castro reportedly shelled the freighter Houston during the morning of 17 April]]

At about 07:30, five C-46 and one C-54 transport aircraft dropped 177 paratroops from the parachute battalion in an action code-named ''Operation Falcon''.<ref name="cooper">Cooper, Tom (2003) [http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_154.shtml "Clandestine US Operations: Cuba, 1961, Bay of Pigs"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227232049/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_154.shtml |date=27 December 2014 }}</ref> About 30 men, plus heavy equipment, were dropped south of the Central [[Australia, Cuba|Australia]] sugar mill on the road to Palpite and Playa Larga, but the equipment was lost in the swamps, and the troops failed to block the road.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=28}} Other troops were dropped at San Blas, at Jocuma between Covadonga and San Blas, and at Horquitas between [[Abreus, Cuba|Yaguaramas]] and San Blas. Those positions to block the roads were maintained for two days, reinforced by ground troops from Playa Girón and tanks.{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=206}} The paratroopers had landed amid a collection of militia, but their training allowed them to hold their own against the ill-trained militiamen.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=28}} However, the dispersal of the paratroopers as they landed meant they were unable to take the road from the sugar mill down to Playa Larga, which allowed the government to continue to send troops down to resist the invasion.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=28}}

At about 08:30, a FAR Sea Fury piloted by Carlos Ulloa Arauz crashed in the bay after encountering a FAL C-46 returning south after dropping paratroops. By 09:00, Cuban troops and militia from outside the area had started arriving at the sugar mill, Covadonga and Yaguaramas. Throughout the day they were reinforced by more troops, heavy armour and T-34-85 tanks typically carried on flat-bed trucks.{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|pages=195–196}} At about 09:30, FAR Sea Furies and T-33s fired rockets at ''Río Escondido'', which then sank about {{convert|3|km|mi}} south of Girón.<ref name="Johnson" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} ''Río Escondido'' was loaded with aviation fuel, and as the ship started to burn, the captain gave the order to abandon ship with the ship being destroyed in three explosions shortly afterward.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=29}} ''Río Escondido'' carried fuel along with enough ammunition, food, and medical supplies to last ten days and the radio that allowed the brigade to communicate with the FAL.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=29}} The loss of the ''Río Escondido'' meant that San Román was only able to issue orders to the forces at Blue Beach, and he had no idea of what was happening at Red Beach or with the paratroopers.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=29}} A messenger from Red Beach arrived at about 10:00 asking San Román to send tank and infantry to block the road from the sugar mill, a request that he agreed to.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=29}} It was not expected that government forces would be counter-attacking from this direction.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=29–30}}

At about 11:00, Castro issued a statement over Cuba's nationwide network saying that the invaders, members of the exiled Cuban revolutionary front, have come to destroy the revolution and take away the dignity and rights of men.<ref>UPI Radio Archives (Castro) [http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1961/Bay-of-Pigs-Invasion/12295509433760-3/ upi.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726231148/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1961/Bay-of-Pigs-Invasion/12295509433760-3/ |date=26 July 2013 }}</ref> At about 11:00, a FAR T-33 attacked and shot down a FAL B-26 (serial number 935) piloted by Matias Farias, who then survived a crash landing on the Girón Airfield, his navigator Eduardo González already killed by gunfire. His companion B-26 suffered damage and diverted to [[Grand Cayman Island]]. By about 11:00, the two remaining freighters ''Caribe'' and ''Atlántico'', and the LCIs and LCUs, started retreating south to international waters, but were still pursued by FAR aircraft. At about noon, a FAR B-26 exploded from heavy anti-aircraft fire from ''Blagar'', and pilot Luis Silva Tablada (on his second sortie) and his crew of three were lost.<ref name="hagedorn2006" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name="wyden" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

By noon, hundreds of Cuban militia cadets from Matanzas had secured Palpite and cautiously advanced on foot south towards Playa Larga, suffering many casualties during attacks by FAL B-26s. By dusk, other Cuban ground forces gradually advanced southward from Covadonga, southwest from [[Yaguaramas]] toward San Blas, and westward along coastal tracks from Cienfuegos towards Girón all without heavy weapons or armour.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} At 14:30 a group of militiamen from the 339th Battalion set up a position, which came under attack from the ''brigadista'' M41 tanks, which inflicted heavy losses on the defenders.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=30}} This action is remembered in Cuba as the "Slaughter of the Lost Battalion" as most of the militiamen perished.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=30}}

Three FAL B-26s were shot down by FAR T-33s, with the loss of pilots Raúl Vianello, José Crespo, Osvaldo Piedra and navigators Lorenzo Pérez-Lorenzo and José Fernández. Vianello's navigator Demetrio Pérez bailed out and was picked up by USS ''Murray''. Pilot Crispín García Fernández and navigator Juan González Romero, in B-26 serial 940, diverted to Boca Chica, but late that night they attempted to fly back to Puerto Cabezas in B-26 serial 933 that Crespo had flown to Boca Chica on 15 April. In October 1961, the remains of the B-26 and its two crew were found in the dense jungle in Nicaragua.<ref name=ferrer/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>Pfeiffer (1979), Vol. I, Part 2, pp. 313–317.</ref> One FAL B-26 diverted to Grand Cayman with engine failure. By 04:00,{{clarify|Was this actually 4:am? He was awakened at 03:15.|date=April 2023}} Castro had arrived at the Central Australia sugar mill, joining José Ramón Fernández whom he had appointed as battlefield commander before dawn that day.{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=168}}

At about 05:00, a night air strike by three FAL B-26s on San Antonio de Los Baños airfield failed, reportedly because of incompetence and bad weather. Two other B-26s had aborted the mission after take-off.<ref name="hagedorn2006" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name="macphall" /> Other sources allege that heavy anti-aircraft fire scared the aircrews.<ref>Rodriquez 1999.</ref> As night fell, ''Atlántico'' and ''Caribe'' pulled away from Cuba to be followed by ''Blagar'' and ''Barbara J''.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=31}} The ships were to return to the Bay of Pigs the following day to unload more ammunition, however the captains of the ''Atlántico'' and ''Caribe'' decided to abandon the invasion and head out to open sea fearing further air attacks by the FAR.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=31}} Destroyers from the U.S. Navy intercepted ''Atlántico'' about {{convert|110|mi}} south of Cuba and persuaded the captain to return, but ''Caribe'' was not intercepted until she was {{convert|218|mi}} away from Cuba, and she was not to return until it was too late.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=31}}

===Invasion day plus one (D+1) 18 April===
During the night of 17–18 April, the force at Red Beach came under repeated counter-attacks from the Cuban Army and militia.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=30–31}} As casualties mounted and ammunition was used up, the ''brigadistas'' steadily gave way.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=30–31}} Airdrops from four C-54s and 2 C-46s had only limited success in landing more ammunition.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=31}} Both the ''Blagar'' and ''Barbara J'' returned at midnight to land more ammunition, which proved insufficient for the ''brigadistas''.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=31}} Following desperate appeals for help from Oliva, San Román ordered all of his M41 tanks to assist in the defense.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}} During the night fighting, a tank battle broke out when the ''brigadista'' M41 tanks clashed with the T-34-85 tanks of the Cuban Army. This sharp action forced back the ''brigadistas.''{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}}

At 22:00, the Cuban Army opened fire with its 76.2&nbsp;mm and 122&nbsp;mm artillery guns on the ''brigadista'' forces at Playa Larga, which was followed by an attack by T-34 tanks at about midnight.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}} The 2,000 artillery rounds fired by the Cuban Army had mostly missed the ''brigadista'' defense positions, and the T-34-85 tanks rode into an ambush when they came under fire from the ''brigadista'' M41 tanks and mortar fire, and a number of T-34-85 tanks were destroyed or knocked out.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}} At 01:00, Cuban Army infantrymen and militiamen started an offensive.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}} Despite heavy losses on the part of the Cuban forces, the shortage of ammunition forced the ''brigadistas'' back and the T-34-85 tanks continued to force their way past the wreckage of the battlefield to press on the assault.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}} The Cuban forces in the assault numbered about 2,100 men, consisting of about 300 FAR soldiers, 1,600 militiamen and 200 local policemen supported by at least 20 T-34-85 tanks who were faced by 370 ''brigadistas''.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=41}}

By 05:00, Oliva started to order his men to retreat as he had almost no ammunition or mortar rounds left.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=41–42}} By about 10:30, Cuban troops and militia, supported by the T-34-85 tanks and 122&nbsp;mm artillery, took Playa Larga after Brigade forces had fled towards Girón in the early hours. During the day, Brigade forces retreated to San Blas along the two roads from Covadonga and Yaguaramas. By then, both Castro and Fernández had relocated to that battlefront area.{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=207}}

As the men from Red Beach arrived at Girón, San Román and Oliva met to discuss the situation.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=42}} With ammunition running low, Oliva suggested that the brigade retreat into the Escambray Mountains to wage guerilla warfare, but San Román decided to hold the beachhead.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|pages=42–43}} At about 11:00, the Cuban Army began an offensive to take San Blas.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=43}} San Román ordered all of the paratroopers back in order to hold San Blas, and they halted the offensive.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=43}} During the afternoon, Castro kept the ''brigadistas'' under steady air attack and artillery fire but did not order any new major attacks.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=43}}

At 14:00, Kennedy received a telegram from [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in [[Moscow]], stating the Soviets would not allow the U.S. to enter Cuba and implied swift nuclear retribution to the United States heartland if their warnings were not heeded.<ref>State Department File CF611.37/5-361 Loyola University</ref>

At about 17:00, FAL B-26s attacked a Cuban column of 12 private buses leading trucks carrying tanks and other armor, moving southeast between Playa Larga and Punta Perdiz. The vehicles, loaded with civilians, militia, police, and soldiers, were attacked with bombs, [[napalm]], and rockets, suffering heavy casualties. The six attacking FAL B-26s were piloted by two CIA contract pilots plus four pilots and six navigators from the FAL.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=ferrer/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} The column later re-formed and advanced to Punta Perdiz, about 11&nbsp;km northwest of Girón.{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=197}}

===Invasion day plus two (D+2) 19 April===
[[File:A4D-2 Skyhawks of VA-34 in flight over USS Essex (CVS-9) during the Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961.jpg|thumb|[[Douglas A-4 Skyhawk]]s from the USS ''Essex'' purportedly flying sorties over combat areas during the invasion{{snd}}these aircraft show nationality markings, which sources say were removed for such sorties.]]

During the night of 18 April, a FAL C-46 delivered arms and equipment to the Girón airstrip occupied by brigade ground forces and took off before daybreak on 19 April.<ref name=frusx110>FRUS X, [https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v10/d110 document 110].</ref>{{primary source inline|date=April 2021}} The C-46 also evacuated Matias Farias, the pilot of B-26 serial '935' (code-named ''Chico Two'') that had been shot down and crash-landed at Girón on 17 April.<ref name=cooper/> The crews of the ''Barbara J'' and ''Blagar'' had done their best to land what ammunition they had left onto the beachhead, but without air support the captains of both ships reported that it was too dangerous to be operating off the Cuban coast by day.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=44}}

The final air attack mission (code-named ''Mad Dog Flight'') comprised five B-26s, four of which were manned by American [[CIA]] contract aircrews and volunteer pilots from the Alabama Air National Guard. One FAR Sea Fury (piloted by Douglas Rudd) and two FAR T-33s (piloted by Rafael del Pino and Alvaro Prendes) shot down two of these B-26s, killing four American airmen.<ref name=nsa/> Combat air patrols were flown by Douglas [[A4D|A4D-2N]] Skyhawk jets of [[VA-34 (1943-69)|VA-34]] squadron operating from the aircraft carrier [[USS Essex (CV-9)|USS ''Essex'']], with nationality and other markings removed. Sorties were flown to reassure brigade soldiers and pilots and to intimidate Cuban government forces without directly engaging in combat.<ref name=ferrer/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

At 10:00, a tank battle broke out, with the ''brigadista'' holding their line until about 14:00, which led Oliva to order a retreat into Girón.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=45}} After the last air attacks, San Román ordered his paratroopers and the men of the 3rd Battalion to launch a surprise attack, which was initially successful but soon failed.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=45}} With the ''brigadistas'' in disorganized retreat, the Cuban Army and militiamen started to advance rapidly, taking San Blas only to be stopped outside of Girón at about 11:00.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=45}} Later that afternoon, San Román heard the rumbling of the advancing T-34-85s and reported that with no more mortar rounds or [[bazooka]] rounds, he could not stop the tanks and ordered his men to fall back to the beach.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=46}} Oliva arrived afterward to find that the ''brigadistas'' were all heading out to the beach or retreating into the jungle or swamps.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=46}} Without direct air support, and short of ammunition, Brigade 2506 ground forces retreated to the beaches in the face of the onslaught from Cuban government artillery, tanks, and infantry.<ref name="Johnson" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>De Paz-Sánchez (2001)</ref><ref>Vivés (1984)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

Late on 19 April, destroyers [[USS Eaton|USS ''Eaton'']] (code-named ''Santiago'') and [[USS Murray (DD-576)|USS ''Murray'']] (code-named ''Tampico'') moved into Cochinos Bay to evacuate retreating Brigade soldiers from beaches, before fire from Cuban Army tanks caused Commodore Crutchfield to order a withdrawal.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

===Invasion day plus three (D+3) 20 April===
From 19 April until about 22 April, sorties were flown by A4D-2Ns to obtain visual intelligence over combat areas. Reconnaissance flights are also reported of AD-5Ws of [[VFP-62]] and/or VAW-12 squadron from USS ''Essex'' or another carrier, such as USS ''Shangri-La'' that was part of the task force assembled off the Cayman Islands.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=ferrer/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

On 21 April, ''Eaton'' and ''Murray'', joined on 22 April by destroyers USS ''Conway'' and USS ''Cony'', plus submarine USS ''Threadfin'' and a CIA [[PBY-5A Catalina]] flying boat, continued to search the coastline, reefs, and islands for scattered Brigade survivors, about 24–30 being rescued.<ref name=frusx110/>

==Aftermath==

===Casualties===
Sixty-seven Cuban exiles from Brigade 2506 were killed in action. Additionally, 10 more were executed by firing squad; 10 lost their lives on the boat ''Celia'' trying to escape; nine were in the sealed truck container on the way to Havana; four died by accident; two in prison; and four American aviators also died, for a total of 106 deaths.{{efn|name=enE|118 invaders killed (114 Cuban exiles plus 4 American aircrew)<ref name=wyden/>}} Aircrews [[killed in action]] totaled 6 from the Cuban air force, 10 Cuban exiles and 4 American airmen.<ref name=hagedorn2006/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}  Paratrooper Eugene Herman Koch was killed in action,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.therealcuba.com/Americans%20Killed%20in%20Cuba.htm |title=Americans Killed in Cuba |publisher=Therealcuba.com |access-date=3 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140905012643/http://www.therealcuba.com/Americans%20Killed%20in%20Cuba.htm |archive-date=5 September 2014  }}</ref> and the American airmen shot down were Thomas W. Ray, Leo F. Baker, Riley W. Shamburger, and Wade C. Gray.<ref name=wyden/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} In 1979, the body of Thomas "Pete" Ray was repatriated from Cuba. In the 1990s, the CIA admitted he was linked to the agency and awarded him the [[Intelligence Star]].<ref>{{cite web | last = Thomas | first = Eric | access-date = 22 February 2007 | title = Local Man Forever Tied To Cuban Leader: Father Frozen, Displayed by Fidel Castro | publisher = KGO ABC7, KGO-TV/DT | url = http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=assignment_7&id=5056129 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071018124227/http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=assignment_7&id=5056129 | archive-date = 18 October 2007 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The final toll for Cuban armed forces during the conflict was 176 killed in action.{{efn|name=enB|1,500 ground forces (including 177 paratroops) – c. 1,300 landed. Also Cuban exile and American aircrews, as well as CIA operatives<ref name=fernandez/>}} This figure includes only the Cuban Army and it is estimated that about 2,000 militiamen were killed or wounded during the fighting.{{sfn|Quesada|2009|page=46}} Other Cuban forces casualties were between 500 and 4,000 (killed, wounded or missing).{{efn|name=enC|176 Cuban government forces killed<ref name=fernandez/><ref name=triay/>}} The airfield attacks on 15 April left 7 Cubans dead and 53 wounded.<ref name=fernandez/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}

In 2011, the [[National Security Archive]], under the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]], released over 1,200 pages of documents. Included within these documents were descriptions of incidents of friendly fire. The CIA had outfitted some B-26 bombers to appear as Cuban aircraft, having ordered them to remain inland to avoid being fired upon by American-backed forces. Some of the planes, not heeding the warning, came under fire. According to CIA operative [[Grayston Lynch]], "we couldn't tell them from the Castro planes. We ended up shooting at two or three of them. We hit some of them there because when they came at us... it was a silhouette, that was all you could see."<ref name="nsarchive.gwu.edu"/>

===Prisoners===
[[File:Pepe San Román Bay of Pigs.jpg|thumb|200px|Pepe San Román: a commander in Brigade 2506, inside a Cuban prison.]]
{{Quote box
 | quote = Havana gleefully noted the wealth of the captured invaders: 100 plantation owners, 67 landlords of apartment houses, 35 factory owners, 112 businessmen, 179 lived off unearned income, and 194 ex-soldiers of Batista.
 | source = — ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine<ref>[http://www.life.com/image/50658964/in-gallery/25102 Bay of Pigs: Invasion and Aftermath] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420062137/http://www.life.com/image/50658964/in-gallery/25102 |date=20 April 2009 }} by ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine, caption for the image entitled "Jose Miro Greets His Ransomed Son"</ref>
 | align = right
| width = 30%
 }}

On 19 April, at least seven Cubans plus two CIA-hired U.S. citizens (Angus K. McNair and Howard F. Anderson) were executed in Pinar del Río province, after a two-day trial. On 20 April, [[Humberto Sorí Marin]] was executed at La Cabaña, having been arrested on 18 March following infiltration into Cuba with 14 tons of explosives. His fellow conspirators Rogelio González Corzo (alias "Francisco Gutierrez"), Rafael Diaz Hanscom, Eufemio Fernandez, Arturo Hernandez Tellaheche and Manuel Lorenzo Puig Miyar were also executed.<ref name=corzo/><ref name=thomas/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name=triay/>{{sfn|Rodríguez|1999|page=46}}<ref>Ros (1994), pp. 181–185.</ref>

Between April and October 1961, hundreds of executions took place in response to the invasion. They took place at various prisons, including the Fortaleza de la Cabaña and [[Morro Castle (Havana)|Morro Castle]].<ref name=triay/> Infiltration team leaders Antonio Diaz Pou and Raimundo E. Lopez, as well as underground students Virgilio Campaneria, Alberto Tapia Ruano, and more than one hundred other insurgents were executed.<ref name=faria/>

About 1,202 members of Brigade 2506 were captured, of whom nine died from asphyxiation during their transfer to Havana in an airtight truck container. In May 1961, Castro proposed to exchange the surviving brigade prisoners for 500 large farm tractors, later changed to US$28,000,000.<ref>Schlesinger 1965. p. 713.</ref> On 8 September 1961, 14 Brigade prisoners were convicted of torture, murder and other major crimes committed in Cuba before the invasion. Five were executed and nine others imprisoned for 30 years.<ref>Szulc (1986) p. 529.</ref>

Three confirmed as executed were Ramon Calvino, Emilio Soler Puig ("El Muerte") and Jorge King Yun ("El Chino").<ref name=thomas/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref name="Johnson" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}} On 29 March 1962, 1,179 men were put on trial for treason. On 7 April 1962, all were convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison. On 14 April 1962, 60 wounded and sick prisoners were freed and transported to the U.S.<ref name=szulc1986>Szulc (1986)</ref>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} In 2021, it was discovered that [[Fourth Brazilian Republic|Brazil]]'s government, then led by President [[João Goulart]], intervened on [[Brazil–United States relations during the João Goulart government|behalf of the United States]] to avoid the death penalty for prisoners.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/cuba/2021-04-28/saving-bay-pigs-prisoners-did-john-f-kennedy-send-secret-warning-fidel-castro-through-brazil?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=6792ec89-c302-4b83-bc05-fa77caec3cd8|title=Saving the Bay of Pigs Prisoners: Did JFK Send a Secret Warning to Fidel Castro – through Brazil?|date=29 April 2021|access-date=30 November 2021|author=James G. Hershberg|website=National Security Archives}}</ref>

On 21 December 1962, Castro and [[James B. Donovan]], a U.S. lawyer aided by [[Milan C. Miskovsky]], a CIA legal officer,<ref name="CIA">{{cite web|title=The People of the CIA ... Milan Miskovsky: Fighting for Justice|url=https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/milan-miskovsky.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324152903/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/milan-miskovsky.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 March 2010|website=Central Intelligence Agency|access-date=6 June 2014|ref=a}}</ref> signed an agreement to exchange 1,113 prisoners for US$53 million in food and medicine, sourced from private donations and from companies expecting tax concessions. On 24 December 1962, some prisoners were flown to Miami, others following on the ship ''African Pilot'', plus about 1,000 family members also allowed to leave Cuba. On 29 December 1962, President Kennedy and his wife [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline]] attended a "welcome back" ceremony for Brigade 2506 veterans at the [[Orange Bowl (game)|Orange Bowl]] in Miami, Florida.<ref name="Johnson" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}}<ref>JFK Library [http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx Kennedy and the Bay of Pigs Invasion] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508092926/http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/The-Bay-of-Pigs.aspx |date=8 May 2016 }}</ref>

===Political reaction===
[[File:Robert F. Kennedy Statement on Cuba and Neutrality Laws April 20, 1961.png|thumb|[[Robert F. Kennedy]]'s Statement on Cuba and Neutrality Laws, 20 April 1961]]

The failed invasion severely embarrassed the Kennedy administration and made Castro wary of future U.S. intervention in Cuba. On 21 April, in a State Department press conference, Kennedy said: "There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan... Further statements, detailed discussions, are not to conceal responsibility because I'm the responsible officer of the Government..."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid%3D8077 |title=John F. Kennedy: The President's News Conference |date=21 April 1961 |access-date=24 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506182204/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=8077 |archive-date=6 May 2016}}</ref> The invasion's failure initiated [[Operation Mongoose]] to destabilize Cuba.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Bay of Pigs {{!}} JFK Library |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/the-bay-of-pigs |access-date=6 May 2024 |website=www.jfklibrary.org |language=en}}</ref>

Later, Kennedy told Khrushchev that the Bay of Pigs invasion was a mistake.<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/enduring-lessons-of-the-cuban-missile-crisis-russia-ukraine-nuclear-weapons-world-war-iii-reagan-jfk-speech-history-war-11664486986 "Enduring Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis"] ''Wall Street Journal''. Peggy Noonan. 29 September 2022.</ref>

The initial U.S. response concerning the first air attacks was of a dismissive quality. Adlai Stevenson denied any involvement in the first wave of airstrikes, stating before the UN, "These charges are totally false and I deny them categorically." Stevenson continued to promote a story of two Cuban planes that had reportedly defected to the United States, apparently unaware that they were in fact U.S. planes piloted by U.S.-backed Cuban pilots to promote a false story of defection.<ref>."Bay of Pigs Declassified." ''History Undercover''. Aired 9 July 2000. History Channel.</ref>

In August 1961, during an economic conference of the OAS in [[Punta del Este]], [[Uruguay]], Che Guevara sent a note to Kennedy via [[Richard N. Goodwin]], a secretary of the White House. It read: "Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it's stronger than ever".<ref>Anderson (1997), p. 509.</ref> Additionally, Guevara answered a set of questions from [[Leo Huberman]] of ''[[Monthly Review]]'' following the invasion. In one reply, Guevara was asked to explain the growing number of Cuban counter-revolutionaries and defectors from the regime, to which he replied that the repelled invasion was the climax of counter-revolution and that afterward such actions "fell drastically to zero." Regarding the defections of some prominent figures within the Cuban government, Guevara remarked that this was because "the socialist revolution left the opportunists, the ambitious, and the fearful far behind and now advances toward a new regime free of this class of vermin."<ref>[http://www.monthlyreview.org/961che.htm Huberman. Cuba and the U.S.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311073514/http://www.monthlyreview.org/961che.htm |date=11 March 2011 }} interview with Che Guevara, ''[[Monthly Review]]'', September 1961.</ref>

As Allen Dulles later stated, CIA planners believed that once the troops were on the ground, Kennedy would authorize any action required to prevent failure – as Eisenhower had done in Guatemala in 1954 after that invasion looked as if it would collapse.<ref>Reeves, Richard (1993), pp. 71, 673.</ref> Two of Kennedy's advisors, [[David Powers]] and [[Kenneth O'Donnell]], record in their joint memoir that Kennedy believed the only reason the Joint Chiefs of Staff would approve the plan was because "They were sure I'd give in to them and send the go-ahead order to the Essex, they couldn't believe that a new President like me wouldn't panic and try and save his own face. Well, they had me figured all wrong".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Powers |first1=David F. |last2=O'Donnell |first2=Kenneth |title=[[Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye (book)|Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye]] |date=1973 |publisher=Pocket Books |page=316}}</ref> Kennedy was deeply depressed and angered with the failure. He confided to [[Arthur Schlesinger Jr.]] that "I have learned one thing from this business—that is, that we have to deal with CIA...no one has dealt with CIA".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schlesinger Jr. |first1=Arthur |title=Robert Kennedy and His Times |date=1979 |publisher=Ballantine Books |page=486}}</ref> Schlesinger writes that the failure of the invasion "stimulated a wide variety of proposals for the reorganization of the CIA" within the Kennedy administration.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schlesinger Jr. |first1=Arthur |title=A Thousand Days |date=1965 |publisher=Houghton Miflin |page=428}}</ref> Kennedy commented to his journalist friend [[Benjamin C. Bradlee|Ben Bradlee]], "The first advice I'm going to give my successor is to watch the generals and to avoid feeling that because they were military men their opinions on military matters were worth a damn."<ref>Dallek (2003) ''[[An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917–1963]]'', p. 368.</ref>

Several years after his death, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that he told an unspecified high administration official of wanting "to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds." However, following a "rigorous inquiry into the agency's affairs, methods, and problems... [Kennedy] did not 'splinter' it after all and did not recommend Congressional supervision."<ref>"CIA: Maker of Policy, or Tool?" ''The New York Times''. 25 April 1966</ref> Although Kennedy did issue two [[National security directive|National Security Action Memoranda]] (no. 55 and 57) in the aftermath of the invasion which redefined the CIA role. Memorandum 55 stated that it was the Joint Chiefs of Staff who had the "responsibility for the defense of the nation in the Cold War" and memorandum 57 restricted the CIA's paramilitary operations by stating "Any large paramilitary operation wholly or partly covert which requires significant numbers of militarily trained personnel, amounts of military equipment which exceed normal CIA-controlled stocks and/or military experience of a kind and level peculiar to the Armed Services is properly the primary responsibility of the Department of Defense with the CIA in a supporting role".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goduti Jr. |first1=Philip A. |title=Kennedy's Kitchen Cabinet and the Pursuit of Peace: The Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1961-1963 |date=2009 |publisher=McFarland |pages=113–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Reeves |first1=Richard |title=President Kennedy: Profile of Power |date=1994 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |page=706}}</ref> He also forced the resignations of the three highest ranking CIA men, [[Allen Dulles]] (Director), [[Charles Cabell]] (Deputy Director), and [[Richard M. Bissell Jr.]] (Deputy Director for Plans).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bickerton |first1=Ian James |title=John F. Kennedy A Reference Guide to His Life and Works |date=2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=37}}</ref>

[[File:Cuban missiles.jpg|alt=Aerial view of missile launch site at San Cristobal, Cuba|thumb|Aerial view of missile launch site at San Cristobal, Cuba<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/cuban-missile-crisis|title=State Department Office of the Historian: Milestones 1961–1968|website=US State Department Office of the Historian}}</ref>]]
The aftermath of the Bay of Pigs invasion and events involving Cuba that followed caused the U.S. to feel threatened by its neighbor. Prior to the events at Playa Girón, the U.S. government imposed sanctions that limited trade with Cuba. An article appearing in ''The New York Times'' dated 6 January 1960 called trade with Cuba "too risky."<ref>{{cite news | title=Trade With Cuba Called Too Risky; U.S. Exporters Say Castro Policies Are Intolerable – Near-Chaos Noted | work=The New York Times | date=6 January 1960 }}</ref> About six months later in July 1960, the U.S. reduced the import quota of Cuban sugar, leaving the U.S. no choice but to maintain its sugar needs from other sources.<ref>{{cite news | title=U.S. Sugar Needs Increase | work=The New York Times | date=9 July 1960}}</ref> Immediately following the Bay of Pigs invasion, the Kennedy administration considered a complete embargo.<ref>{{cite news | title=U.S. Considering Total Embargo on Cuban Trade; New Policy Being Studied – White House Affirms Attack Responsibility U.S. Considers Total Embargo As Part of New Policy on Cuba | work=The New York Times | date=25 April 1961}}</ref> Five months later, the president was authorized to do so.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

According to author Jim Rasenberger, the Kennedy administration became very aggressive with regard to overthrowing Castro following the failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, reportedly doubling its efforts. Rasenberger elaborated on the fact that almost every decision that was made by Kennedy following the Bay of Pigs had some correlation with the destruction of the Castro administration. Shortly after the invasion ended, Kennedy ordered the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] to design secret operations to overthrow the Castro regime. Also, President Kennedy persuaded his brother Robert to set up a covert action against Castro which was known as "[[Operation Mongoose]]."{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

==Legacy==

===Maxwell Taylor survey===
On 22 April 1961, President Kennedy asked General [[Maxwell D. Taylor]], Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Admiral [[Arleigh Burke]] and CIA Director Allen Dulles to form the Cuba Study Group, to report on lessons to learn from the failed operation.  General Taylor submitted the Board of Inquiry's report to President Kennedy on 13 June.  It attributed the defeat to lack of early realization of the impossibility of success by covert means, to inadequate aircraft, to limitations on armaments, pilots, and air attacks set to attempt plausible deniability – and, ultimately, to loss of important ships and lack of ammunition.<ref>Kornbluh 1998. p. 324.</ref> The Taylor Commission was criticized, and bias implied.  Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the President's brother, was included in the group, and the commission collectively was seen to be more preoccupied with deflecting blame from the White House than concerned with discovering why the operation had not been successful. Jack Pfeiffer, who worked as a historian for the CIA until the mid-1980s, simplified his own view of the failed Bay of Pigs effort by quoting a statement which Raúl Castro, Fidel's brother, had made to a Mexican journalist in 1975:  "Kennedy vacillated. If at that moment he had decided to invade us, he could have suffocated the island in a sea of blood, but he could have destroyed the revolution. Lucky for us, he vacillated."<ref>Kornbluh, Peter. Volume IV and V. ''Top Secret CIA Official Story of the Bay of Pigs: Revelations.'' George Washington University National Security Archive, accessed 15 July 2016. http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/ {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416205355/http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/ |date=16 April 2016 }}</ref>

===CIA report===
[[File:CIA cover report Bay of Pigs.jpg|thumb|CIA report on the Bay of Pigs Invasion]]
In November 1961, CIA Inspector-General [[Lyman Kirkpatrick]] authored a report, "Survey of the Cuban Operation", that remained classified until 1998. Conclusions were:<ref>Kornbluh 1998. p. 99.</ref>
# The CIA exceeded its capabilities in developing the project from guerrilla support to overt armed action without any plausible deniability.
# Failure to realistically assess risks and to adequately communicate information and decisions internally and with other government principals.
# Insufficient involvement of leaders of the exiles.
# Failure to sufficiently organize internal resistance in Cuba.
# Failure to competently collect and analyze intelligence about Cuban forces.
# Poor internal management of communications and staff.
# Insufficient employment of high-quality staff.
# Insufficient Spanish-speakers, training facilities, and material resources.
# Lack of stable policies and/or contingency plans.

In spite of vigorous objections by CIA management to the findings, CIA Director Allen Dulles, [[Deputy Director of Central Intelligence|CIA Deputy Director]] [[Charles Cabell]], and deputy director for Plans Richard M. Bissell Jr. were all forced to resign by early 1962.<ref name=higgins/>{{page needed|date=April 2021}} In later years, the CIA's behavior in the event became the prime example cited for the psychology paradigm known as [[groupthink]] syndrome.<ref name="wyden" />{{page needed|date=April 2021}} Further study shows that among various components of groupthink analyzed by [[Irving Janis]], the Bay of Pigs Invasion followed the structural characteristics that led to irrational decision making in foreign policy pushed by deficiency in impartial leadership.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hart|first1=Paul't|title=Irving L. Janis' Victims of Groupthink|journal=Political Psychology|date=1991|volume=12|issue=2|pages=247–278|doi=10.2307/3791464|jstor=3791464|s2cid=16128437|url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/aea2/2b1d20013932e7fdc7567b39e3652b912078.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303141159/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/aea2/2b1d20013932e7fdc7567b39e3652b912078.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 March 2019}}</ref> An account of the process of invasion planning reads,<ref>{{cite book|page=[https://archive.org/details/groupthinkpsycho00jani/page/42 42]|last1=Janis|first1=Irving L.|title=Groupthink: psychological studies of policy decisions and fiascoes|url=https://archive.org/details/groupthinkpsycho00jani|url-access=registration|date=1982|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|isbn=978-0395317044}}</ref>

{{blockquote|text=At each meeting, instead of opening up the agenda to permit a full airing of the opposing considerations, {{!(}}President Kennedy{{)!}} allowed the CIA representatives to dominate the entire discussion. The president permitted them to refute each tentative doubt immediately that one of the others might express, instead of asking whether anyone else had the same doubt or wanted to pursue the implications of the new worrisome issue that had been raised.}}

Looking at both the ''Survey of the Cuban Operation'' and ''Groupthink: Psychological Studies of Policy Decisions and Fiascoes'' by Irving Janis, it identifies the lack of communication and the mere assumption of concurrence to be the main causes behind the CIA and the president's collective failure to efficiently evaluate the facts before them. A considerable amount of information presented before President Kennedy proved to be false in reality, such as the support of the Cuban people for Fidel Castro, making it difficult to assess the actual situation and the future of the operation.

In mid-1960, CIA operative E. Howard Hunt had interviewed Cubans in Havana; in a 1997 interview with [[CNN]], he said, "...all I could find was a lot of enthusiasm for Fidel Castro."<ref>{{cite news
 |url = http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/interviews/hunt/
 |title = Episode 18: Backyard
 |access-date = 20 May 2010
|last = Hunt
 |first = Howard
 |year = 1997
 |work = Cold War
 |publisher = CNN
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071106000444/http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/interviews/hunt/ |archive-date = 6 November 2007}}</ref>

===Memory in Cuba===
[[File:Airplane in Museo Giron.jpg|thumb|right|A Sea Fury F 50 preserved at the Museo Girón, Cuba in 2006]]
For many Latin Americans, the invasion reinforced the belief that the U.S. could not be trusted. It also showed that the U.S. could be defeated, and thus encouraged political groups in Latin America to counter U.S. influence.<ref>[[#Got04|Gott 2004]]. p. 191.</ref> Victory made Castro even more popular, fueling nationalistic support for his economic policies. After the air attacks on Cuban airfields on 15 April, he declared the revolution "[[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]]".<ref name="kellnerp69" />

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. The conference was co-sponsored by the [[University of Havana]], Centro de Estudios Sobre Estados Unidos, [[Instituto de Historia de Cuba]], Centro de Investigaciones Históricas de la Seguridad del Estado; Centro de Estudios Sobre America, and the U.S.-based National Security Archive. It commenced on Thursday 22 March 2001 at the Hotel Palco, {{Interlanguage link|Palacio de las Convenciones|es}}, La Habana.<ref name="agenda">NSA press release, 23 March 2001 [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/agenda.html Bay of Pigs: 40 Years After] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218184619/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/agenda.html |date=18 February 2015 }}</ref><ref>Melaragno, Peter [http://www.pmelaragno.com/CONFERENCE.htm conference]</ref><ref>Melaragno, Peter [http://www.pmelaragno.com/CON-TIMELINE.htm conference timeline]</ref> On 24 March, after the conference, many of the delegates and observers travelled by road to Australia sugar mill, Playa Larga, and Playa Girón, the site of the initial landing in the invasion. A documentary film was made of that trip, titled ''Cuba: The 40 Years War'', released on DVD in 2002.<ref>Melaragno, Peter [http://www.pmelaragno.com/CON-AGENDA.htm Cuba: The 40 Years War (documentary)]</ref> A Cuban FAR combatant at the Bay of Pigs, José Ramón Fernández, attended the conference, as did four members of Brigade 2506, Roberto Carballo, Mario Cabello, Alfredo Duran, and Luis Tornes.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

There are still yearly nationwide drills in Cuba during the 'Día de la Defensa' (Defense Day), to prepare the population for an invasion.{{citation needed|date=August 2024}}

===Memory among Cuban exiles===
{{Main|Kennedy's betrayal}}
[[File:LittleHavanOct06BayOfPigsMonument.jpg|thumb|upright|The Bay of Pigs Memorial in [[Little Havana]], [[Miami]]]]
Many who fought for the CIA in the conflict remained loyal to the USA after the event; some Bay of Pigs veterans became officers in the [[U.S. Army]] in the [[Vietnam War]], including 6 colonels, 19 lieutenant colonels, 9 majors, and 29 captains.<ref>Ros, Enrique (1994), pp. 287–298.</ref> By March 2007, about half of the brigade had died.<ref>{{cite news|last=Iuspa-Abbott |first=Paola |access-date=27 March 2007 |title=Palm Beach County Bay of Pigs veterans remember invasion of Cuba |work=South Florida Sun-Sentinel |url=http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/cubanews/2007w13/msg00006.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116012733/http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/cubanews/2007w13/msg00006.htm |archive-date=16 January 2009 }}</ref> In April 2010, the Cuban Pilot's Association unveiled a monument at the [[Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport]] in memory of the 16 aviators for the exile side killed during the battle.<ref>Yager, Richard. [http://www.javiersouto.com/Bernanrdo/Articles/B-26%20Bomber%20.pdf "'B-26 Bomber is part of Airport Monument"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423091808/http://www.javiersouto.com/Bernanrdo/Articles/B-26%20Bomber%20.pdf |date=23 April 2016 }}</ref> The memorial consists of an obelisk and a restored B-26 replica aircraft atop a large [[Flag of Cuba|Cuban flag]].<ref>Video: [https://archive.today/20120904060244/http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/cuban_pilot_monument_preview_miami.html "Miami Unveils Monument to Cuban Pilots"], NBC News Miami, 16 April 2010</ref>

"Kennedy's betrayal" refers to the belief that President Kennedy's refusal to give proper air support to [[Brigade 2506]] caused the defeat of the invasion. This lack of air support later spurred a sense that John F. Kennedy had betrayed Brigade 2506. According to some,{{Like whom?|date=October 2024}} this caused Cuban exiles to view him as soft on communism. This soft reputation also supposedly pushed early Cuban exiles to vote Republican in contrast to Kennedy's own [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic party]], creating a long tradition of popular support for the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican party]] among Cuban Americans. The supposed immediate distaste for Kennedy among early Cuban exiles has also inspired [[John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories|conspiracy theories that Cuban exiles were involved in Kennedy's assassination]].<ref name="blocks">{{cite book |last=Fernando Castro |first=Mauricio |author-link= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20zhEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22kennedy+betrayal%22+cuban+miami&pg=PA83 |title=Only a Few Blocks to Cuba Cold War Refugee Policy, the Cuban Diaspora, and the Transformations of Miami |date=2024 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated |isbn=9781512825732 |location= |page=82}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Novas |first=Himilce |author-link= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZhjWwXS2X8C&dq=kennedy%27s+betrayal+cuban+americans&pg=PA192 |title=Everything You Need to Know About Latino History |date=2007 |publisher=Penguin Publishing Group |isbn=9780452288898 |location= |page=192}}</ref><ref name="bust2">{{cite book |last=Bustamante |first=Michael |author-link= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F8_9DwAAQBAJ&dq=kennedy%27s+betrayal+brigade+2506&pg=PA87 |title=Cuban Memory Wars Retrospective Politics in Revolution and Exile |date=2021 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=9781469662046 |location= |pages=86–87}}</ref>

=== American public reaction ===
[[File:Kennedy greet 2506 Brigade (1962-12-29).jpg|thumb|President John F. Kennedy and First Lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline Kennedy]] greeting 2506 Brigade members, 1962]]
Only 3 percent of Americans supported military action in 1960.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://ascecuba.org//c/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/v09-fisk.pdf|title=Cuba and American Public Opinion|last=Fisk|first=Daniel|date=1999|access-date=2 May 2018|archive-date=22 June 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622173901/http://www.ascecuba.org/c/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/v09-fisk.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to [[Gallup (company)|Gallup]], 72% of people had a negative view of Fidel Castro in 1960.<ref name=":0" /> After the conflict, 61% of Americans approved of the action, while 15% disapproved and 24% were unsure. This poll was taken by Gallup in late April 1966.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mayer |first1=William G. |title=The Polls—Trends |journal=Public Opinion Quarterly |date=2001 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=585–606 |doi=10.1086/324077 |citeseerx=10.1.1.860.294}}</ref> A week after the invasion of Cuba, Gallup took another series of polls to sample three possible ways of opposing Castro.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://jfk14thday.com/public-awareness-cuba-cuban-missile-crisis/|title=Public Opinion Poll on Cuba Before the Missile Crisis » Fourteenth Day|date=27 September 2012|work=The Fourteenth Day: JFK & the Aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis|access-date=2 May 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> The policy that most resembled the Bay of Pigs (if the US "should aid the anti-Castro forces with money and war materials") was still favored by a narrow margin, 44% approval to 41% rejecting this policy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.gallup.com/vault/190772/gallup-vault-cuba-embargo-popular-bay-pigs-fiasco.aspx|title=Gallup Vault: Cuba Embargo Popular After Bay of Pigs Fiasco|work=Gallup.com|access-date=2 May 2018|language=en-us}}</ref>

Kennedy's general approval rating increased in the first survey after the invasion, rising from 78 percent in mid-April to 83 percent in late April and early May.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://americancentury.omeka.wlu.edu/exhibits/show/bay-of-pigs/public-reaction-to-the-invasio|title=Public Reaction to the Invasion · The Bay of Pigs · The American Century|website=americancentury.omeka.wlu.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128220526/http://americancentury.omeka.wlu.edu/exhibits/show/bay-of-pigs/public-reaction-to-the-invasio|archive-date=28 January 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> Dr. Gallup's headline for this poll read, "Public Rallies Behind Kennedy in Aftermath of Cuban Crisis." In 1963 a public opinion poll showed 60 percent of Americans believed that Cuba is "a serious threat to world peace," yet 63 percent of Americans did not want the U.S. to remove Castro.<ref name=":0" />

==Notable surviving veterans==
* [[Pepe San Román]]
* [[Erneido Oliva]]
* [[José Basulto]]
* [[Ricardo Montero Duque]]
* [[Alfredo Duran]]
* [[Francisco Jose Hernandez]]
* [[Félix Rodríguez (soldier)|Félix Rodríguez]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Cuba|United States}}
* [[José Miguel Battle Sr.]]
* [[Cuba–United States relations]]
* [[Escambray Rebellion]] (1959–1965)
* [[Foreign interventions by the United States]]
* [[The Good Shepherd (film)|''The Good Shepherd'' (film)]] a 2006 movie directed by [[Robert De Niro]] about the CIA that has the Bay of Pigs invasion as a key part of the storyline
* ''[[Harlot's Ghost]]: A Novel of the CIA'' (1991) by [[Norman Mailer]], which deals with the Bay of Pigs CIA operation
* [[Latin America–United States relations]]
* [[Operation Northwoods]] (1962)
* [[Operation Ortsac]] (1962)
* [[Special Activities Division]]
* [[Swan Islands, Honduras]]
* [[United States involvement in regime change]]
* [[Operation Gideon (2020)]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin|40em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book|last=Ambrose|first=Stephen E.|author-link=Stephen Ambrose|url=https://archive.org/details/eisenhowersoldie0000ambr/mode/2up|title=Eisenhower: Soldier and President|year=2007|publisher=American Political Biography Press|isbn=978-0945707394|language=English|ref=Amb07}}
* Anderson, Jon L. (1997, 2010). ''Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life''. Grove/Atlantic. {{ISBN|0802135587|0553406647}}.
* Andrade, John (1982). ''Latin-American Military Aviation''. Midland Counties. {{ISBN|0904597318}}
* Bethell, Leslie. 1993. ''Cuba''. [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0521436823}}.
* {{cite book|title=Counterrevolution: U.S. Foreign Policy |last1=Boorstein |first1=Edward |last2=Boorstein |first2=Regula |year=1990 |publisher=International Publishers |location=New York |isbn=0717806847}}
* {{cite book|title=The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959–1965|url=https://archive.org/details/castroobsessionu0000bohn|url-access=registration|last=Bohning|first=Don|year=2005|publisher=[[Potomac Books]]|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-1574886764|ref=Boh05}}
* {{cite book|title=Fidel: A Biography of Fidel Castro|url=https://archive.org/details/fidelbiographyof0000bour|url-access=registration|last=Bourne|first=Peter G.|author-link=Peter Bourne|year=1986|publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company|location=New York City|isbn=978-0396085188}}
* {{cite book|title=My Life: A Spoken Autobiography|last=Castro|first=Fidel|author1-link=Fidel Castro|interviewer-last=Ramonet|interviewer-first=Ignacio|year=2009|publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]]|location=New York|isbn=978-1416562337|ref=Cas09}}
* {{cite book|title=The Real Fidel Castro|url=https://archive.org/details/realfidelcastro00colt_0|url-access=registration|last=Coltman|first=Leycester|author-link=Arthur Leycester Scott Coltman|year=2003|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|location=New Haven and London|isbn=978-0300107609|ref=Col03}}
* Corzo, Pedro (2003). ''Cuba Cronología de la lucha contra el totalitarismo''. Ediciones Memorias, Miami. {{ISBN|1890829242}}.
* Craughwell, Thomas J. (2008). ''Failures of the Presidents: From the Whiskey Rebellion and War of 1812 to the Bay of Pigs and War in Iraq''. Fair Winds Press, Massachusetts. {{ISBN|0785830545}}.
* Dreke, Victor (2002). ''From Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution''. Pathfinder. {{ISBN|978-0873489478}}.
* Faria, Miguel, A. (2002). ''Cuba in Revolution – Escape from a Lost Paradise''. Hacienda Publishing, pp.&nbsp;93–102, notes# 16 and 24. {{ISBN|0964107732}}.
* Fernandez, Jose Ramon (2001). ''Playa Girón/Bay of Pigs: Washington's First Military Defeat in the Americas''. Pathfinder. {{ISBN|978-0873489256}}.
* Ferrer, Edward B. (1975) (sp), (1982) (en). ''Operation Puma: The Air Battle of the Bay of Pigs''. International Aviation Consultants. {{ISBN|0960900004}}.
* Franqui, Carlos (1984). ''Family portrait with Fidel''. [[Random House]]. {{ISBN|978-0394726205}}. pp.&nbsp;111–128.
* FRUS X. ''[http://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1961-63v10/ebook/frus1961-63v10.epub Foreign Relations of the United States 1961–1963. Volume X: Cuba, 1961–1962]''. [[U.S. Department of State]].
* Fineman, Mark (1998). [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-15-mn-29130-story.html "Bay of Pigs: the Secret Death of Pete Ray."]
* {{cite journal|last=Gleijeses|first=Piero|s2cid=146390097|jstor=158201|title=Ships in the Night: The CIA, the White House and the Bay of Pigs|journal=[[Journal of Latin American Studies]]|date=February 1995|volume=27|number=1|pages=1–42|issn=0022-216X|doi=10.1017/S0022216X00010154}}
* Glennon, John P. (ed.). [http://static.history.state.gov/frus/frus1958-60v06/ebook/frus1958-60v06.epub ''Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960'': Volume VI: Cuba.] [[U.S. Department of State]].
* {{cite book|title=Cuba: A New History|last=Gott|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Gott|year=2004|publisher=[[Yale University Press]]|location=New Haven and London|isbn=978-0300104110|ref=Got04|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/cubanewhistory0000gott}}
* Hagedorn, Dan (1993). ''Central American and Caribbean Air Forces''. Air-Britain. {{ISBN|0851302106}}.
* Hagedorn, Dan and Leif Hellström (1994). ''Foreign Invaders: The Douglas Invader in Foreign Military and US Clandestine Service''. Midland Publishing. {{ISBN|1857800133}}.
* Hagedorn, Dan (2006). ''[https://archive.today/20130705230509/http://www.hikokiwarplanes.com/downloads/laaws-downloads.htm Latin American Air Wars & Aircraft]''. Hikoki. {{ISBN|1902109449}}.
* Higgins, Trumbull (1987, 2008). ''The Perfect Failure: Kennedy, Eisenhower, and the CIA at the Bay of Pigs''. Norton. {{ISBN|978-0393305630}}.
* [[E. Howard Hunt|Hunt, E. Howard]] (1973). [[iarchive:giveusthisday00ehow|''Give Us This Day'']]. [[Arlington House Publishers|Arlington House]]. {{ISBN|978-0870002281}}.
* Johnson, Haynes (1964, 1974). ''The Bay of Pigs: The Leaders' Story of Brigade 2506''. W.W. Norton & Co. {{ISBN|0393042634}}.
* Jones, Howard (2008). ''Bay of Pigs''. Pivotal Moments in American History. OUP US. {{ISBN|978-0195173833}}.
* {{cite book|title=Ernesto "Che" Guevara (World Leaders Past & Present)|last=Kellner|first=Douglas|author-link=Douglas Kellner|year=1989|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|isbn=978-1555468354|page=[https://archive.org/details/ernestocheguevar0000kell/page/112 112]|url=https://archive.org/details/ernestocheguevar0000kell/page/112|ref=refKellner1989}}
* [[Peter Kornbluh|Kornbluh, Peter]] (1998). ''Bay of Pigs Declassified: The Secret CIA Report on the Invasion of Cuba''. [[The New Press]]. {{ISBN|978-1565844940}}.
* Lagas, Jacques (1964). ''Memorias de un Capitán rebelde''. Editorial del Pácifico. Santiago, Chile. {{oclc|253857152}}
* Lazo, Mario (1968, 1970). ''Dagger in the Heart: American Policy Failures in Cuba''. Twin Circle. New York. 1968 edition: {{LCCN|6831632}}.
* [[Grayston Lynch|Lynch, Grayston L.]] (1998). [[iarchive:decisionfordisas0000lync|''Decision for Disaster: Betrayal at the Bay of Pigs'']]. Brassey's. {{ISBN|1574881485}}.
* de Paz-Sánchez, Manuel (2001). ''Zona de Guerra, España y la revolución Cubana, 1960–1962''. Taller de Historia, Tenerife Gran Canaria. {{ISBN|8479263644}}.
* Priestland, Jane (editor) (2003). ''British Archives on Cuba: Cuba Under Castro, 1959–1962''. Archival Publications International. {{ISBN|1903008204}}.
* {{Cite book|last=Pfeiffer|first=Jack B.|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB355/bop-vol1-part1.pdf|title=Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|date=September 1979}}
* {{cite book|title=Fidel Castro|last=Quirk|first=Robert E.|author-link=Robert E. Quirk|year=1993|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|location=New York and London|isbn=978-0393034851|url=https://archive.org/details/fidelcastro00robe}}
* {{cite book|title=The Bay of Pigs: Cuba 1961|last=Quesada|first=Alejandro de|date=2009|others=Illustrated by Stephen Walsh|publisher=Osprey Publishing|series=Elite series #166|isbn=978-1846033230}}
* Rasenberger, Jim (2011). ''The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs''. [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Scribner]]. {{ISBN|978-1416596509}}.
* Reeves, Richard (1993). ''President Kennedy: Profile of Power''. [[Simon & Schuster]]. {{ISBN|0671892894}}.
* {{cite book|last=Rodríguez|first=Juan Carlos|date=1999|title=Bay of Pigs and the CIA|publisher=Ocean Press|isbn=978-1875284986}}
* Ros, Enrique (1994, 1998). ''Girón la verdadera historia''. Ediciones Universales (Colección Cuba y sus jueces) third edition. {{ISBN|0897297385}}.
* [[Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.|Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr.]] (1965, 2002). ''A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House''. Houghton Mifflin. {{ISBN|978-1579124496}}.
* Shono, L. D., Jr. (2012) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=o_v1XshI7mIC He Died for Peace: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy]''. iUniverse. {{ISBN|978-1475905243}}.
* [[Jean Edward Smith]] (13 Apr 1964). Bay of Pigs: The Unanswered Questions. ''[[The Nation]]'', pp.&nbsp;360–363.
* [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle|Somoza Debayle, Anastasio]] and Jack Cox. 1980. ''[[Nicaragua Betrayed]]''. [[Western Islands (publisher)|Western Islands]]. pp.&nbsp;169–180. {{ISBN|978-0882792354}}.
* [[Tad Szulc|Szulc, Tad]], and [[Karl E. Meyer]] (1962). ''The Cuban Invasion: The Chronicle of a Disaster''. Praegar. {{OCLC|252787691}}
* [[Tad Szulc|Szulc, Tad]] (1986). ''Fidel: A Critical Portrait''. Hutchinson {{ISBN|0091726026}}.
* Thomas, Hugh (1971, 1986). ''The Cuban Revolution''. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. (Shortened version of ''Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom'', includes all history 1952–1970). {{ISBN|0297789546}}.
* Thomas, Hugh. 1998. ''Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom''. Da Capo Press. {{ISBN|0306808277}}
* Thompson, Scott (2002). ''Douglas A-26 and B-26 Invader''. Crowood Press. {{ISBN|1861265034}}.
* Trest, Warren A. and Donald B. Dodd (2001). ''Wings of Denial: The Alabama Air National Guard's Covert Role at the Bay of Pigs''. NewSouth Books. {{ISBN|978-1588380210}}.
* Triay, Victor Andres (2001). ''Bay of Pigs: An Oral History of Brigade 2506''. [[University Press of Florida]]. {{ISBN|978-0813020907}}.
* Vivés, Juan (Pseudonym, of a former veteran and Castro Intelligence Official; Translated to Spanish from 1981: ''Les Maîtres de Cuba''. Opera Mundi, Paris by Zoraida Valcarcel) (1982). Los Amos de Cuba. EMCÉ Editores, Buenos Aires. {{ISBN|9500400758}}.
* {{cite book|title=Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder, and the Cold War in the Caribbean|last=Von Tunzelmann|first=Alex|year=2011|publisher=[[Henry Holt and Company]]|location=New York City|isbn=978-0805090673|ref=Von11|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/redheatconspirac0000vont}}
* [[Peter H. Wyden|Wyden, Peter]]. 1979. ''Bay of Pigs: The Untold Story''. [[Simon & Schuster]]. {{ISBN|978-0671240066}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Bay of Pigs Invasion}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090527153441/http://www.life.com/image/first/in-gallery/25102/bay-of-pigs-invasion-and-aftermath Bay of Pigs: Invasion and Aftermath] – slideshow by ''[[Life magazine]]''
* {{Internet Archive film clip|id=1961-04-19_Cuba_Invaded|description="Cuba Invaded. Foes of Castro Open Offensive, 1961/04/19 (1961)"}}

{{Cuba topics}}
{{Cold War}}
{{Cuban conflicts}}
{{Armed conflicts involving the United States Armed Forces}}
{{United States intervention in Latin America}}
{{Cuba–United States relations}}
{{John F. Kennedy}}
{{Che Guevara}}
{{Fidel Castro}}
{{Cuban exile}}
{{US history}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bay Of Pigs Invasion}}
[[Category:Invasions of Cuba]]
[[Category:Invasions by the United States]]
[[Category:1961 in Cuba]]
[[Category:1961 in the United States]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1961]]
[[Category:April 1961 events in North America]]
[[Category:Battles involving the United States]]
[[Category:Battles involving Cuba]]
[[Category:Cold War history of Cuba]]
[[Category:Cold War history of the United States]]
[[Category:Central Intelligence Agency operations]]
[[Category:CIA activities in the Americas]]
[[Category:Counter-revolution]]
[[Category:Cuba–United States military relations]]
[[Category:Aftermath of the Cuban Revolution]]
[[Category:Fidel Castro]]
[[Category:Presidency of John F. Kennedy]]
[[Category:Anti-communism in the United States]]
[[Category:Imperialism]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialism in North America]]
[[Category:1961 in military history]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in Cuba]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1961]]
[[Category:Proxy wars]]
[[Category:United States involvement in regime change]]
[[Category:Wars involving Cuba]]