Bay of Pigs

Failed invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles in April 1961. On April 17, 1961, an armed force of about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed in the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on Cuba's southern coast to [Page 66]overthrow Fidel Castro's communist regime. The insurgent force had been armed by the United States and trained by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) since May 1960.

The covert military operation had the approval of the administration of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which had sanctioned several earlier CIA attempts to kill or remove Castro from power. In many ways, the Bay of Pigs invasion represented a last-ditch effort by the lame duck administration to accomplish the strategic goal of eliminating Castro before the administration of President-Elect John F. Kennedy took office.

Background to Invasion

On January 3, 1961, just 17 days before Kennedy was inaugurated as president, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba. This signaled the implementation of the final stages of a CIA plan, approved by Eisenhower in March 1959, and titled A Program of Covert Action Against the Castro Regime. The plan included establishing a new Cuban regime composed of exiles residing outside of the country; a massive anti-Castro, anticommunist propaganda offensive; creation of a covert intelligence and military force inside Cuba controlled by the exile opposition; and creation of a paramilitary force outside of Cuba to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Castro regime. The goals of the plan, funded by a secret budget of almost $50 million, were to be carried out so as to avoid the appearance that the United States was intervening in Cuba.

Shortly after the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba, CIA planes—some piloted by Americans—began bombing raids on Cuban sugar cane fields. By the time Kennedy took office on January 20, 1961, he had made commitments to Cuban exiles living in the United States to overthrow Castro and other communist governments. Although Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy and other high-ranking U.S. officials publicly denied plans to attack Cuba, on October 31, 1960, Cuban Foreign Minister Raul Roa provided the United Nations General Assembly with evidence that the CIA was recruiting and training Cuban exiles for an invasion.

The original Bay of Pigs plan called for the rebels to land during the day at Trinidad, a city on Cuba's southern coast. Kennedy thought the original plan was too bold and would expose the role of the United States in the plot to overthrow Castro. Kennedy favored a night invasion at the Bay of Pigs, which featured a suitable airstrip on the beach. Shortly before the rebels landed at the Bay of Pigs, CIA operatives placed in Cuba were to blow up key bridges and commit other terrorist acts to make it appear that the Cuban peasants were rising up against Castro. Once the Bay of Pigs was secured, a provisional government would be set up by the CIA and immediately recognized by the United States. The new government would request U.S. military support, which would be immediately forthcoming.

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