[Marxism] 45th Anniversary of Bay of Pigs

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[A chronology of events and the BBC's original news report of
the invsion follow the first article. -NY Transfer]

All Headline News - April 17, 2006
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7003208518


45th Anniversary of Bay of Pigs

by Patricia Shehan
All Headline News Contributor

Miami, FL (AHN) - Monday marks the 45th anniversary of the Bay of
Pigs. On this day, 45 years ago, 1,500 Cuban exiles, trained by the
CIA, landed onto Cuba's Bay of Pigs beach. Just three days later, the
Cuban military destroyed the invasion.

According to The Miami Herald, the members of the 2506 Brigade are
remembering the Bay of Pigs in a ceremony Monday morning at the Bay of
Pigs Monument in Little Havana.

A church mass Monday evening at St. John Bosco Catholic Church, Miami,
Florida, is being held to observe the date and those who died during
the attacks.

                                    ***

Copyright © All Headline News - All rights reserved.

The Miami Herald - Apr 15, 2006
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/cuba/14347593.htm


A CHRONOLOGY OF THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION

o  March 17, 1960: President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a covert
attack on Cuba using a paramilitary force of Cuban exiles.

o  April 12, 1961: President John F. Kennedy decides that U.S. armed
forces will not take part in the invasion.

o  April 14, 1961: B-26 bombers piloted by Cuban exiles begin
early-morning aerial bombardment of air bases in Cuba. Two pilots land
in Florida, posing as Cuban defectors in a CIA-hatched plot.

o  April 15, 1961: U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson, speaking at the
United Nations, denies U.S. participation in the attack. The defectors
are discovered to be impostors. Planned airstrikes are canceled.

o  April 17-19, 1961: An exile-led force of about 1,500 lands at the
beach in Cuba's Bay of Pigs. Cuban military forces crush the invasion,
bringing it to a quick end.

                                ***

BBC News - Apr 17, 2006
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/17/newsid_3394000/339
4067.stm


April 17, 1961: 

Exiles invade Cuba at Bay of Pigs

Reports from Cuba say the island has been invaded by counter-revolutionary 
forces trying to overthrow the country's leader, Fidel Castro.

The only news coming out of Cuba is broadcast by the government-run
radio station. All other communications with the island have been cut.

THe first landing is reported to have taken place in the early hours
of this morning.

Broadcasts from Cuban government radio appealing for medical help
indicate that the raiders have successfully penetrated 25 miles (40km)
inland.

They appear to have come ashore on an area of the coast known as the
Bahía de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs, south-east of the capital, Havana.

There is no indication as to the size of the invasion force, but Dr
Castro, in a speech on Cuban government radio, said they are supported
by aircraft and warships.

"The glorious soldiers of the revolutionary army and the national
militia are battling the enemy at all the points where they have
landed," he said.

High alert

The Cuban military have been on high alert for an imminent invasion
for some days.

In a speech yesterday, Fidel Castro told the Cuban people he intended
to resist such an attack with "an iron hand".

Cuban exiles based in the United States, who are organising the
attempt to overthrow the Castro regime, say thousands of Cubans have
joined the rebel forces.

However, there is no independent confirmation of the level of support
for the invasion from within Cuba.

The leader of the Cuban exile movement in the US, Dr Miro Cardona,
said the battle had begun "to liberate our homeland from the despotic
rule of Fidel Castro".

Dr Cardona played a part in Fidel Castro's revolution against the
dictatorship of President Batista in 1959, and was prime minister for
45 days before Dr Castro himself took over.

US denial

In a statement in Washington, the US Secretary of State, Dean Rusk,
has again denied US involvement in the invasion of Cuba.

He said the United States had not, and would not intervene in Cuba,
with armed forces or otherwise.

Strong suspicions that the United States is sponsoring an offensive
against the Castro government have been fuelled by the bombing of
three of Cuba's military air bases two days ago.

The US denied all knowledge of the episode, saying Cuban Air Force
pilots defecting to Florida were responsible.

But reporters who watched one of the planes land in Miami after
carrying out the attack described features which indicated it was
American-made.

                              *

In Context

The invasion of Cuba was carried out by a force of about 1,400 exiled
Cubans, with American support from the sea and air.

The main landing point at the Bay of Pigs was a beach surrounded by a
mosquito-infested swamp.

The only way to get further in to the island was along just three
heavily-defended roads.

The fighting lasted just three days. The invasion force was badly
outnumbered and the mass defection of Cubans they had hoped for -
their only realistic hope of success - never materialised.

More than 100 of the invasion force died in the attack, and 1,189 were
taken prisoner.

Shortly afterwards, President Kennedy acknowledged US support for the
invaders.

It was the worst foreign policy embarrassment of his career.

The Bay of Pigs debacle not only strengthened Fidel Castro's hold on
power, but also brought the Soviet Union firmly on to his side.

It acted as a key catalyst for the Cuban missile crisis 18 months
later, on 28 October 1962, which brought the world to the brink of
nuclear war.

       
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