Bay Of Pigs: A History

Are you old enough to remember the the Bay Of Pigs?

If so then…it was an attempt by the US government to overthrow the Castro regime on Cuba……..

Many Cubans welcomed Fidel Castro’s 1959 overthrow of the dictatorial President Fulgencio Batista, yet the new order on the island just about 100 miles from the United States made American officials nervous. Batista had been a corrupt and repressive dictator, but he was considered to be pro-American and was an ally to U.S. companies. At that time, American corporations and wealthy individuals owned almost half of Cuba’s sugar plantations and the majority of its cattle ranches, mines and utilities

In May 1960, Castro established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, and the United States responded by prohibiting the importation of Cuban sugar. To prevent the Cuban economy from collapsing–sugar exports to the United States comprised 80 percent of the country’s total–the USSR agreed to buy the sugar.

In January 1961, the U.S. government severed diplomatic relations with Cuba and stepped up its preparations for an invasion. Some State Department and other advisors to the new American president, John F. Kennedy, maintained that Castro posed no real threat to America, but the new president believed that masterminding the Cuban leader’s removal would show Russia, China and skeptical Americans that he was serious about winning the Cold War.

Lots has been said and written about this policy failure by the US…..but until recently the “real” story has never been told mostly we have had suppositions….but the CIA has released the history of what actually happened…..

The CIA today released the long-contested Volume V of its official history of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which it had successfully concealed until now by claiming that it was a “draft” and could be withheld from the public under the FOIA’s “deliberative process” privilege. The National Security Archive fought the agency for years in court to release the historically significant volume, only to have the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2014 uphold the CIA’s overly-broad interpretation of the “deliberative process” privilege. Special credit for today’s release goes to the champions of the 2016 FOIA amendments, which set a 25-year sunset for the exemption:  Senators John Cornyn, Patrick Leahy, and Chuck Grassley, and Representatives Jason Chaffetz, Elijah Cummings, and Darrell Issa.

Source: CIA Releases Controversial Bay of Pigs History

Until now the story about the aftermath has been an “official” BS story……

Although not considered as significant a U.S. foreign policy failure and embarrassment as the Bay of Pigs invasion, Operation Mongoose failed to achieve its most important goals. Meanwhile, throughout the spring and summer of 1962, U.S. intelligence reports indicated expanded arms shipments from the Soviet Union to Cuba. Amidst growing concern in Washington over whether the Soviet weapons being introduced into Cuba included ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, in October 1962 the Kennedy administration suspended Operation Mongoose in the face of this far more serious threat—one that resulted in the most dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

As always I am willing to force feed history to my readers….you are welcome….

15 thoughts on “Bay Of Pigs: A History

  1. Actually, this was JFK’s most awful blunder. To pull air support and leave those men on the beach to die. (I’m afraid I am old enough to remember)

  2. Imagine the gall of the USSR to dare sell arms to a “terror” state. You’d never, I mean not ever, find the USA doing that, especially not today, not to Israel, or Saudi Arabia, or to terrorist organizations. Unthinkable. And imagine the gall of the USSR to attempt establishing a military base that close to territorial USA. Never would the USA stoop so low as to establish military bases, or have military and naval exercises anywhere near an enemy’s borders thus creating a volatile military situation. Americans are kind, gently, sweet, generous to a fault people and these national values are reflected daily by their governments, their security agencies and of course their globally helpful corporations who take their chances by moving their industries to third world countries so the people there can have jobs, etc. There, I’ve reset the record as it should properly read. American history XXX…

    1. So far everything I have gotten has been the actual documents….but I guess there could be hi-jinx….it is what keeps idiots like Alex Jones in business..

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