BAY OF PIGS INVASION

The Bay of Pigs affair was an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba on April 17, 1961, at Playa Girón (the Bay of Pigs) by about two thousand Cubans who had gone into exile after the 1959 revolution. Encouraged by members of the cia who trained them, the invaders believed they would have air and naval support from the United States and that the invasion would cause the people of Cuba to rise up and overthrow the regime of communist Fidel Castro. Neither expectation materialized, although unmarked planes from Florida bombed Cuban air bases prior to the invasion. Cuban army troops pinned down the exiles and forced them to surrender within seventy-two hours.

The Eisenhower administration planned the Bay of Pigs attack, training anti-Castro Cubans in Guatemala and obtaining permission from Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza to launch the invasion from Puerto Cabezas on Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. After some hesitation, President John F. Kennedy allowed it to go forward.

At first, the State Department denied any direct links to the exiles. The true American role did not become public until a few days after the invasion. President Kennedy assumed full responsibility for what he admitted was a mistake. Nonetheless, he refused to negotiate a settlement of America's differences with the Castro regime.

Before and after the invasion, the United States promoted the expulsion of Cuba from the Organization of American States, attempted an unsuccessful diplomatic quarantine, and stopped all Cuban exports from entering the United States. Economic and diplomatic estrangement remained American policy toward Communist Cuba for the indefinite future.

See also Anticommunism; Caribbean-U.S. Relations.