Unexpectedly, after landing, most anti-Castro militants were annihilated on the spot and the rest were captured alive. At this point, after two military coups carefully planned by the US government, it was smashed before it could be shot.
The fiasco of this operation plunged the United States into the first painful reflection after the end of World War II. As a global superpower and the leader of the "free world", America's self-confidence, prestige, determination and ability have exposed its limitations.
In the spring of 40 years ago, under the direct planning and command of the CIA, 1400 Cuban exiles landed in the Bay of Pigs and raided Cuba in order to overthrow the Castro government. However, this invasion ended with 100 people killed and 1000 people captured. This is the Bay of Pigs incident that shocked the world.
Many historical facts about this incident have not been fully disclosed by the United States and Cuba, which makes the Bay of Pigs incident even more mysterious. Today, 40 years later, the opponents who once confronted each other directly actually sat together and exchanged relevant files about the Bay of Pigs incident. Cuba even decrypted all these documents for the first time. The truth of the Bay of Pigs incident finally came out.
I feel a lot about revisiting my old place.
Cuba agreed to hold this meeting because it wanted to take this opportunity to let the world really know the historical truth. People say that history is written by winners, but the Bay of Pigs incident is not the case. Although the Cuban government crushed the invasion, the United States would rather believe that the failure was due to poor planning than the leadership of the Cuban government and the courage and combat effectiveness of the Cuban army.
Fernandez, a 77-year-old man with white hair, participated in commanding the Cuban army to fight back against the invaders. He said that some people in the United States blamed the failure of the Bay of Pigs incident on poor planning. In fact, they underestimated the courage and firepower of the Cuban army. He denied that the former Soviet Union had disclosed information about the invasion to Cuba, and reiterated that Cuban agents had not infiltrated the exile training camp at that time. However, he admitted that the Cuban government did detain many opponents a few hours before the exiles landed in the Bay of Pigs.
Mirto Colazzo, a veteran of the 2506th Brigade, said in Miami that the lack of ammunition was also a reason for the failure. Although he opposes Castro, he appreciates Fernandez's tactics. He said: "Fernandez is the best gunman in Cuba. From a military point of view, I respect him very much. ?
On March 24, participants came to the invasion site of that year and recalled the scene of that year. It has been covered with dense redwood trees, and the scenery is beautiful, which is more like a holiday resort. The tourists slowly sipped Tekeli wine on the beach, but they didn't see the shadow of the battlefield in the past.
Make excuses for interfering in Cuban affairs
The documents declassified by the United States also contain surprising contents. One of the documents shows that the CIA consciously promoted Cuba's alliance with the former Soviet Union in order to create an excuse for interfering with Castro's government. Cuban documents also show that the CIA did not want to land in the Bay of Pigs from the beginning, but failed, so the CIA had reason to urge President Kennedy to send troops.
A newly discovered British government document also proves that the British ambassador to the United States met with allen dulles, then director of the CIA, from 65438 to 0959. During the dinner, Dulles asked Britain not to sell fighter planes to Cuba, so that Cuba could only move closer to the former Soviet Union. The British ambassador wrote: "The former Soviet Union sent weapons to Guatemala, which gave the CIA an excuse to overthrow the Guatemalan government. If Britain does not provide weapons to Castro according to the requirements of the CIA, it will directly lead to the former Soviet Union providing weapons to Cuba. Next, the CIA has something to do. ?
The CIA documents declassified by the United States 1998 show that the CIA made a wrong estimate of the invasion of Cuba at that time, thinking that if the exiles were sent to land, it would trigger an uprising in Cuba. Other countries' documents also contain surprising contents. A report of the Czech Political Bureau dated1September 28, 959 shows that the Castro government, which has just been established for nine months, has reached an agreement with the Czech Republic to purchase advanced weapons. The Czech Republic sent 50,000 9mm machine guns and millions of bullets to Cuba through a Swiss middleman. According to the middleman, the cost of buying these weapons will be provided by the American religious organization CARE, which is the main buyer of Cuban sugar. Prior to this, CARE gave the impression that it was an organization that had never participated in the arms trade.
Old Enemies Face to Face At 9: 00 am local time on March 22nd, the "mount" of Cuban President Feider Castro stopped at the gate of a five-star hotel in Havana. Castro's every move has attracted the attention of the world media. Still wearing the familiar green military uniform, he strode into the hotel and went straight to the conference room. He bypassed the big round table and sat down as the host. Opposite him are enemies who have plotted to kill him many times in the past.
This scene is too much like the plot in a Hollywood thriller, but it is true. After the establishment of the new Cuban government led by Castro, the US government worried that Cuba, which is only 100 km away from the US coast, would become a beachhead for the former Soviet Union to threaten the US. So the CIA has been secretly training Cuban exiles to land in Cuba and overthrow Castro. 196 1 07 At dawn on April 7, with the support of the Kennedy administration, the CIA implemented a plan to overthrow Castro, code-named "Operation Mongoose". 1400 Cuban exiles basically started from the CIA's secret training in Miami, USA, and crossed the ocean to the swamp at the southern tip of Cuba, where they landed and tried to create civil strife and overthrow it.
However, this incident ended in the fiasco of the exiles. The landing craft capsized because of frequent rocks, and the air support promised by the Americans disappeared; On the contrary, the air force of the Cuban government forces sank or drove away the supply ship of the exiles. It only took 72 hours, and the exiles ran out of ammunition and had to surrender. In this incident, 1 14 exiles were killed by the Cuban army, and 1 189 people were captured. These people lived in Cuban prisons for 18 months, and then the United States agreed to exchange them for food and medicine worth $5.3 million.
The protagonist of this matter probably didn't expect that they would have a chance to sit together after 40 years. The three-day conference organized by American historians and scholars to discuss the incident in the Bay of Pigs was attended by four exiles involved in the invasion of the Bay of Pigs-veterans of the "2506 Brigade" and two former CIA officials (including Sam Halbin? Operation mongoose? President Kennedy's most trusted aides, Arthur Shulesinger and Richard Goodwin. This is also the first time that anti-Castro exiles involved in the Bay of Pigs have returned to Cuba to meet the man they want to kill day and night-Castro. This is also the first time that such a meeting has been held in Cuba since 196 1.
On the first day of the meeting, Castro turned up a document 1959 decrypted by the US Secretary of State, which was an evaluation of 1959 Castro's trip to the United States. Castro smiled and read: "It would be a serious mistake to underestimate this man. Although his appearance looks naive and ignorant, he obviously has a strong will and is a naturally inspiring and confident leader. "
Return the true colors of history
Participants all hope to find the answer to the following question from the documents made public by both sides: Why did President Kennedy break his word and withdraw air support, thus leaving the invaders in a helpless position? Has he considered sending the Marine Corps to rescue the "2506 Brigade" which is still in a bloody battle with the Cuban government? Does the Cuban government know that the CIA plot to assassinate Castro is related to the Bay of Pigs incident? Did the former Soviet Union provide Cuba with relevant information?
Castro believes that the real purpose of the Bay of Pigs invasion is not to set off a wave against him in Cuba, but to pave the way for the United States to intervene in Cuban affairs. Some participants agreed with him. One of the documents shows that the day after the Bay of Pigs incident, former Soviet leader Khrushchev wrote to US President Kennedy, saying that this "small-scale war" in Cuba would trigger a chain reaction all over the world. He urgently called on Kennedy to stop his aggression against Cuba and claimed that the former Soviet Union was ready to provide Cuba with all the help it needed to counter its aggression.
A number of documents show that Castro, who is only 34 years old, can take charge of the temporary headquarters of a sugar factory near the Bay of Pigs. On the first morning, he asked on the phone, "How is everyone's morale? All right! Great! " Then he ordered: "Return to the Bay of Pigs immediately and sink all the ships!" "Give me a brave resistance, comrades! Very good! " He said to his close comrade-in-arms Che grava: "Now we are really fighting, and the victory belongs to us!" Five minutes later, he ordered another military leader: "You must sink all the ships and open fire on them! We will use mortars to make them disappear from the earth! " Soon, he spoke on the phone with his younger brother Raul Castro, who stuck to the east coast, and praised the Cuban fighter plane: "The plane is so beautiful, so wonderful! They are laying eggs! " It took Castro only 72 hours to end the battle: "Catch up, don't stop fighting!" "
At that time, the young and promising Castro almost directed the counterattack with laughter. He joked from time to time when he issued one order after another, and he was not nervous at all. One of the summary reports also showed that the then ground commander Jose Fernandez (now Cuba's vice president) admitted that he had made a mistake in the Bay of Pigs incident, and he actually thought that Cuban troops should retreat.
These thousands of pages of top secret files are all about Castro's speeches and telephone transcripts when he commanded Cuban troops to counterattack landing, but these files have been decrypted by Castro a few days ago.