Bay of Pigs Invasion
By: Banner Griffin
Events That Led Up To It.
In 1959 Fidel Castro marched his army into Havana and overthrew Dictator Fulgencio Batista. Even though Batista was a dictator the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) still considered Batista pro-america, unlike Castro who is a communist. This also made everyday American citizens nervous as well because over half of the sugar farms were owned by Americans. As soon as Castro came to power he wanted to strangle American influence in Cuba. He nationalized Sugar and Mining so the Americans could not get those things in Cuba anymore. In 1960 Cuba established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union which was not a good thing for the United States. After all of this President John F. Kennedy wanted to take action. Kennedy went with the idea to recruit an army of Cuban exiles. Because if they sent American Troops a war would start. The CIA said if all went according to plan it would be a success and no one would find out about American involvement.
The Invasion
The first part of the plan was to destroy Castro's small air force. On April 15, 1961 Cubans in American air planes took off to destroy the planes. However when they got there Castro moved the planes. Kennedy was furious this did not work but it was too late to stop now. On April 17 1961 the invasion began and it was a colossal failure. Coral reefs sank some of the landing vessels, and Castro's troops already intercepted the rebels. All of the Cuban's supplied by the American's were either killed or captured. This event made American-Cuban relations worse and paved the way to the Cuban missile crisis.
Facts
- All of the invading forces were either killed or captured.
- 7 people including 2 CIA officers were put to death in Cuba
- The remaining prisoners were exchanged to the US for $53 million worth of food and medicine.
- Some bay of pigs veterans joined the US army.
- This was one of the biggest failed invasions in US history.
Connections
The Bay of Pigs invasions is closely related to the Cuban Missile Crisis. After the bay of pigs invasions tensions became worse between the US and Cuba resulting in the USSR to station nuclear warheads in Cuba.
It is also related to containment. The US did not wan't Cuba to become a communist nation so they tried to contain it but it did not work. But the US did contain communism in other countries.