ANTI-CASTRO BRIGADE SAILS FOR CUBA
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50)On April 16, 1961, a force of 1400 anti-Castro Cubans, trained and equipped by the Central Intelligence Agency, sailed aboard five freighters toward the southern coast of Cuba. Their destination was the Bay of Pigs*.
The clandestine invasion to overthrow the communist dictator Fidel Castro was planned during the Eisenhower administration and final approval was given by President John F. Kennedy.
When Presidential assistant Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.asked Mr. Kennedy what he thought about the operation, JFK responded... "I think about it as little as possible."
*Bay of Pigs (Bahia de Cochinos) is an inlet on the Gulf of Cazones on the Southern coast of Cuba. The area is known for diving & abundance of marine fauna. In Cuban Spanish, Cochinos may refer to the queen triggerfish that inhabit coral reefs.
SOURCE
"The Brilliant Disaster, JFK, Castro and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs," Jim Rasenberger, Scribner, New York, 2011.
Map of Cuba
by User: Zleitzen
www.wikimedia.org/
