LAST GROUP OF BAY OF PIGS POWS FREED BY CASTRO
Havana, Cuba (JFK+50) On April 23, 1963, Premier Fidel Castro, communist dictator of Cuba, freed the last group of prisoners of war captured at the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961.
Not only had the invasion been a failure, it was an added discomforting fact that the United States had been unable to "get the brigade out of Cuba." Some of the survivors sat in Castro's prison 20 months.
Castro agreed to a payment of $53 million worth of food and medicine and a cash payment of $2.9 million in return for the brigade's freedom. It was well worth the ransom.
A total of 106 brigade members had been killed with 1202 captured by Castro. 9 died during transport to prison and 60 wounded and sick were returned to the U.S. in April 1962. 1,113 POWS were returned after the ransom payment in late December 1962.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy said on December 7, 1962 ...
"My brother made a mistake. These men fought well; the disaster was no fault of theirs. They are our responsibility."
SOURCE
"The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs," by Jim Rasenberger, Scribner, New York, 2011.
Fidel Castro
Havana, Cuba (JFK+50) On April 23, 1963, Premier Fidel Castro, communist dictator of Cuba, freed the last group of prisoners of war captured at the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961.
Not only had the invasion been a failure, it was an added discomforting fact that the United States had been unable to "get the brigade out of Cuba." Some of the survivors sat in Castro's prison 20 months.
Castro agreed to a payment of $53 million worth of food and medicine and a cash payment of $2.9 million in return for the brigade's freedom. It was well worth the ransom.
A total of 106 brigade members had been killed with 1202 captured by Castro. 9 died during transport to prison and 60 wounded and sick were returned to the U.S. in April 1962. 1,113 POWS were returned after the ransom payment in late December 1962.
Attorney General Robert Kennedy said on December 7, 1962 ...
"My brother made a mistake. These men fought well; the disaster was no fault of theirs. They are our responsibility."
SOURCE
"The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs," by Jim Rasenberger, Scribner, New York, 2011.
Fidel Castro
