Documents / FOIA release

Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation- Volume 2- Part 1

Central Intelligence Agency · 179 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is Volume II, Part 1 of the CIA History Staff's Official History of the Bay of Pigs Operation, a Top Secret history dated October 1979 and approved for release in July 2011. It looks at how the Agency took part in shaping US foreign policy toward Guatemala and Nicaragua during the anti-Castro program. It covers dealings with President Ydigoras Fuentes and Roberto Alejos, training sites such as Retalhuleu, cover stories, and negotiations with the Somoza brothers for an air base and port. It contains no UFO material.

  • p. 16 …According to Esterline's report of the meeting "it was never said in so many words…
  • p. 31 …DPD planned to have the SALA representa- tive, who had never been cleared by the Agency…
  • p. 34 …The communications officer whom Alejos had declared to be "under arrest" was never technically arrested and…
  • p. 53 …We never were informed of KIA or wounded counts. We did hear that a couple of…
  • p. 55 …round Guatemala for years and we have never seen Guatemalan pilots fly or shoot with the…
  • p. 64 …emphatically * Delivery of the ~ight B-26's was never made to the Government of Guatemala.
  • p. 75 …Ydigoras said, "that piece of paper will never be exposed," and it hasn't to my…
  • p. 76 …young man I said, "Well, we're never going to get this thing going unless somebody…
  • p. 106 …Venezuela, have made many friendly noises but never once have made a firm offer of real…
  • p. 138 …the project "until Castro's defeat" was never officially made to either President Somoza or President…
  • p. 147 …they were on the ships they would never return to Nicaragua. With reference to the air…
  • p. 153 …68/* * The Agency's relations with Nicaragua also became \ somewhat strained because Miro Cardona was never…
TOplcRET
ofl Ito the Ambassador, Robertson was given a
free hand to determine the extent of his contact with
other US personnel in the Managua area. As a point of
some contention, Robertson was also told that he would
"be responsible for the coordination and general super-
vision of JMTIDE construction activities and air and
maritime operational activities, when implemented under
their specialized senior officers". 14/
Rip's Letter of Instruction indicated that the
facility at JMTIDE should be completed by 15 January
1961, and that as soon as Robertson concluded satis-
factory arrangements with the President of Nicaragua,
the 5-man construction team would be sent black into
the Puerto Cabezas area to conduct a survey estimating
the scope and cost of the work. And then, somewhat
paradoxically, in view of the previous comment about
Robertson's authority, it was stated that:
On Headquarter's approval of the plan
for base construction, a Base Manager will
be provided, with the responsibility for
maintenance, operation and support of the
facility. On activation, JMARC/PM Personnel
_ will be assigned in connection with both
air and maritime operations, and your
responsibilities regarding these various
JMTIDE activities include:

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 179 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.