Documents / FOIA release
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.
“The Pentagon”1 page
caused varying reactions within the Department of State. U. S. Ambassador, Thomas Whelan, was a strong supporter of the Somoza government; and, consequently, looked with great favor on the Agencyls attempts to negotiate directly with Somoza, believing that this was a proper step, not only from the US point of view vis-a-vis Cuba, but also in terms of our relations with the government of Nicaragua. 17/ On the other hand, Thomas Mann, 18/ the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter American Affairs, preferred to tread very cautiously with regard to Nicaragua; adhering to the formalities of diplomatic nicety vis-a-vis that government. Within the Agency itself, Mr. Bissell's Assistant Deputy Director of Plans for Action (ADDP/A), C. Tracy Barnes, was apparently nervous about the implications of using the Nicaraguan site because Somoza was such a bad guy; and Barnes at one point\ stated that "in the long run, we would lose an unac- ceptable amount of face with these (more democratic?] countries" in Central America if we worked closely with Somoza. 19/ Barnes, however, did realize the urgent need for developing a strike base. -,~l TOP~CRET
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 179 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.