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.

Open the PDF at page 127 Original source ↗

“Nevers”12 pages

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…

Later that morning [2 December 1960],
Devine called C/WH to say that Mann had
referred the matter to [tivingston] Merchant
and felt there had been no Special Group
discussion or decision underlying the
Nicaragua proposal. I called ADD/A who
(after speaking w/C/WH) called Joe Scott
to see where we stood. Scott said Merchant
felt this was a matter for secretarial
review. For this review, State would need
more detail. Barnes undertook to provide
same. Used [Thomas A.] Parrot to inform
[Gordon] Gray and DOD and himself inform
DCI. 23/*
In order to insure that the Special Group was
p~operly notified, WH/4 prepared a memorandum on Nica-
raguan aspects of the Cuban operation on 3 December
1960, and on 6 December 1960 another memorandum was
prepared concerning several problems, among which was
included that of the Nicaraguan strike base. These
materials were forwarded for use at the Special Group
meeting of 8 December 1960. 24/\
Although formal sanction for his mission was
still being debated, Robertson departed for Nicaragua
* Mr. Merchant was Under Secretary of State for Polit-
ical Affairs, and Joseph W. Scott was his Special
Assi~tant. Thomas A. Parrot served as Executive Sec-
retary for the Special Group 5412, and Gordon Gray was
President Eisenhower's National Security Adviser.
- 116 -
TO~CRET

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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.