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…
I resires commend Robertson for
excellent presentation and accomplishment
mission. Robertson's detached objective
approach, vis-a-vis Somoza. Ambassador and
I underlined positive results. 52/*
----
F. Who Would Do What for Whom?
Robertson's suggestions for discussions were
taken to heart in Nicaragua and in Washington. Almost
immediately upon his departure, a series of cables
indicate that meetings were held between the President
of Nicaragua and Ambassador Whelan and, in Washington,
between Lou Napoli and Ambassador Sevilla-Sacasa. A
principal subject of the conversation was the status
of Nicaragua's pending loan applications to the USG
and the DLF. In neither Managua nor Washington did
Nicaragua get any commitment that the loans were going
* It should not be inferred from the foregoing that
all of Robertson's activities were devoted to hand-
holding with the Somozas. He got down to the very
nitty-gritty things directly related to the planned
operation against Fidel Castro, concerning himself
with such matters as port security, planning for
fueling and watering the vessels which would be used
to transport the Brigade to Cuba, and, probably, to
negotiating an agreement with Nicaragua to dispose of
the Brigade dead resulting from the invasion. One ~
knowledgeab~e source recalled that an arrangement was
made whereby the bodies would be transported to Nica-
ragua by boat or air, and that Somoza had offered to
give them a hero's burial. ~/

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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.