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…
Cabezas and all other air traffic, except for Agency
operated aircraft, would be completely prohibited. ~/
Somoza also was going to go so far as to make an
announcement on 15 April that the activity which cer-
tainly would be known to be taking place at Puerto
Cabezas was in response to the threat of possible
incursions from Costa Rica and the need to have the
Nicaraguan military forces in a state of readiness. 63/
At the same time that this cover story was being dis-
cussed with the representatives of the Nicaraguan
Government, General Somoza was visiting TIDE and spoke
with Colonels Hawkins and Gaines who were in Puerto
Cabezas to give the final briefings prior to the be-
ginning of operations; and Somoza raised the question
of possible attacks by Castro's Air Force should any
of his planes get off the ground. The Agency's repre-
sentatives regarded this as a legitimate concern; and
even though convinced that Castro's FAR (Fuerza Aerea
Revolucionario) would be destroyed on the ground, they
asked Headquarters to approach the US Navy about es-
tablishing a radar· picket operation off the Nicaraguan
coast to relay warnings of incoming Castro aircraft.

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.