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. 21 Alejos's position from the Cubans -- his role would be as a private Guatemalan citizen, cooperating…
  • p. 23 …Cover, Security and Latin Pride A high degree of cooperation between the President of Guatemala and…
  • p. 39 …Agency training programs were developed with the full and complete cooperation of the President of Guatemala…
  • p. 48 …This witness recalled Headquarter's instructions to cooperate with Alejos and also the authorization for Seigrist…
  • p. 84 …was marked by a spirit of close cooperation between the Government of Guatemala and the Agency…
  • p. 85 …it was reported that there was close cooperation be- tween~and Roberto Alejos with regard to…
  • p. 91 …Once again Ydigoras lectured the Cuban political leaders about the need for unity and cooperation with…
  • p. 115 …office with the rest of State, the cooperation of which we need. It is incumbent upon…
  • p. 116 …American country, receiving his full support and cooperation. Somoza volunteered to foot the cost of the…
  • p. 149 …ever, is that Somoza gave his full cooperation to the Agency effort to mount the operation…
  • p. 153 …Somoza himself was characterized as continuing to be quite cooperative with the Agency representatives but fearful…
Part III
Conclusions
In the instances of both Guatemala and Nicaragua
from the Spring of 1960 until the Spring of 1961, it
has been shown that Agency personnel involved in Proj-
ect JMATE were the principal figures in the on-going
relations between those countries and the US Govern-
ment. In the instance of Guatemala, the US Ambassador
for all practical purposes became "inoperative"; and
in Nicaragua the opposite condition prevailed -- any-
thing that the Agency suggested received ambassadorial
blessing. Neither extreme was desirable; and in both
instances what the Chief Executive of each country
most wished to avoid -- that it become known that his
country provide a base for the anti-Castro Cubans
became unavoidable.
That the relationship between each nation and the
US could be "plausibly denied" when the concept of the
anti-Castro plan shifted from guerrilla type operations
to invasion. was a snare and delusion. That the White
House and the Department of State were prayerful that
the USG would not be criticized by the UN or the GAS
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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.