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…
in Washington, Carlos Alejos, the brother of Roberto
Alejos. y*
Portents of things to come followed shortly
after Esterline's first meeting with Roberto Alejos.
On 8 June 1960, Alejos, as he had indicated in his
initial meeting with Davis and Esterline, was in the
United States where he met with Esterline. Among .the
subjects discussed, in addition to the utilization of
Guatemalan territory for the training of anti-Castro
Cubans, Alejos said that he would be taking a look
at the airstrip at Retalhuleu to see if it was capable
of handling C-54 aircraft. Construction and renova-
tion of this airstrip would later give rise to both
some intra-agency squabbles and also some strain in
the relationships between the Agency and Alejos.
At this time, too, Alejos was very much concerned
about the United States ambassador to the OAS, John
Dryer, who, according to Alejos, was pressing the GOG
* Carlos Alejos apparently was appointed US ambassa-
dor a short time prior to Esterline's meeting with
Ydigo~as and Roberto Alejos. A cable to the Department
from Guatemala City on 18 May 1960 noted that Carlos
Alejos "Ambassador-designate to the US" would arrive
in New Orleans on 25 May 60. 4a/
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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.