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. 14 …an anti-Castro program before Chief JMATE, Jacob D. Esterline, and I Robert K. Davis, met…
  • p. 54 …Batres. !±i/ Jacob D. Esterline, Chief of J~ARC project had some subsequent conversation with the…
  • p. 160 …Memo for Record from Jacob D. Esterline, 20 Jun 60, sub: Negotiations with President Miguel Ydigoras…
  • p. 163 …20 Oct 60. 36. Oral History Interview: Jacob O. Esterline by Jack B. Pfeiffer, 10-11…
  • p. 166 …to the Sec Def, OSO from Jacob D. Esterline, 16 Nov 60, sub: Emergency Evacua~ tion…
  • p. 168 …Memo for Asst~ Sec Def OSO from Jacob D. Esterline, 5 Jan 61, sub: Requirement for…
  • p. 170 …MR from Jacob D. Esterline, 5 Apr 61, sub: Meet- ing with Adolph sic A. Berle…
  • p. 171 …MR from Jacob D. Esterline,S Apr 61, sub: Meeting with Adolph sic A. Berle. 14…
  • p. 173 …Memo for Record from Jacob D. Esterline, 24 Oct 60, sub: Meeting withDCI and Assistant Secretary…
  • p. 174 …Memo for DDP/EMB from Jacob D. Esterline, 6 Dec 60, sub: Four JMARC Problems for…
to respond to a Cuban charge that Guat6mla was being
used as a staging base for a planned invasion of Cuba
and that an OAS inspection was in order. Alejos's
response was that if Cuba would agree to a similar
inspection, Guatemala could be freely visted by the
OAS team. In what would be a continuing irritant
through the course of Project JMATE, Roberto Alejos
also expressed his displeasure with the failures of
the governments of Honduras and EI Salvador to break
relations with Fidel Castro's Cuba. 5/
Whether Esterline actually met with Ambassador
Carlos Alejos at this time is not known, but it appears
possible that such a meeting may have taken place.*
In any event a cable sent from Guatemala City to the
Guatemalan Embassy in Washington, D. C. for Roberto
Alejos dated 7 June 1960, addressed itself in part
to Raul Roa's (Cuba's Foreign Minister) request for
* One of Roberto Alejos's cards with the following
note (translated from Spanish) was found in Chief,
WH/4 records:
Carolio:
The bearer is a good friend, I pray
that you will assist him and make use of
his contacts in the US.

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 above. 179 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.