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. 71 …formalized (16 November 1960), then J. C. King, Chief, Western Hemisphere Division, prepared a memorandum for…
  • p. 76 …C. King, "J. C., this kind of ... " "No, no," he said. "I don't think I…
  • p. 88 …however, was prepared by Colonel J. C. King, Chief, WH Division, not by Thomas A. Parrott…
  • p. 89 …King must have ignored Esterline's warning; but the DCI failed to support King's Plan…
  • p. 117 …of State of the trip and Col. King had informed Thomas Mann. 9/*. In a meeting…
  • p. 120 …to Chief, WH Division (Col. J. C. King) that Robertson be brought into the JMARC program…
  • p. 138 …discuss Project JMATE with President Somoza. Col. King, in speaking of Whelan r~marked as follows…
  • p. 160 …2. Memo for DCI from J. C. King, 29 Feb 60, sub: What We Are Doing…
  • p. 163 …35. Memo for DCI from J. C. King, 21 Oct 60, sub: Observations on Briefing of…
  • p. 167 …TRAV. Memo for DDP from J. C. King, 28 Oct 60, sub: Employment of U.S…
  • p. 169 …10 Jan 61. MR from J. C. King, 11 Jan 61, sub: Meeting to Discuss Proposed…
  • p. 173 …Irving G. CADICK (P) from J. C. King, 2 Dec 60, sub: Letter of Instruction. Ibid…
  • p. 175 …IN 1797). 42. Memo from J. C. King for DCI, 19 Jan 61, sub: Visit of…
were about to be established. But unlike the Nicaraguan
situation where ~was better able to do this, such
isolation was more theoretical than practical. 7/
Davis did tell Roberto Alejos that matters per-
taining to the training sites for the anti-Castro
Cubans would henceforth be discussed with Juan Paula
Argeo. Paula was a member of the FRD and it had been
agreed between the head of the WH/4 political section,
Gerald (Gerry) Droller, and the FRD that Paula would
work out details of reimbursing Alejos during the
course of this initial survey trip.* The funds were
ostensibly coming from the FRD through Paula. In the
course of arriving at decisions on the financing and
the funding of the training, it was pointed out that
Droller should urge the FRD leadership to increase
its own fund raising program. 8/
While on the one hand the Agency was concerned
with masking the funding for the FRD from the Cubans,
it was at the same time concerned with disguising
* DrQller was known to the Cubans as Frank Bender --
a cover identity that wasn't blown until the publica-
tion of Arthur Schlesinger's A Thousand Days in 1964.
Juan Paula was, in fact, Manuel F. Goudie.

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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.