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…
TOP/RET
D. guid Pro Quos
Alejos's displays of temper may have had a less
than subtle influence on subsequent negotiations with
the Agency's representatives in Guatemala. Shortly
after the foregoing incident, Chief, WH/4 (Jake Ester-
line) requested authority to obligate $150,000 for
compensation to property owners in the area of the
Retalhuleu air base for damages resulting from reno-
vation of the airfield. Seventeen kilometers of road-
way were reportedly "damaged considerably" when used as
an access road to Roberto Alejos's finca, and repair
on the seventeen kilometers was set at $100,000 --
plus an additional $50,000 to pay for rock taken from
the river on property owned by one Senor Ralda on 5
acres of his property. 29/ Following Headquarters
authorization of the payments to Alejos and Ralda,
[went to Headquarters with a cable on
~------~
4 Nov 1960 reading:
1. Payment of the $50,000 has to be
made to Ralda immediately upon prepara-
tion and delivery of the local legal
documents, as this Alejos understanding,
and he had made the commitment to Ralda.
2. Operational activities and liaison
with high Guat government officials would
have been seriously affected, and the

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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.