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…
affair then became a comedy of near misses. It was
anticipated that Roberto Alejos would be contacted
prior to the meeting with Ydigoras to get the Presi-
dent's opinion on signing the proposed secret agree-
ment. Unfortunately, however, Alejos was arriving
in Washington about the time that Esterline was
scheduled to land in Guatemala.*
With Esterline in Guatemala and Alejos in the
United States, Esterline sent an OPIM cable to the
Director requesting that Dick Drain, Chief of Opera-
tions, WH/4, attempt to contact Alejos to discuss
the proposed secret agreement regarding the request
by the government of Guatemala for US Special Forces
trainers. But, unfortunately, Mr. Alejos, instead of
being in Washington as anticipated, was somewhere in
New York; and there was no possibility of getting his,
advice and guidance prior to the time that Esterline
had his meeting with Ydigoras. 66/ In any event,
the results of a two hour meeting that Dand Esterline
* Al.ejos was coming to the United States at this time
as a member of the Guatemalan coffee group -- thanks
to the Agency's efforts on his behalf!
- 63/
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About this file

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.