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…
reasons alone. The present democratic
and constitutional government of Guate-
mala is duty-bound to defend itself from
extracontinental forces based on Cuba,
which are determined to overthrow it by
force. Nobody can deny Guatemala the
immemorial right to self-defense, recog-
nized as such by the Charter of the
Organization of American States and the
Charter of the United Nations. 76/
The training facilities in Guatemala also had
other visitors during the early part of 1961 -- the
leaders of the FRD, Tony Varona, Antonio Maceo, and
Manuel Artime. The FRD visit was precipitated in
large part because of charges that were filtering
back to Miami that the Batistiano .factions were trying
to penetrate "-- or perhaps had even captured -- the
leadership in the training camps at JMTRAV and JMADD.
In mid-February 1961, the FRD leaders were moved to
Guatemala by black flight; and they were met by Roberto
Alejos, who played host for a s~ssion at which Ydigoras
was ip attendance. Prior to the meeting Ydigoras had
indicated to 1 1 and to Jake Esterline who
was in Guatemala, that "he [Ydigoras] will handle
meeting any way Agency desires, i.e., stressing need
for Cuban unity, need to keep military leadership
apolitical based on ability, etc." 77/

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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.