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…
10 July, Guatemala informed the Director that British
military maneuvers were being planned for Belize
(British Honduras); and Ydigoras had informedD
I that the GOG would have to send troops and
------
planes to the border in order to maintain the prestige
of his country if the maneuvers were held. GOG requested
that c==Jtry to get Washington to intervene with the
British to call off the exercise. 78a/* Whatever
action was taken, the JMATE project personnel were
not concerned with the Belize issue again until 14 Feb-
ruary 1961 when Ydigoras requested that Chief, JMATE
and D meet with him to discuss the subject.
He gavelo land Chief, JMATE the--------
original of a paper on Belize which "he requested be
given to appropriate authorities within the Department
of State" -\- a rather interesting method for trans-
mitting material to the Department when the US had an
Ambassador in Guatemala City! Ydigoras emphasized that
* Whether the Agency actually approached State at this
time has not been investigated for purposes of this his-
tory: There is no question, however, that the Depart-
ment was well aware of the dispute between the GOG and
Britain over Belize.
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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.