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. 89 …strictly enforce the Pan American instruments governing terri- torial asylum. Whenever these have been overlooked or…
TOP Sl-RET
invasion, the more training the Castro militia was
going to have and the more difficult it would be for
the Brigade to overcome them.
Ydigoras claimed that there was extensive anti-
Castro sentiment throughout Cuba and that if the attack
took place soon, this force could be applied in support
of the invasion. Continuing he noted that since Kennedy
had said that he was opposed to Castro, the United
States should actively support the anti-Castro move-
ment at this time. By so doing, the standing of the
US in the eyes of Latin America would be greatly enhanced
and Kennedy would be looked on as a savior who kept
his promises. Ydigoras closed the letter by saying
that if the attack were postponed much longer, the
people of Cuba would lose faith that anything could
be done, the insurrectionists in-the Escambray would
be defeated, and other governments in Latin America
would be even more fearful and subject to takeover by
the leftists.
Copies of this letter dated 28 February apparently
hit the Department of State like a lead balloon. In
a chance meeting with Ydigoras,[ [was told

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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.