The Story Of The Invasion Of Cuba At The Bay Of Pigs?

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The story of the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs is one of overconfidence, and lack of thinking. The blame for the failure of the operation falls directly on the Central Intelligence Agency and a new president. The invasion caused a rise in tension between the two great superpowers and 34 years after the event, the person that the invasion meant to overthrow, Fidel Castro, is still in power. The Bay of Pigs Invasion was on April 17th in the year of 1961, was an attempt by the US government to take Fidel Castro, new communist leader of Cuba, out of power in order to install a non-communist government that favored the US’s practices. This attempt failed and the United States involvement was revealed shortly after. This lead to internal accusations, loss of credibility towards the United States, and public blame of the CIA.
On January 1, 1959, Cuban dictator Fulgencio was overthrown.(Goode, Stephen 75). Fidel Castro overthrew the old government and took over as Cuba’s ruler. During the weeks ahead, Castro found a new government and on February 16, he was officially declared ruler of Cuba (Finkelstein, Norman H. 127). The United States did not mind this new regime because the old ruler was running an unfair, corrupt, and unpopular government. Soon after everything was set, Castro and his men made a quick move to change their political course. These events worried the United States and there were concerns about Castro becoming too powerful. One reason was the friendship Castro had with the Soviet Union. Cuba was receiving armed forces to expand and improve its army. Cuba received 30,000 tons of arms a year, which included Soviet JS-2 51-ton tanks, SU-100 assault guns, T-34 35-ton tanks, 76-mm field guns, 85-mm field guns, and 122-...

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... The troops were killed at sea or never made it in time. After the Army surrendered, 1,180 soldiers were captured and taken as prisoners to Havanna (Fursenko, Aleksandr, and Timothy Naftali 95). Almost all of the captured exiles told Castro about the connection with the CIA and told him the US had planned this invasion. When the United States found out that Castro has taken the soldiers as prisoners they tried to negotiate a trade. Castro’s men were in need of medical supplies and assistance; so the United States gave them what they needed in return of the prisoners freedom. Two days after the invasion Castro spoke in an interview and said the following, “The invaders have been annihilated. The Revolution has emerged victorious. It destroyed in less than seventy-two hours the army organized during many months by the imperialist government of the United States”.

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