Victory has a hundred fathers; defeat is an orphan.

President John F. Kennedy

Cuba, with a rich history of exploitation and revolution, sits just 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Known for fruit and sugar cane harvesting, it had also become a playground for wealthy Americans with its year-round warm weather, entertainment, and gambling casinos. In April 1961, it became the focal point in the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Revolution After Revolution

Fulgencio Batista, an army sergeant of modest means, led the 1933 “Revolt of the Sergeants,” installed himself as Colonel, and assumed control of the military. Then, through intimidation and raw power, controlled the politics of the island nation and established business relationships with several United States companies that virtually controlled the economy. Next, he rolled out the red carpet for the American Mafia who built hotels and casinos providing gambling and prostitution for their guests. This was unsettling for the Cuban people who were becoming more and more exploited and impoverished.

The Florida Sheriffs Association, which had been established in 1893, held its annual convention in Miami in March, 1935. After receiving assurance from the Chief of the Constitutional Army of Cuba that a civil uprising was under control, the sheriffs visited Cuba for a vis-à-vis inspection to assess any potential threat to the citizens of Florida.

In the 1950s, Fidel Castro, a young Cuban lawyer and activist, was leading revolutionary activities and developing a following. On January 1, 1959, Castro and his band of revolutionaries came out of the Sierra Maestra mountains and seized control of the country effectively ousting Batista who fled to Miami. The following year, Castro established business relationships with the Soviet Union and seized property that was owned by U.S. businesses thus beginning the decent into Communism.

In April, 1960, CIA officers traveled to Miami to identify Cuban exiles for the purpose of invading Cuba to unseat Castro. Eventually, approximately 1,400 Cubans were recruited to form what would become Brigade 2506. Some were flown from the Opa-locka airport to Guatemala where a covert training base was established. Others were taken to tiny Useppa Island off-shore from Lee County, Florida. Useppa had been leased by the CIA to evaluate and train some of the insurgents. It lies in a speckling of islands north of Captiva Island that had been frequented by pirates in the 1700s. Isolated, with no bridges or airfields, it was the perfect place to quietly train. There was no doubt that Castro had planted spies within the Cuban community in Miami. The training camps were purposefully broken-up so the recruits would not know exactly how many soldiers were in their ranks.

The involvement of No Name Key, in Monroe County, is somewhat cloudy and lost to history. Located close to Big Pine Key, with no bridges, No Name Key had been used by Cuban revolutionaries to prepare for the Cuban Revolution of 1895 which, incidentally, led to the Spanish-American War of 1898. Local history has it that No Name Key was used before and after the Bay of Pigs invasion for training and afterwards for preparations to rescue and return captured Bay of Pigs prisoners that had been taken into custody by Castro.

Useppa Island Goes to War

The CIA took up residence on Useppa Island at a vacant resort hotel now known as the Collier Inn. A well-to-do Cuban businessman leased the island under his name. Two CIA agents, in rental cars, would pick up exile recruits at a White Castle restaurant parking lot on Brickell Avenue in Miami and a safe house in Ft. Lauderdale. They would then drive west on the old Tamiami Trail, through the Everglades, to a boat that would ferry the exiles to Useppa.

The Invasion

President-Elect John F. Kennedy was briefed by the CIA in the Fall of 1960. It was strictly a CIA operation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff apparently being left in the dark. It was believed that the Cuban people would rise up and side with the liberators. The plan was simple; maybe too simple. It involved three phases:

• Phase 1: Destroy Castro’s aircraft on the ground using Cuban pilots flying old World War II B-26 bombers painted to look like Cuban air force planes.
• Phase 2: Destroy any remaining combat planes from Castro’s fleet with a second bombing run.
• Phase 3: The invasion from sea along with a small number of paratroopers.

President Kennedy authorized the operation, subscribing to the idea that “secrets must be kept from inception to eternity,” insisting that it remain covert with no U.S. troops involved. The original plan called for the landing to take place near Trinidad, a populated area on the southern coast. Fearing this would draw too much attention, Kennedy changed the landing area to the thinly populated Bay of Pigs a month before the scheduled invasion. However, the largest swamp in Cuba was located north of the Bay making it impossible for the Brigade to withdraw and fade away if it became necessary. Also, this was one of Castro’s favorite fishing areas and the Cuban people there admired him. This would play a critical role in the failure of the operation.

On the morning of April 17th, Phase 3 began when Brigade 2506 stormed the shores thinking they were going home as liberators. The wily Castro had smelled blood. The Brigade was met by Cuban forces and strafing planes that would have been destroyed had Kennedy not called off the second air strike.

Backing up some, Kennedy authorized six fighter jets from a U.S. aircraft carrier to provide coverage for the Brigades’ aircraft that were to drop supplies for the ground troops. Someone got the memo wrong, and the jets were launched too late to help. This resulted in the deaths of four CIA contract pilots; all former U.S. military pilots.

Over the next 24 hours, Castro ordered about 20,000 troops to advance to the beach. The invasion was crushed and almost 1,200 members of Brigade 2506 surrendered with more than 100 killed. The Brigade’s members remained in Castro’s jails for 20 months as the U.S. negotiated a deal with Castro. The members were eventually released for $53,000,000.00 worth of baby food, medicine, and equipment.

What Went Wrong

No one thought about the Coral Reefs at the Bay of Pigs that caused weapons and equipment to be lost when vessels were overturned. No consideration was given to the intelligence, from allied countries, that Castro was thoroughly engaged and had the support of most of the people. Before the landing, Castro gathered up about 200,000 people, that he considered a threat, and put them in concentration camps. These were the very people that were supposed to flood into the area in support of the Brigade when it landed.

According to Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr. the CIA Inspector General who was later tasked with conducting an internal investigation of the debacle, a very great portion of the expertise in the agency was excluded. The CIA tried to do something inexpensively they didn’t want to do the hard way.  

The Aftermath

President Kennedy stepped up and owned the failure in true Harry Truman “The buck stops here” fashion. However, he was seen as a weak, rookie president who was an outsider in Washington politics.

Thousands of miles away, sitting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was watching carefully and thinking of ways he could punch a hole in the U.S. perimeter. That plan came to fruition the following year when he began placing nuclear missiles in the puppet state of Cuba and brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

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