Bay of Pigs Invasion
Ever since the day Fidel Castro took over Cuba, there have been attempts to remove him from power. These attempts coming mainly from when Eisenhower and Kennedy were in office. Among these attempts included an attempt to poison him and the U.S government even tried to hire the mafia to kill him (Castañeda 264). The closest operation that came to forcing him out of power was an invasion that came to be known as “The Bay of Pigs”. The Bay of Pigs invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by Cuban exiles and the US government to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was to take place on April 17, 1961 by an estimated 1,400 Cubans that were trained by the CIA (). Although the Cuban exiles were the ones who came up with the idea to invade and attempt to force Fidel Castro out of power, it soon became known as a United States government operation because it was financed by the U.S (). The general idea of the plan was for the Cubans to invade through the Bay of Pigs, which is located in the southern part of Cuba, and work their way towards Havana, while the United States government provided air support. The job of the United States Air Force in the invasion was to completely wipe out the small government air base in Cuba with B-26 bombers (Higgins 110). The United States painted the B-26 bombers to look like Cuban military planes so it would look like Castro’s own men turned against him.
The two participants in this invasion were a large group of Cuban exiles and the Unites states government (mostly the CIA). The Cuban exiles wanted to do this invasion because of what Fidel Castro had done on the island. The U.S government had many reasons why they wanted to participate in the invasion. The most important was to stop the idea of communism to reach the United States. In other words, the U.S wanted to start a counterrevolution where the government of democracy would be once again used in Cuba and eventually eliminate communism everywhere ().
The two participants in this invasion were a large group of Cuban exiles and the Unites states government (mostly the CIA). The Cuban exiles wanted to do this invasion because of what Fidel Castro had done on the island. The U.S government had many reasons why they wanted to participate in the invasion. The most important was to stop the idea of communism to reach the United States. In other words, the U.S wanted to start a counterrevolution where the government of democracy would be once again used in Cuba and eventually eliminate communism everywhere ().