PLAYA GIRON

PLAYA GIRON (BAY OF PIGS)

Playa Girón, located in the Bay of Pigs, in the southern part of the Cuban province of Matanzas, was the main landing site of the mercenary forces trained by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on 17 April 1961, and the place where they were defeated 68 hours later.

The invasion plan had been approved by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who on 17 March 1960 ordered the recruitment of mercenaries of Cuban origin. Each was offered 225 dollars monthly, plus 50 more for the first-born child and 25 for the rest. In total, 4,4 millions dollars were initially destined for this purpose, but this figure was later increased multifold. Thirteen training camps were set up, disseminated through Guatemala, Nicaragua, United States and U.S. military bases in Puerto Rico and the Panama Canal Zone.

Ten days after the elections, on 18 November 1960, the CIA informed President-elect John F. Kennedy the details of the plan and he gave his consent to continue the preparations.

On 15 April 1961, while the mercenary ships were sailing to Cuba escorted by warships of the U.S. Navy, eight B-26 bombers, with the insignia of the Cuban airforce painted on them, bombed two airforce bases and a civilian airport. On the 16^th, during the burial of the victims of this attack, the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution was proclaimed and the combat alert was decreed for the whole country. The Day of the Militia Fighter is annually celebrated on this date.

At 01:30 hours of the 17^th the landing of the so-called Brigade 2506 began. This brigade had characteristics similar to the amphibious units of the U.S. armed forces and consisted of 1,500 heavily armed men, including tanks and field artillery. The mercenary airforce comprised 30 aircraft and 150 men. Paratroopers were also dropped on the accesses to the beachhead.

The Cuban troops were made up of combatants of the Rebel Army and the National Revolutionary Police, but the bulk of this force were volunteer militiamen with little or no combat experience. The tank and artillery soldiers, in particular, had received the armament only a few weeks before.

These forces, personally led by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, did not give the enemy a minute of truce and at 17:30 hours of 19 April, the invasion had been totally defeated, although at a very high cost for the revolutionary fighters and the civilian population, amounting to 176 dead, 300 wounded and 50 disabled.

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