{"id":2335,"date":"1961-04-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1961-04-15T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/cms\/?p=2335"},"modified":"1961-04-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1961-04-15T00:00:00","slug":"2344151961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/04\/15\/2344151961\/","title":{"rendered":"4\/15\/1961"},"content":{"rendered":"

“In early 1961 we [CIA training agents] knew this invasion was coming. We were out of the loop in Ecuador, so we didn\u2019t know exactly when, but we knew it was starting on April 15, a Saturday, when two B-26 light bombers, these are World War II vintage twin-engine light bombers, with the insignias of the Cuban air force, landed in Florida, claiming to be defectors. One landed in Key West and one landed in Miami. They had carried out raids on Cuban air bases. The fact was they were part of the Cuban exile air force trained by the CIA in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, with the full cooperation of the Somoza dictatorship at the time. The base at Puerto Cabeza was given the code name Happy Valley. The Agency gave the Cuban exiles about seventeen B-26s and some C-54s, the military version of the DC-4, a twin-engine propeller plane. By April 15, when this raid took place, the invasion force was leaving for the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. They had about six ships and some landing craft. The force was supposed to wipe out [Fidel] Castro\u2019s air force, so that one of the essential conditions for success could be achieved, that is, air superiority over the beach. The plan was to take a beachhead at the Bay of Pigs and hold it. There was a small airstrip there. They would have to hold it for seventy-two hours and then the CIA would fly in the civilian political leadership would come in and declare themselves a government in arms and would then request assistance from the U.S. The Marines were all ready to come ashore. They were on ships just across the horizon to the south of the Bay of Pigs.\u201d [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Philip Agee, \u201cA Century of War and Bad Faith; Cuba History, and the CIA,\u201d Prevailing Winds Magazine, March 9, 1994, Pages 27-28<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“In early 1961 we [CIA training agents] knew this invasion was coming. We were out of the loop in Ecuador, so we didn\u2019t know exactly when, but we knew it was starting on April 15, a Saturday, when two B-26 light bombers, these are World War II vintage twin-engine light bombers, with the insignias of […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from 4\/15\/1961<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-2335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quotes","tag-quotes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2531,"url":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/04\/16\/2354161961\/","url_meta":{"origin":2335,"position":0},"title":"4\/16\/1961","author":"AmarkData","date":"April 16, 1961","format":false,"excerpt":"\"As it happened, the U-2 reconnaissance on the Sunday [April 16, 1961], the day after that raid, showed that they had not wiped out the Cuban air force. [Fidel] Castro still had some thing like three T-33 trainers with machine guns and four C-Furies, British-built, single-engine fighter-bombers, and one B-26\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "quotes"","block_context":{"text":"quotes","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/category\/quotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2532,"url":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/04\/01\/233411961\/","url_meta":{"origin":2335,"position":1},"title":"4\/1\/1961","author":"AmarkData","date":"April 1, 1961","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201dSo beginning the first of April [1961] they [Cuban revolutionary government] began rounding up thousands of people all over the island who they thought might just show support for the invasion when it did come. On the very day of the invasion, April 17, they arrested something like 35,000 people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "quotes"","block_context":{"text":"quotes","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/category\/quotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2104,"url":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/01\/11\/1641111961\/","url_meta":{"origin":2335,"position":2},"title":"1\/11\/1961","author":"AmarkData","date":"January 11, 1961","format":false,"excerpt":"\"JAN 11, 1961: Ambassador [Whiting] Willauer representing the State Department and Tracy Barnes of CIA discuss with representatives of the Joint Staff the overall problem of effecting the overthrow of Castro. This is the first time the JCS [Joint Chiefs of Staff] at the working level is informed of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "quotes"","block_context":{"text":"quotes","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/category\/quotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2098,"url":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/01\/04\/158141961\/","url_meta":{"origin":2335,"position":3},"title":"1\/4\/1961","author":"AmarkData","date":"January 4, 1961","format":false,"excerpt":"\"JAN 4, 1961: Senior CIA officials prepare a memorandum \u2018to outline the status of preparations for the conduct of amphibious\/airborne and tactical air operations against the Government of Cuba and to set forth certain requirements for policy decisions which must be reached and implemented if these operations are to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "quotes"","block_context":{"text":"quotes","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/category\/quotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2555,"url":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/03\/16\/2263161961\/","url_meta":{"origin":2335,"position":4},"title":"3\/16\/1961","author":"AmarkData","date":"March 16, 1961","format":false,"excerpt":"\"MAR 16, 1961: At 4:15 p.m., [Director of CIA, Allen] Dulles and [Deputy Director of Plans, Richard] Bissell present President [John F.] Kennedy with three alternative plans for the Cuban operation. His national security adviser reports that the CIA \u2018has done a remarkable job of reframing the landing plan so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "quotes"","block_context":{"text":"quotes","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/category\/quotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2121,"url":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/1961\/01\/28\/1811281961\/","url_meta":{"origin":2335,"position":5},"title":"1\/28\/1961","author":"AmarkData","date":"January 28, 1961","format":false,"excerpt":"\"JAN 28, 1961: [President John F.] Kennedy receives his first briefing as President on the Cuban operation in a meeting attended by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy, CIA Director [Allen W.] Dulles, General [Lyman] Lemnitzer, Chairman\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "quotes"","block_context":{"text":"quotes","link":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/category\/quotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.amarkfoundation.org\/cubanembargo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}