Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs)

Even though this event happened long before most of my readers were born, I think most have heard of The Bay of Pigs as a significant event if you have read much of anything about Cuba/US relations. It happened in 1961. Kennedy had just been inaugurated president a mere 3 months prior to the invasion which had been planned by Eisenhower but very little information had been passed on to Kennedy. Preparation was underway. The U.S. was training mercenaries in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and in Florida. Meanwhile Cuba had launched an intensive literacy campaign to teach the largely illiterate population to read.

The U.S. launched the invasion on April 15 but in an attempt to portray it as a Cuban invasion against the new Castro government, there were no Americans among the invaders and the planes sent to bomb airports and the Cuban Air Force were painted with Cuban Air Force insignias. That way the U.S. could say, 'we didn't do it.' The idea was that the local Cubans would welcome the invasion and rise up against the new government but so far they had been taught to read, had medical attention and everyone had a place to live.  So the Cuban people did rise up against THE INVADERS who came to 'liberate' them.

So The Bay of Pigs started the Kennedy presidency with a complete failure which the U.S. wasn't used to however it was going to get used to tragic loss over the years with Vietnam still on the horizon. It also instilled a vendetta between the Kennedy brothers and the Castro brothers leaving many to believe that Castro was responsible for the assassination of JFK who had through the CIA made several attempts to assassinate Castro.

Castro has been in control of Cuba for over 50 years. Some call it Communism, Fidel calls it Socialism but I see it more as Castroism. He has done many good things for the citizens but I think they are more than ready to run their own country with a free election and a democratic system.  If he let that happen I think he would still be seen as a hero to his people but there is a point in time when he loses that possibility. Only time will tell how the future of Cuba plays out.