“MAR 2, 1961: The CIA’s Supplement to the Current Intelligence Digest is cautiously optimistic regarding the opposition to Castro in Cuba: The fact that at least some of these outbreaks of skirmishes between Cuban guerrilla bands and government forces involve personnel who defected from the armed forces or other government entities is indicative of a […]
3/1/1961
“MAR 1-3, 1961: A bomb explodes in the Nobel Academy in the Vibora district [in Cuba], wounding seven students and a professor. In Matanzas a plane drops thousands of anti-Castro pamphlets over the city. In Santa Ana, Cidra, 17 kilometers from Matanzas, a plane drops live phosphorous over cane fields, hitting a house on the […]
2/24/1961
“FEB 24, 1961: A conservative newspaper, El Siglo of Bogotá, Colombia, publishes testimony of a South American diplomat who has witnessed a parachute training session, in preparation for a landing in Cuba, 350 kilometers from Guatemala City. The article states that the exercises were conducted using U.S. transport planes and that another camp existed on […]
2/23/1961
“23.02.61 The Department of Commerce amended the U.S. Export Regulations, providing that no exports to Cuba could be made under a general license…” [Pro Embargo] “John F. Kennedy (D). Timeline,” Cuba versus Blockade: Cuban People’s website, 2007 […]
2/20/1961
“FEB 20-MAR 1, 1961: The U.S. carries out maneuvers in the Caribbean as a military demonstration for high Latin American military officials. The operation begins at the Ramey airbase in Puerto Rico and is attended by 60 members of Latin American armed forces and five delegates of the Interamerican Defense Board. H. H. Fischer, president […]
2/19/1961
“Two days later [February 19, 1961] Richard Bissell [CIA Deputy Director for Plans] responds to the [Thomas] Mann [Assistant Secretary for Inter-American affairs] argument with a comprehensive opinion paper arguing for the invasion. He addresses the ‘disposal’ problem if the mission is aborted: Brigade ‘members will be angry, disillusioned and aggressive with the inevitable result […]
2/18/1961
“FEB 18, 1961: McGeorge Bundy [United States National Security Adviser] passes on both the [Richard] Bissell [CIA Director] and the [Thomas] Mann [Assistant Secretary] position papers to the President. ‘Bissell and Mann are the real antagonists at the staff level,’ Bundy writes in a cover memo. ‘Since I think you lean toward Mann’s view, I […]
2/17/1961
“FEB 17, 1961: President [John F.]Kennedy meets with representatives from the State Department, CIA, and Joint Chiefs of Staff, and following a discussion of planning and preparations for the invasion indicates that he would be in favor of a more moderate approach to the problem such as mass infiltration. The President urges an examination of […]
2/15/1961
“MID-FEBRUARY 1961: Tony Verona, Antonio Maceo, and another member of the Frente [the Front] arrive in the training camp in Guatemala. Varona, the coordinator and principal official of the Frente speaks to the Brigade and says that the Brigade headquarters cannot make decisions without first consulting the civilian structure in Miami. The following day, Verona […]
2/14/1961
“FEB 14, 1961: Adolph Berle [Head of an Interdepartmental Task Force] writes a memo to Secretary [of State, Dean] Rusk on a decision-making meeting on the Cuba operation. ‘We arranged leadership for the camps,’ he states. He also highlights a CIA paper on the dangers of aborting the operation. ‘It suggests that dismantling the Cuban […]