Today is April 19th in 2024 and today Cuba is celebrating the 63rd Anniversary of its victory over the Miami/US military forces at what history calls The Bay of Pigs and Cuba calls Giron.
The Bay of Pigs U. S. military attack to overthrow Revolutionary rule in Cuba took place in mid-April of 1961, a little more than two years after the Cuban Revolution overthrew the Batista dictatorship that was powerfully ssupported by the United States and the Mafia. Now in mid-April of 2024 the facts still remain wildly distorted by some, primarily because everything is reported in favor of the Cuban counter revolutionaries who quickly fled to nearby Miami in January of 1959 after the overthrow of Dictator Batista -- and then Miami quickly became the home for rich and politically powerful Little Havana Cubans in Miami who have essentially dictated U. S. policies against Cuba since 1959. So, in mid-April of 2024 -- the month Cuba is celebrating the 63-year anniversary of its Bay of Pigs victory -- let us take a look at what really happened.
The Miami-US Bay of Pigs military attack on Cuba began on April 15th, 1961. The first objective was to use U. S. bombers to destroy Cuba's three military airfields, including Camp Colombia on the edge of Havana.
It so happened that Fidel Castro and Celia Sanchez -- the two prime Cuban decision-makes on April 15th in 1961 -- were awakened by the bombing at Celia's apartment in Havana.
Notable U. S. historians in April of 1961 were key advisors in the White House to President John Kennedy and they have since in books confirmed that President Kennedy was told that "the moment Fidel Castro hears or feels the bombs falling on Havana, he will race to his getaway airplane to flee Cuba."
Indeed, after being awakened in the early hours of April 15th in 1961, Fidel Castro heard the bombs falling on Havana's Camp Colombia. But, unlike Batista, he never had a getaway airplane. So, he hurriedly got dressed and raced in a chauffered car to the Bay of Pigs, which Cuba called Playa Giron...which was the beach where Celia Sanchez had told Fidel the U. S. land attack would begin, and which she had indeed anticipated. How did she know, or guess, that? Celia Sanchez -- the petite doctor's daughter who was Fidel's top confidant and advisor before, during, and after the Revolution -- had cultivated key supply contacts with top political & military leaders in Caracas as well as with anti-Batista Cubans in Miami and as well as one key officer at the huge Fort Benning Military Base in Columbus, Georgia. So, the Bay of Pigs/Playa Giron site was much more than a guess for Celia Sanchez; it was her calculated prediction.
Exiting his tank at the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Casstro.
A part of history, Fidel Castro at the Bay of Pigs.
So, while the U. S. bombers were bombing Cuba's three military air bases before daylight on April 15, 1961, Fidel Castro was driving hell-bent south of Havana towards the Bay of Pigs, meeting along the way with Cuban soldiers. Celia Sanchez stayed back in Havana at what was called Point One so she could try to stay in radio contact with Fidel and other key military leaders. Three days prior to April 15th in 1961 Celia, the key decision-maker, had directed that old Batista-era airplanes that needed spare parts would be parked out in the open at the three airports and they could be allowed to be bombed into oblivion. But, knowing that Cuba had only 8 usable warplanes and ten skilled pilots, back on April 12th in 1961 Celia had ordered that those 8 airplanes and those ten pilots were to be hidden under trees, canopies, etc., and kept ready till or IF needed. That decision turned out to be crucial. The Miami-US forces that attacked Cuba had help in their training and their launching from two key US-friendly dictators -- Trujillo in the Dominican Republic and Somoza in Nicaragua. US warplanes and ships left from Nicaraguan airports and ports to attack Cuba, and famously Somoza stood on the deck of one of the docks to tell the attackers on U. S. warships "to bring me back some hairs from Fidel's beard." That, of course, remains an historic and well-know quotation tied to the April-1961 Bay of Pigs attack.
The three Cuban military airbases targeted by US bombers.
The airplanes at the three Cuban airbases were destroyed, but the 8 best Cuban warplanes that Celia Sanchez had ordered to be hidden were saved. It was those usable planes that famously and successfully attacked the U. S. supply ships at the Bay of Pigs.
Indeed, the three Cuban military airfields were still smoldering from the attacks by the U. S. warplanes while the Cuban warplanes that Celia Sanchez had safely hidden were successfully attacking U. S. warships supplying the Miami-US soldiers as they began their land attack on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
Famously, it was the Miami-based/Cuban-led Brigade 2506 that led the ground attack on Cuba at the Bay of Pigs. But Brigade 2506 was quickly defeated and captured because Celia Sanchez's warplanes had pounded the U. S. supply ships and because Fidel Castro, the frontline leader at the Bay of Pigs, had more revolutionay soldiers-rebels than he actually needed.
Yes, history registers two particularly true facts regarding the Bay of Pigs: {1} That U. S. President Kennedy was told that Fidel would race to his getaway airplane when he heard the U. S. bombers started bombing Havana, and {2} that instead Fidel raced to a car and bolted hell-bent to the Bay of Pigs where Celia Sanchez had advised him that the U.S./Miami ground attack would start. During the attack Fidel stayed in or close to a tank so he could try to stay in radio contact with his commanders...and with Celia Sanchez!!
To many unbiased historians Fidel Castro's astounding victory at the Bay of Pigs in April of 1961 was just as astounding as his Cuban Revolutionary victory over Batista in January of 1959.
In April of 2024 the current leader of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel, who was born in 1960, posted this salute to Fidel Castro on X-Twitter on April 17th-2024 to commenorate the Bay of Pigs victory in April of 1961. The battle will forever remain sacred to Revolutionary Cuba.
The historic photos above include some of the US/Brigade 2506 prisoners being guarded by Cuban rebels after the Bay of Pigs attack. They were not shot but later they actually got a verbal scolding from...Fidel Casstro. Later, the Brigade 2506 prisoners were sold back to the U. S. in exchange for about $55 million that was paid mostly in boxes of Gerbers Baby Food, which Celia Sanchez demanded!!
This was a Cuban rebel interviewing a Bay of Pigs prisoner. This was the Brigade Assault 2506 banner that led the Miami-US Bay of Pigs attack that was designed to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba in mid-April of 1961.
Since mid-April of 1961, despite the dreadful and humilating defeat for the Miami 2506 Cubans at the Bay of Pigs, the Brigade Assault 2506 banner still in April of 2024 remains a precious symbol for Miami's Cubans. Therefore famous politicians with presidential ambitions are obligated to visit Little Havana in Miami and pay omage to the still-cherished and still-influential Brigade Assault 2506 banner as well as to the rich and politically powerful counter revolutionary Cubans in Miami that U. S. politicians still covet for their votes and their cash.
To understand anything about the Bay of Pigs attack on Cuba in April of 1961, one must first comprehend the US-backed/Mafia-backed Cuban dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in the 1950s, and why & how it was overthrown by Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution in January of 1959. But immediately, starting in January of 1959, Miami-based Cubans and the United States began massive efforts to overthrow Revolutionary Cuba -- including an historic number of assassination attemps against Fidel Castro but also countless terrorist attacks on the nearby island and other such efforts to quickly end the Revolutionary Rule in Cuba even before such things as the Bay of Pigs military attack in 1961 and the still-viable Embargo/Blockade that began in 1962, etc., etc.
Understand that prior to the Bay of Pigs air-sea-land military attack on Cuba in April of 1961 that the U. S., "beginning in January of 1960," had already begun trying to destroy Revolutionary Cuba by doing such things such as flying "CIA planes from Florida, some with American pilots, to raid Cuban fields with napalm-type bombs to burn sugar cane, as part of an attempt to bring about the overthrow of the Cuban government." Yes, the photo and the caption shown about is very true but surely not usually mentioned by the Miami or U. S. media. But, perhaps the most distorted fact regarding all U.S.-Cuba Relations concern the three historic photos depicted below, so let's discuss why that is so!!
The three photos above were taken on April 17 of 1959, barely three months after the Cuban Revolution had defeated the vile Batista dictatorship in Cuba. It was, of course, at a time when Fidel Castro was massively needed in Cuba to continue the early changes in Revolutionary Cuba, but Celia Sanchez -- the one person with massive influence on Fidel -- \ persuaded him to fly to the United States. She had worked tirelessly in phone calls with the U. S. State Department and with the Association of U. S. Newspaper Editors to get permission for Fidel to be allowed to fly to the U. S. so he could meet with President Eisenhower to tell him how Fidel planned to reshape Cuba after the overthrow of the U.S.-friendly Batista. Celia believed that the new Cuba would need friendly relations with the United States. So Fidel planned to tell President Eisenhower that he would have a democratic election for President {that the U. S. could closely monitor} by November of 1959 and that neither he, his brother Raul, Che, nor Camilo Cienfuegos would be a part of the new government. Thus...in April of 1959 Celia and Fidel flew to the United States and spent an amazing 12 days in the U. S. at a time when Fidel was wildly popular in Cuba and in the United States. But, of course, history is aware that Celia was lied to regarding the premise of the trip. Instead of being allowed to meet President Eisenhower, Fidel was shamefully met by U. S. Vice President Richard Nixon. And instead of letting Fidel speak, Nixon surprised Fidel by saying, "I will make this short. You wasted your trip. You will be overturned in short order, maybe within three weeks." In the bottom photo below, you can see that the surprised but not intimidated Fidel leaned back and grinned, while Nixon smiled triumphedly at the photographers.
But, too, this is an historically photo shown above. Celia Sanchez, infuriated about being lied to by Nixon and the U. S. government, flew back to Cuba with Fidel Castro after the amazing 12-day trip to the U. S. in April of 1959. Although it has been lied about roundly in the U. S., it is true that, as Cuba's leader, Fidel Castro never failed to abide with what Celia Sanchez told him to do, and upon their return to Cuba in April of 1959 she told him: "From this day forward, we will fight to the death to make Richard Nixon a lear!"
Those who, since the 1950s, have lied about the fact that Celia Sanchez was the top decision-maker in Cuba, also of course lie about the historic photo above. It was taken at the rebel hideout high in the Sierra Maestra Mountains when the two leaders of the revolution were worried about U. S. bombers searching for the camp. Celia Sanchez was writing down military plans for the next day while she held a candle light for Fidel Castro to read something. Celia well knew that whatever she was planning for the rebels the next day would be SUPPORTED 100% by Fidel.
Also, the historic Lee Lockwood photo shown above has been lied about for decades. It was taken in Revolutionary Cuba one morning when Fidel had his slippers off and leisurely rested in his rocking chair on the porch while the tireless Celia was writing down some rules and laws, which she well knew Fidel would later support 100%. This is how Celia Sanchez with other legendary female fighters such as Vilma Espin and Haydee Santamaria crafted vital rules and laws for Revolutionary Cuba -- such as the Federation of Cuban Women, the block-by-block Committees to Defend the Revolution, free educations through college for all Cubans, and free food daily when needed, etc., etc. So...study the photo above and don't lie about it.
The historic photo and caption shown above was taken during the revolutionary war. On the left Clodomira Acosta, a famous Mountain Messinger, had just bravely made it through Batista lines controlled by Batista soldiers to deliver vital messages to rebel leader Celia Sanchez, who is shown standing in the doorway of the shack. On her next such mission, as the caption says, Clodomira Acosta was captured by Batista soldiers and brutally murdered.
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The snapshots of Celia Sanchez shown above are images of the person that Fidel Castro always correctly said "easily was and is the most important person in the Cuban Revolution and in Revolutionary Cuba." She was a frontline guerrilla fighter, she was by far the most vital recruiter of vital rebels and supplies, she was the most important decision-maker during the revolution and afterward, etc., etc. For sure, the victory of the Cuban Revolution and the loingevity of Revolutionary Cuba is largely due to Celia Sancez...and, of course, also due to the fact that Fidel Castro supported everything she said and planned 100%.
Vilma Espin, Celia Sanchez, and Haydee Santamaria!!
On January 11th in 1980 Celia Sanchez died of cancer at age 59. She was the greatest Rebel and the greatest Decison-Maker in the Cuban Revolution and in Revolutionary Cuba.
Because of her uniqueness, it is appropriate that Celia Sanchez is credited with the two quotations that best define both the Cuban Revolution and Revolutionary Cuba. Those two quotations are shown above. You can enlarge and study them if you desire to do so.
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