On April 17, 1961, some 1,500 Cuban exiles invaded their homeland in a brave attempt to reclaim their country from its new communist-leaningleader, Fidel Castro.

President John F. Kennedy’s short administration and had far-reaching reverberations still felt today in South Florida and across Latin America.

COMPILED BY LUISA YANEZ, DESIGN BY ANA LENSE LARRAURI, PHOTOS BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF, JFK LIBRARY, BAY OF PIGS MUSEUM, TONY GARCIA, ARTURO COBO, WIRE SERVICES AND BRIGADE FAMILIES, LITHOGRAPH BY JEFF ROSS

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BY THENUMBERS

1,500took part

in the invasion

200had been soldiers in Batista’s army

1,204captured

104total fatalities

1,179tried for treason and sentenced to 30 years in prison

2,500

in the brigade numeration, a ploy

to make it seem larger

60 to 1 odds the brigade

faced against Cuban troops

2,506the number assigned to

Carlos Rodriguez Santana

160men in each

battalion(much less than the usual 1,500)

9brigadistas

suffocated in the semi-truck

10died after being

lost at sea for two weeks after

escaping the island

23average age

of the brigadistas

$4.5 millioninitial budget

for the invasion approved by Eisenhower

$46 milliontotal spent on the invasion

April 17, 1961At the same time as the

invasion, the Academy Awards

were being presented

in Hollywood (Elizabeth Taylor

for )

Dec. 24, 1962The last of 1,113 prisoners were

released in exchange

for $53 million worth of food and medicine

1998

some secret

1959JANUARY

Fidel Castro’s rebel forces over-throw the government of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.

1960MARCH

Castro continues anti-American re-forms and builds alliances with the Soviet Union. President Eisenhower orders the CIA to recruit and train Cuban exiles for an invasion and approves an initial $4.5 million for the project. It eventually costs the U.S. $46 million.

NOVEMBER

Island off Fort Myers for training. They would be relocated to Guate-mala and are the original mem-bers of what eventually becomes Brigade 2506. (3)

1961APRIL 13-14

The 1,500 brigadistas, who had been training in Guatemala, are

to the invasion beach. Pilots pre-(2 and 3)

APRIL 15As news of an invasion spreads around the world, CIA orders air

planes on the island by both exile and American pilots. JFK later decides to call off the air support to the invasion.

APRIL 16Late at night, brigade frogmen are

of Grayston Lynch, the only Ameri-can advisor to land on Cuban soil.

APRIL 17-18By morning, brigadistas begin landing. The battle with Cuban sol-diers goes into full swing. Castro’s planes begin their assault on the brigadistas. The Houston, carrying

with another, the Rio Escondido, (1, 4 and 5)

APRIL 18

American air power fails to mate-rialize, there is one aerial success: Lobo Flight, where exile planes

-dreds of Cuban soldiers. (6)

APRIL 19Brigadistas are surrounded and are now out of ammunition and food. Their ships have either left

pilots come to the rescue of the brigadistas and are shot down

prisoner. (7)

APRIL 20-21In one of the worst incidents of the invasion, 22 men hoping to escape

named Celia. They are lost at sea for 15 days.

APRIL 22About 150 brigadista prisoners are shoved into a hermetically sealed

prison, the Havana Sports Palace; nine suffocate on the way. Among them is Jose Maciá del Monte, pic-tured with his wife and daughter, Ceci Sanchez.

MAY 4

12 survivors in the Gulf of Mexico; 10 died aboard of hunger and thirst.

MID MAYTelevision cameras are brought into the Sports Palace as Castro

Tony Cruz: “What are you doing

beaches are now open to you?’’ Cruz responds: “I didn’t come here to swim; I came to liberate my country.’’ (9)

MAY 13As many of the 1,179 prisoners are

idea of indemnity from the U.S. by

tractors in exchange for the men. Later, he would switch his request to medicine and baby food.

MAY 17

accept the exchange proposed by Castro. In Miami, former Cuban President Carlos Prío Socarrás rec-ommends forming a committee to raise money to buy the tractors.

MAY 22To help in the negotiations, 10 Bay of Pigs prisoners are allowed to travel to Miami.

MAY 24-25A “Tractors for Freedom Committee” is formed. Among the members: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Milton Eisenhower, brother of the president.

JUNE 4-24Castro rejects the Tractors for Freedom Committee offer, saying the tractors are not the size he re-quested. Unable to negotiate with Castro, the committee disbands. By month’s end, the Cuban Families Committee for the Liberation of the Bay of Pigs Prisoners of War is formed in Miami.

SEPTEMBER 8-9Five brigadistas are tried and

squad for being former members of Batista’s Cuban Army; nine others are sentenced to 30 years in prison.

1962MARCH 29

Military trial of 1,179 of the Bay of Pigs prisoners is held in the courtyard of El Principe prison. Trial lasts only three days or 3 1/2 minutes of justice per man. Brigade member Manuel Artime is ques-tioned by the tribunal. (10)

APRIL 5Berta Barreto, a Cuban

in the invasion, calls her friend, Conchita Fernández, Castro’s

the release of the prisoners.

APRIL 7-

ers are sentenced: loss of citizen-

from $25,000 to $500,000. Total cost for all the men: $62 million.

APRIL 10 Castro agrees to release “on credit” 60 wounded brigadistas, provided that at a later date they will pay the $2.9 million in cash.

APRIL 14The 60 prisoners arrive in Miami. More than 20,000 people welcome them at Miami International Airport. Among those released

Juan “Johnny” Figueras, who lost his right leg after being wounded.

off the plane, salutes. (11 and 13)

APRIL 21Several wounded prisoners travel

The Ed Sullivan Show; Sullivansupports the committee’s efforts.

JUNE 18On the advice of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the committee requests the assistance of James B. Donovan, one of the chief

trials, who had just negotiated the release of U.S. spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers.

JULY 29-31Four brigadista prisoners are released after their families or benefactors in the U.S. pay the combined $275,000 ransom to the Cuban government.

AUGUST 3The Families Committee an-nounces donations of jewelry from friends and families to raise funds to purchase the tractors Castro demanded in exchange for the rest of the prisoners.

AUGUST 31Donovan and committee repre-sentatives travel by private plane to Havana, where they are visited by Cuba’s attorney general, José Santiago Cuba Fernández.

SEPTEMBER 6In a new twist in the negotiations, Donovan is given a list of medi-cines, baby food and other prod-ucts that Castro will now accept in place of the heavy-duty tractors.

SEPTEMBER 7RFK meets with Donovan, loses his patience and says: “As long as I am attorney general, we Americans have a moral obligation to those soldiers in that prison, and I do not care if we lose every election that will ever be held, we are going to get those guys out.”

OCTOBER 16President Kennedy is informed

Soviet missiles present in Cuba. The committee fears it will impact negotiations for the brigadistas.

DECEMBER 1The medicines and baby food requested by Castro start moving from across the country. It is decid-ed that American Red Cross ships will deliver the goods to Cuba. Once emptied, the ships will bring to the U.S. 8,000 Cuban exiles.

DECEMBER 20Donovan travels to Cuba and meets with Castro. A draft of an agreement for the trade for the brigadistas is drawn.

DECEMBER 23-24

released and arrives at Homestead Air Force Base. They are given military clothing and then meet relatives at Coconut Grove’s Dinner Key Auditorium. On the second day, additional prisoners are released. Among them are brothers Jose Luis (facing right) and Jose Joaquin Brao (center, holding bag). (12)

DECEMBER 29President Kennedy and the First Lady greet the brigadistas at the Orange Bowl. In Spanish, Jacque-

the bravest men in the world.’’ The

He promises to return it in “a free Havana.’’ (14,15 and 16)

1970-PRESENTBay of Pigs Monument, with its

in Little Havana. A museum, a

Airport are dedicated to Brigade2506.

KEY PLAYERS Dwight D. Eisenhowerinitiated the invasion plan. He later described JFK’s actions at the Bay

and timidity” and predicted it would embolden the Soviet Union.

John F. Kennedy“I will never abandon Cuba to Communism!. . .I promise to deliver this brigade banner to you in a free Havana!” he said at the Orange Bowl.

Fidel Castro“The invaders have been annihi-lated. The Revolution has emerged victorious. It destroyed in less than 72 hours the army organized by the imperialist government

Americas!”

Allen Dulles,CIA director who planned and pushed for the ill-fated invasion. Partly due to the invasion’s failure, he was replaced in

Manuel Artime BuesaThe Brigade 2506’s public face

to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Batista during the Cuban Revolu-

for the invasion.

James Donovan Lawyer who negotiated the re-lease of the Bay of Pigs prisoners. Castro originally demanded 500 farm tractors. He later accepted medicine and food.

Berta Barreto,Cuba-based coordinator of the Cuban Families Committee for the Liberation of theBay of Pigs Prisoners of War. Her efforts and contacts helped win the release of brigadistas.

Lyman Kirkpatrick,CIA inspector general, a harsh critic of the invasion. “The CIA’s ignorance, incompetence, as well as its arrogance toward the 1,500 Cuban exiles it trained and equipped to mount the invasion,

BRIGADEFACTS

Bay of Pigs gets its name from the trigger

bay.

brigadista in the invasion was Eladio BasTorriente. The youngest at 15 was Luis Medina

Perez.

Fidel Castro appeared fascinated by the

brigade’s paratroopers, who had been dropped at nighttime. “He came

to visit us when we were being held at the naval

sorts of questions,’’ said Juan Clark, a captured

parachutist.

Attention brigada! That phrase, yelled out in Spanish by brigade leader Erneido Oliva

during the Cuban trial, returned order to a moment of chaos.

The brigade members had a secret code:

eagle.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower is credited

with approving the initial invasion plan, but the original idea is said to have been

introduced by then-VicePresident Richard Nixon,

a Latin America expert who pegged Castro a

communist.

In an ill-conceived mission of the invasion — aimed at distancing

the U.S. from the campaign — a brigadista

pilot named MarioZuniga was ordered

Guatemala to Miami and

were a Cuban defector and part of an internal uprising underway on

the island.

supporters of the effort to free the brigadistas was Cuban-born actor

Desi Arnaz.

In a side deal arranged by Berta

Barreto, Castro granted relatives

of the brigadistas passage to the U.S. on

the same American Red Cross ships bringing the $53 million in medicine

to the island. More than 8,000 Cubans left on those ships,

Everglades.

One family named Fuentes had 13 relatives

join the invasion.

The Brigade had four chaplains, all of them

Spanish citizens.

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