Giron, an unprecedented symbolic outcome

Giron, an unprecedented symbolic outcome
Fecha de publicación: 
19 April 2022
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Although clearing the area took a bit longer, on April 19th, the invasion attempt started less than 72 hours earlier at Bay of Pigs, had already been defeated. It occurred in 1961. The Cuban Revolution had come to power 27 months earlier and transformations increasingly upset some within the U.S. power circles, as they were used to exert dominance over this hemisphere.

For this reason, the first U.S. administration that temporarily coincided with the Revolutionary government of Cuba opted for the invasion. Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was the president under whom the initial plans were drawn up. This man had been involved in the Allied D-day landing in Normandy in 1944, during WWII, so he had some experience in this regard. However, he was not the man who ordered the invasion against Cuba.

It was his successor, Democrat John F. Kennedy, who executed it. The new president tried to cover the involvement of governmental agencies. He did not authorize U.S. troops to get involved directly in combat. Yet, historical evidences left no doubts that the U.S. was the masterminds behind the invasion attempt against Cuba by Bay of Pigs. To achieve it, he used exile militia as the face of the invasion.

The political framework surrounding the invasion was not easy. The story used to legitimize the military action consisted of presenting the actions as carried out by Cuban patriots, opposed to the establishment of a communist regime in Cuba. However, although there were among invaders people who fought against (Fulgencio) Batista, who later opposed the radicalization of the process, mercenarism and the interests of restoring the pre-revolutionary status quo prevailed.

Despite all the logistical, diplomatic, media, intelligence and strategic machinery put in place by the U.S. government for that aggression against our national sovereignty, to this day, paradoxically, Kennedy is still reproached for not authorizing the involvement of the U.S. armed forces to reverse the likely victory of the revolutionary forces.

It was not an easy victory and costed several lives; but it prevented the formation of a provisional government under the auspices of the United States and an eventual military intervention of that country. The Revolution emerged stronger from Playa Larga and Bay of Pigs. Meanwhile, the U.S. imperialism suffered an unprecedented symbolic defeat in Latin America.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff  

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