Brigade 2506

This week marks 50 years since the Bay of Pigs invasion, the tragic episode in which a group of Cuban exiles — Brigade 2506 — attempted to free their country from Fidel Castro’s regime.

Secretly armed and trained by the U.S., the invaders landed early morning on April 17 to execute a plan that consisted of consolidating a bridgehead, lending support, declaring an alternative government, and officially asking for U.S. intervention.

Americans had offered to neutralize the Cuban air force and, indeed, their planes bombed some bases before starting the operation. However, they failed to achieve their goal.

The invaders were surprised the next morning by Cuban planes that had survived the bombing. In addition, the reaction of government forces was efficient and brutal, not only against the invasion, but also against the anti-Castro resistance on the island.

After three days of fighting, the exiles found themselves alone, unable to escape. Their only hope was for direct support from the United States, but this never came. When it became impossible to conceal their role in the invasion, the Americans fatefully abandoned the fighters.

History has not been fair to Brigade 2506. In the U.S., all of the attention is focused on the CIA’s incompetence to plan the mission and the illegality of government support for the plan. In Latin America, Cuban propaganda turned the invaders into mercenaries paid by the Empire.

The truth is that 104 of them gave their lives in a battle that was lost before it began, and that 1,200 were taken prisoner. The irony is that its blood only served to solidify Castro in power and to transform him into the quintessential Latin American hero.

The tragedy of the battle’s failure is more evident now, half a century later, when the old guard of the Cuban Communist Party has just reaffirmed its willingness to continue in power. Perhaps not even the most pessimistic man of the Bay of Pigs would have imagined that the Castro regime would oppress its people for so long.