The Bay of Pigs: The Botched Invasion of Cuba Interviewer: Megan B. Vogel Interviewee: Colonel Manuel Reina Pardo Instructor: Mr. Whitman February 17, 2015 Vogel 2 Table of Contents Statement of Purpose 3 Interviewee Release Form 4 Interviewer Release Form 5 Biography 6 “The Bay of Pigs: The Botched Invasion of Cuba” 8 Interview Transcription 17 Interview Analysis 39 Works Consulted 43 Vogel 3 Statement of Purpose The purpose of this oral history project and interview with Colonel Manuel Reina Pardo is to be able to create a primary source by converging of evidence on a specific topic. As well, this project also helped to widen knowledge, for example, on the Bay of Pigs invasion from the perspective of a pro-Revolutionary in Cuba. Vogel 4 Vogel 5 Vogel 6 Biography Manuel Reina Pardo was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba on March 28th, 1937. He went to a public grammar school from the first to sixth grades and at the same time worked at his father’s carpentry workshop in the afternoons. In his early teens, he joined the Lucha Clandestina or Clandestine Fight, which was a Revolutionary Youth Group determined to revolt against Fulgencio Batista. Manuel was arrested several times in Santiago while protesting with the Lucha Clandestina. Due to the trouble he was getting into, his father put him on a train at dawn one morning and sent him to Havana to be away from the hot-bed of the Revolution. Manuel lived in Havana with one of his aunts. When he was roughly 23 years old, he got a job at the Public Health Center and joined one of the military militias, eventually becoming a fulltime member. He ended up following Fidel Castro from Santiago de Cuba to the Bay of Pigs in 1961, and was a part of the first squadron that went out with the purpose of trying to keep the Cuban-exile invaders away. Manuel Reina Pardo was the coordinator and a delegate to the Assembly of C.D.R. (Committee of Revolutionary Defense), and was also a delegate of the Popular Choice and Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. From 1962 to 1990, he served as Vogel 7 an officer and engineer in the Cuban army, and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1982. Currently, Colonel Pardo is retired and lives with his wife in Havana, Cuba, where they enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren. Vogel 8 The Bay of Pigs: The Botched Invasion of Cuba The story of the botched invasion of Cuba in 1961, known as the Bay of Pigs, is one of overconfidence, lack of management, and breached security. The blame for the failure fell on the shoulders of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) and a young, ambitious president, John F. Kennedy. Cuba had been known around the world for their intense political history and dedication to their country. From the Spanish occupation in 1898, up until the rise of President Fidel Castro (1959), Cubans showed their dedication to their country and their desire to maintain its independence. The battle for, and dedication to, freedom is apparent in the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Bay of Pigs invasion was an American military and political attempt to train Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro two years after he came to power. This plan was created and supported by the United States government, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, which helped train and support the anti-revolutionary exiles for the upcoming invasion. The attack was launched in April of 1961, roughly three months after John F. Kennedy became President of the United States. Despite the exiles’ rigorous training and dedication to overthrowing their homeland’s dictator, the Cuban Armed Forces that were supported by many Eastern Bloc countries ultimately defeated them. To better understand the Bay of Pigs, one must examine the Cold War, the reasoning behind the invasion, President Kennedy and Fidel Castro, as well as gain a first-hand perspective from someone who was present at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. The Cold War was the struggle for power after World War II between the United States and its allies against the Soviet Union and their allies. The Soviet Union and the United States had joined forces during World War II to battle against Nazi Germany, but Vogel 9 soon after the war ended in May of 1945, that relationship began to deteriorate. The Soviet Union began establishing pro-communist administrations in Eastern Europe. The United States’ concern about the spread of Soviet and communist influence grew as the Soviets became more forceful with their power in Eastern Europe. The growth of concern led to a policy that would hopefully thwart the spread of communist influence to Western Europe. In the 1940s, the United States decided that they would back out of their original plan to get involved in European affairs. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was written and, “pledged aid to governments threatened by communist subversion” (“The Cold War”). That same year, the Marshall Plan was drafted, offering billions of dollars in economic assistance to eradicate political uncertainty (“The Cold War”). Two years later, in 1949, the first mutual security and military alliance in the history of the United States, known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was established. With the creation of NATO, the Soviets decided that they would respond by joining together with the communist governments in Eastern Europe to form the Warsaw Pact. In 1959, Fidel Castro, with the help of many Cuban resistance movements, was able to overthrow Fulgencio Batista, the pro-American dictator. Cuba, under the reign of Castro, soon started to tighten its relationship with the Soviets. This caused tensions to rise between the United States and Cuba, mainly due to the fact that the Soviet Union was America’s main rival in the Cold War and communism was now a mere 90 miles from mainland United States. In 1960, the presidential election was filled with talk about the Cold War. Both Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon agreed that they would try their best to strengthen American military forces, promising a tough stand against the Vogel 10 Soviet Union and international communism. Kennedy, motivated by the knowledge of the Soviet Union’s growing intercontinental ballistic missile capability, promised to toughen America’s nuclear forces (“The Cold War”). Throughout John F. Kennedy’s political career, one of the main issues that he was forced to act on was the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. In his inaugural address, Kennedy stressed the significance of this and the status between the free world and the communist world. On January 1, 1959, after years of efforts to take over Cuba, Fidel Castro was able to gain control from Fulgencio Batista’s forces by, “…mov[ing] swiftly to seize power throughout the island” (Persons). A week later, Castro went to Havana to be sworn in as prime minister. This is when things started to change drastically between the United States and Cuba. Many Cubans welcomed Fidel Castro while some were worried about his policies. At the same time, United States officials were becoming nervous due to Castro’s rise to power. Although Batista had also been a dictator, the main difference between the two dictators was that Batista was considered pro-American. During this period, wealthy individuals and American corporations owned almost half of Cuba’s sugar plantations as well as ranches and mines. Batista did not try to do much to interfere with their influence but Castro, on the other hand, did not approve of this outside interference on Cuban businesses. He believed it was time for Cubans to take control of their country, unlike in 1895 when, “…the Americans came and took over” (Castro). Almost right after Castro gained power, he began to take steps to have American influence removed from the island. As he began to implement these new rules, some Cubans grew more upset with the way things were developing. Some of these rules included land reforms, Vogel 11 nationalizing industries controlled by America, such as sugar and mining, and a call for other Latin American governments to act with more self-government. In late October of 1959, due to the growing concerns about Castro, President Eisenhower approved a program with the Central Intelligence Agency, to support those in Cuba opposing Castro. In response to Castro’s intense reforms, President Eisenhower, in early 1960, authorized the CIA to recruit 1,400 Cuban exiles living in Miami and began training them to overthrow Castro. Tensions between the two countries continued to rise even further, when Cuba established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. In response to this new alliance, the United States prohibited importation of Cuban sugar. The Soviet Union decided to step in and help their Cuban allies out by agreeing to buy the sugar from Cuba, since the United States had comprised 80 percent of Cuba’s sugar exports. In March of 1960, the C.I.A. began to train 300 Cuban guerrillas in America and in the Panama Canal Zone. In June, after an agreement between the United States and President Ydigoras of Guatemala, the training moved to Guatemala. Later that month, in an Oval Office meeting, President Eisenhower approved of a policy paper created by the C.I.A. against Castro. The paper had four main parts: (1), to form an opposition group in exile with the purpose of restoring the revolution that Castro had destroyed, (2), to set up a radio station to broadcast into Cuba, (3), to create an underground intelligence and action organization within the island of Cuba, alert to the orders and directions of the exile opposition, (4), to begin the training of a revolutionary force outside of Cuba and to create guerilla units for instantaneous deployment into Cuba with the purpose of organizing, training, and leading position forces employed there.