In recent days, our homeland has been shaken by the scandal of “pigtails”, with which self-proclaimed patriots carried out illegal civil arrests of refugees who crossed the border with Turkey.
An interesting fact is that the CIA also had a failure related to the “pig theme”.
On April 17, 1961, the CIA landed about 1,500 Cuban emigrants in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, who were supposedly prepared and maximally motivated to overthrow the communist regime of Fidel Castro. Their task is to provide a bridgehead and build a temporary field airport.
Historians note that the CIA copied the tactics used by Fidel Castro to seize power. When Castro landed in Cuba, however, there was a critical mass of those dissatisfied with the previous regime. When the landing at the Bay of Pigs, however, a large part of Cuban society was behind Fidel Castro.
The Bay of Pigs was not chosen by chance by the CIA. It is a sparsely populated area. The nearest military units of the Cuban army are located about 120 km. from there, which should give the disembarked landing troops time, according to the CIA.
During the landing, the government in Cuba managed to react very quickly. Martial law and full mobilization were declared in the country.
The CIA operation was a complete failure. The agency suffered 114 casualties, another 300 were injured, and 1,202 were taken prisoner. Fidel Castro himself led the operation against the invasion from a tank.
Cuba's success was aided by Soviet propaganda. The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, met with wounded defenders of the revolution in a Cuban hospital. On July 23, 1961, he spoke with wounded Cuban soldiers.
After the failure at the Bay of Pigs, the CIA abandoned attempts to overthrow Castro through direct military intervention.