Retrospective: The Bay of Pigs
Fifty years ago, Fidel Castro led a successful resistance to a CIA-backed invasion by Cuban exiles attempting to overthrow him.
In this April 1961 file photo, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro jumps from a tank as he arrives at Giron, Cuba, near the Bay Of Pigs. On April 17-19, 1961, the beach was the stage for one of the most memorable chapters in the struggle between Washington and Havana: the invasion of Cuba by a CIA-trained band of armed exiles. Cuba will celebrate on Jan. 1, 2009 the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution.The Associated Press
This Pulitzer Prize winning black-and-white photo by Associated Press photographer Paul Vathis shows President John F. Kennedy, left, and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower with their heads bowed as they walk along a path at Camp David in Thurmont, Md. in April 22, 1961, as the two met to discuss the Bay of Pigs invasion. The 1962 Pulitzer Prize winning photograph was displayed Friday, Jan. 18, 2008, at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.Paul Vathis/The Associated Press
Cuban leader Fidel Castro, lower right, sits inside a tank near Playa Giron, Cuba, during the Bay of Pigs invasion, in this April 17, 1961, file photo provided by Granma, the Cuban government newspaper. President Kennedy wanted increasing acts of sabotage against Cuba in the days leading to the Cuban missile crisis, more than 400 pages of newly declassified documents reveal, Wednesday, March 21, 2001.RAUL CORRALES/The Associated Press
Cuban President Fidel Castro (C) talks to members of the Cuban Armed Forces near the area where some 1,500 anti-Castro allies came ashore at Playa Giron beach during the Bay of Pigs invasion on the south coast of Cuba, in this April 1961 file photo. Forty-five years after it defeated a CIA-trained invasion force at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba still sees the U.S. as the biggest threat to its socialist society. The invaders never got beyond the mosquito-infested swamps surrounding the Bay of Pigs, as Castro's fledgling revolutionary government scrambled to defend itself. Picture taken April 1961.PRENSA LATINA/Reuters
Cuban soldiers, right, interview captured members of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Playa Giron, on the south coast of Cuba, in this April 1961 file photo. Forty-five years after it defeated a CIA-trained invasion force at the Bay of Pigs, Cuba still sees the U.S. as the biggest threat to its socialist society. 1,500 Cuban exiles, organized and armed by the CIA, came ashore April 1961 in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro's government. The invaders never got beyond the mosquito-infested swamps surrounding the Bay of Pigs, as Castro's fledgling revolutionary government scrambled to defend itself.PRENSA LATINA/Reuters