Julian Borger in Miami. The Guardian, Tuesday April 18, 2000
Anniversary stirs memories as dispute over boy drags on
In a small, shaded square off Little Havana's Eighth Street, a cluster of Cuban exile veterans stood to painful attention yesterday as a pre-recorded bugle played in memory of the last time they were betrayed and humiliated.
The Bay of Pigs invasion, an abortive CIA-backed attempt to win Cuba back from the Communists, took place on April 1 1961. The fledgling government in Havana survived and is still there today.
The US maintains its embargo somewhat half-heartedly, while most Americans have forgotten the bloody fiasco 39 years ago in which 200 invaders died and 1,200 were captured. But in Miami's Little Havana district, the home of many of the old Cuban exiles, the disappointment is keener than ever.
Most of the veterans who turned out in their medals and campaign caps believe they are now fighting the Bay of Pigs all over again.
This time the battleground is not a swampy mosquito-infested cove; it is the fate of a little Cuban boy called Elian. But the enemy remains the same. Behind every edict, court order and government declaration aimed at sending Elian home, these old soldiers see the hand of Fidel Castro.
"In the case of Elian, we don't want to give Castro another victory in April. It would be another victory against the United States," said Oscar Martinez, who took part in the first air assault on Cuban forces. "We went to war to fight for freedom and democracy, and we want for
Elian the same things, the things we wanted for our own children."
Rumours and information flow like electric impulses down Eighth Street (Calle Ocho), and yesterday's rumour was that federal agents would come that same night. They would pounce on the humble one-storey house a few blocks away, where Elian has been staying since he was ship wrecked last
November, and take the boy away - back to his Cuban loyalist father and then back to Fidel Castro.
Many of the veterans from the Brigada de Asalto 2506, who spearheaded the invasion, swore they would be there all evening, and all night if need be, to repel the expected raid, putting their bodies between the US government and Elian.
Roberto Macia is not surprised to find Washington siding with Castro. He was part of the assault on San Blas in 1961, fighting inland from the beach and waiting for US air cover.
"The first day was good. We went in and took what we wanted," said Mr Macia, now 73. "But then they sank our boats and our supplies, and the others took off."He spent 20 months as a prisoner-of-war before being exchanged for humanitarian aid. He has spent the rest of his life
in exile ruing what went wrong.
"Kennedy got scared and he backed off," was Mr Macia's judgement. "It's the same now. They're giving in to Castro. He is giving the orders."
The echoes of 1961 have grown deafening for the old men of 2506 Brigade. Both superstition and experience suggest that the second great betrayal will fall on the anniversary of the first. For them, it is their final battle.
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