Published Tuesday, April 17, 2001 in the
Miami Herald
Cuba marks victory at Bay of Pigs
Old foes soften war of words; invaders not 'mercenaries' now
Herald Staff Report.
PLAYA GIRON, Cuba -- Forty years after the historic battle that secured the
existence of a Marxist government, Cuba starts celebrating its triumph at the
Bay of Pigs today even as Miami veterans of Brigade 2506 -- jailed and then
ransomed after the defeat -- engage in an angry debate over whether to open up a
dialogue with the victors.
At Playa Girón, where the brigade trained and financed by the United
States set up its command post for the 60-hour battle, huge Soviet-era tanks
have been rolling into town, startling the young European backpackers who come
to the tiny beach resort to search the swamps where bullets once flew for rare
hummingbirds and hungry crocodiles.
In Havana, 74-year-old Fidel Castro, clad in military fatigues and carrying
a rifle on his shoulder, led a parade of thousands to commemorate the event and
prepare for the culmination of this year's ceremonies here.
Workers overseen by grim faced guards have been arranging more than 2,000
plastic chairs to seat surviving members of the ragtag Cuban militia who,
according to the state-run media, stopped "yanqui imperialism'' in its
tracks and halted "mercenaries'' trying to pave the way for a U.S. takeover
of the island.
A RETURN
Fresh coats of paint at the museum in Playa Girón documenting the
Cuban victory, fresh flowers, and rigorous security were indications that Castro
would be delivering the 40th anniversary address, proud local residents said.
The setting, on the southern coast of Cuba 140 miles southeast of Havana, will
mark a return to battleground for the Cuban leader.
When the 1,500 invaders landed during a tumultuous week in which American
and Cuban exile-flown bombers disguised as planes from the Cuban air force
bombed airfields around Havana, he rushed to the scene to take command of the
Cuban forces.
Only a day earlier he had rallied hundreds of thousands of Cubans in the
capital city to proclaim the "socialist character'' of the revolution -- a
transparent euphemism meant to signal that it was, in reality, communist.
Cuba's version of the Bay of Pigs had never changed until this month, when
Mario Cabello, 58, and Jorge Luis Hernández, 64, were expelled from the
Miami-based veterans group, Brigade 2506, after attending what Havana calls a "scientific
academic'' conference on the Bay of Pigs battle in the Cuban capital.
The gathering, including high-ranking members of the John F. Kennedy
administration, included Castro and his generals.
STATUS UPGRADED
Some Cubans said they were startled afterward when state media started
referring to Cabello and his companions -- three nonmembers of the veterans
group, in addition to the two 2506 members -- as "invaders'' and "fighters''
rather than the more derogatory "mercenaries.'' That was taken as an
indication that their status had been upgraded.
On Sunday, for example, the Communist Party daily Granma complimented
Cabello, a Miami trucker, for standing his ground in front of his angry accusers
and for declaring "I am a free man'' after the expulsion.
"Fidel senses an opportunity,'' a former Communist Party functionary
said in an interview last week. "There is a new battle to be won: divide
and conquer. Playa Girón is not yet over.''
RHETORIC
All week long there has been a virtual drum roll of rhetoric, with speakers
at rallies around the nation denouncing "los bárbaros del norte''
(barbarians of the north) and coupling the Bay of Pigs invasion to other U.S. "crimes.''
These include the "cruel and savage'' 40-year embargo against Cuba, and
attempts by "terrorists'' allegedly financed by Cuban exile organizations
to carry out sabotage and assassinations.
Cubans arriving in Playa Girón for today's ceremony came packed into
trucks and buses.
On the highway south from the sugar refining town of Australia where Castro
set up his headquarters during the fighting, they passed huge billboards showing
Castro exhorting militia members to attack.
One sign just north of the hamlet of Pálpite -- it showed defeated
brigade members, heads bowed -- read, "The mercenaries got this far,'' a
reference to the fact that the spot was the furthest penetration by the exile
forces. Another outside Playa Girón proclaimed: "The first defeat of
Yanqui imperialism in Latin America.''
'WITH A PROUD HEART'
Pedro Moreira Vega, 67, a veteran hurriedly laying down new concrete
pathways at the Bay of Pigs museum known as Museo Girón, said he was
doing so "with a proud heart.'' Referring to Castro, he said, "The
commander in chief will pass this way. I will be here to greet him and to tell
him that my eyes fill with tears every time I think of how many of my young
comrades died in combat.''
Not everyone was complimentary.
A man working at a youth camp, who declined to identify himself, said he had
had enough of vast political commemorations.
"Let people get on with their lives,'' he said. "Build more
schools. Let's put Girón behind us and do more for the children.''
Inside the museum where a group of engineers visiting from Venezuela was
listening enthralled to commentary on the fighting from a Cuban government
guide, Pilar Curbelo, a retired teacher, said that the United States backed the
landings in an effort to defeat many programs of the new communist government,
including its illiteracy campaign.
"Look at these statistics,'' she said, with disgust, reading out loud
from a display that analyzed the class background of 800 brigade members taken
prisoner. (More than 100 were killed in the fighting.)
"It says here that they owned 370,628 hectares [914,000 acres], 9,666
houses and buildings, 70 factories, 10 sugar refineries, five mines and two
banks. It says 135 were former [dictator Fulgencio] Batista soldiers.
"Do you really think men like those wanted education for the peasants
and workers?'' Curbelo said, her voice rising. "No. There is power in
keeping people ignorant.''
Eduardo Pérez, a worker at a nearby hotel used by foreigners, said
that while he intended to take part in the celebration, "There is a time
for combat, and there is a time for friendship.
"I don't think the Americans are bad people,'' he said, "even
though they trained the invaders. But thank God, President Kennedy did not send
in the Marines.''
EXCERPTS FROM RECENTLY RELEASED DOCUMENTS
Released by the Cuban government, transcripts of Fidel Castro's
walkie-talkie and telephone conversations during the invasion reveal how the
Cuban leader relished the fight. "You're missing the party,'' he tells his
brother Raúl, who today commands Cuba's armed forces and is Castro's
probable successor.
In another document, Castro yells: "Tomorrow we are going to shoot down
planes, but today we have to sink ships. Sink ships! Sink ships, [expletive]!
You have to sink ships! [Expletive], fire at them!''
A Nov. 24, 1959, memo the British Foreign Office sent to Washington says
CIA Director Allen Dulles hoped that Britain's refusal to sell military supplies
to Cuba would force Castro to request them from the Soviet Union, giving the
United States justification for its pending invasion: Dulles "said that he
hoped that any refusal by us to supply arms would directly lead to a Soviet bloc
offer to supply. Then, he might be able to do something; for he was convinced
that Castro was not only a bad man, but had a streak of lunacy in his makeup
which might have incalculable results.''
In a Nov. 1, 1961, memo to President John F. Kennedy, aide Richard Goodwin
supports the concept of an anti-Castro operation, commanded by Attorney General
Robert Kennedy, to overthrow Castro following the failed invasion: "The
beauty of such an operation over the next few months is that we cannot lose. If
the best happens, we will unseat Castro. If not, then at least we will emerge
with a stronger underground, better propaganda and a far clear idea of the
dimensions of the problems which affect us.''
José Ramón Fernández, who led Cuba's defending forces
and now is one of Castro's vice presidents, says it bothers him that the Cuban
exiles blame poor planning for their defeat instead of crediting Cuba's fighting
skills.
"In two days, 700 were captured that surrendered, exhausted by hunger,
thirst and finding themselves surrounded without possibility of escaping,'' he
boasted to Castro in a memo on Sept. 18, 1961. After their capture, some "prisoners
were interested in finding out what procedures we were using to maintain the
fire in such a way that it was continuously falling on them.''
Copyright 2001 Miami Herald | 