Bay of Pigs survivors on US-Cuba thaw: 'Two American presidents betrayed us' Veterans of failed 1961 invasion remain strongly opposed to Castro and are disillusioned over promises of support that were never met
It was presented to the world as a tearing down of barriers, a historic moment of reconciliation between the United States and Cuba’s communist government after half a century of hostility. But inside a small villa a stone’s throw from Calle Ocho in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana neighbourhood the talk is only of one word – betrayal.
The house is the Bay of Pigs museum and library where the ageing survivors of Brigade 2506, the CIA-trained fighting unit that failed to topple Fidel Castro in an ill-fated – and many say ill-advised – 1961 invasion, gather to discuss the affairs of their homeland.
More than five decades after the three-day conflict, which resulted in almost 120 of the invaders dying and 1,200 captured by Castro’s forces when the United States failed to deliver promised air support, the veterans are no longer the youthful and idealistic alliance of students, lawyers, bankers, former Cuban army soldiers and assorted others they once were.
At the last count, fewer than 900 were still alive, most now in their 70s and 80s. But while age may have slowed them physically, there remains much fire in their hardline opposition to the Marxist revolutionaries still running Cuba. And now, after last week’s extraordinary deal between the US president, Barack Obama, and the Cuban leader, Raúl Castro, Fidel’s brother, there is plenty of sadness too.
“The brigade members have been betrayed twice, once in April 1961, and now in December 2014,†said Julio González-Rebull, 78, who flew combat and resupply missions aboard a B-26 bomber from the assault team’s base in Guatemala during the failed invasion.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/23/bay-of-pigs-survivors-veterans-betrayal-cuba-us
