Jul 17 2009
The Bay of Pigs by Alejandro de Quesada
Ideologically opposite of my previous post on the communist North Vietnamese Army, Alejandro de Quesada studies the efforts of exiled Cuban forces to overthrow the communist government of Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961. Quesada’s booklet, The Bay of Pigs, Cuba 1961, is part of Osprey’s “Elite” series, which explores the history of military forces, artifacts, personalities, and techniques of warfare.
Quesada provides a brief history of Fidel Castro’s rise to power against the corrupt Batista dictatorship. After gaining power, Castro initiated a brutal purge that drove many Cubans into exile in the United States – especially around Miami. These exiles provided a pool of recruits for a CIA plot to overthrow Castro. The plans were started under President Eisenhower,but came to fruition under President Kennedy.
