The defeat of the mercenary invasion, which will be 61 years old this April 19, began to be prepared before the landing of more than a thousand men supported by tanks, artillery and aircraft at Playa Giron and Playa Larga, where they were to establish a puppet government that would justify the direct intervention of the United States.
In a climate of generalized euphoria among those who expected an easy victory, the deployment of the invading brigade took place. A CIA chief harangued the troops, apparently under the presumed idea that when they reached the shore they would take a jeep, advance along the road, stick out their hands as if they were going to turn left and go straight to Havana.
But they failed, as evidenced on April 15, in their objective of destroying the small Revolutionary Air Force and of the eight mercenary B-26 planes with false Cuban insignia that left Nicaragua to bomb the airports of Ciudad Libertad, San Antonio de los Baños and Santiago de Cuba, more than half were hit and the ill-fated attack limited the surprise factor.
In the political and moral aspect, the cruel bombing received the harshest response on April 16, when Commander in Chief Fidel Castro declared the socialist character of the Revolution at the burial of the victims of the attack on Ciudad Libertad in Havana, in an improvised act near the entrance of the Colon Cemetery, less than 10 kilometers from the bombed base, which united the people even more in the rejection of the imminent aggression.
Within 24 hours of the invasion, on April 17, the revolutionary forces were fully mobilized to confront the mercenaries.
During that early morning, the first group of militiamen that the invaders found on the coast, did not join them as promised by the organizers of the attack, but responded with fire and caused the first casualties.
That was only the beginning and two days later the final battle at Bay of Pigs Beach was personally directed on the ground by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, at the head of the column of tanks and troops.
Years later, through the declassified report of presidential advisor Arthur M. Schlesinger, it became known in his own handwriting:
“The reality is that Fidel Castro turned out to be a far more formidable enemy and to be in command of a far better organized regime than anyone had supposed. His troops spotted the invasion almost at the first moment. His planes reacted with speed and vigor. His police eliminated any possibility of rebellion behind the lines. His soldiers remained loyal and fought bravely”.
The victory of Bay of Pigs was a sum of thousands of heroic deeds of common people and soldiers, militiamen, workers, farmers, protagonists of that great epic.
In about 66 hours, the Bay of Pigs aggression was defeated by heroes and martyrs who made the victory possible, with which Cuba demonstrated for the first time that it was possible to defeat the most powerful imperialism in history and filled with hope the Latin American nations living under dictatorships supported by Washington.
