Foreign+Policy+1960s

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The Invasion was intented to provoke popularity for an uprising against Fidel Castro. Instead the Invasion gave Castro a military victory and a permanent symbol of cuban resistance to American aggression. The Bay of Pigs was not originally John F Kennedy's idea. dwight D. Eisenhower's administrationplanned the invasion, which would be handled by the CIA. By the time of the inauguration of Kennedy the order to invade was the only peice of the puzzle to put into place. On April 12, 1961, kennedy told a press conferance that the United States had no intention of intervening in Cuban affairs. Exactly five days later April 17,1961 the invasion took place. The invasion force had been assembled in Guatemala. It departed in 6 ships from a port in Nicaragua on April 14. On the 15, the American-backed Cuban exiles began to bomb airfields near two points in the Bay of Pigs and the Zapata swamps in Cuba. The invaders surrendered on the afternoon of April 19. More than 200 people have been killed and 1197 were taken captive. media type="custom" key="3776095"