FORTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAY OF PIGS INVASION

     On April 17, 1961 approximately 1,300 courageous Cuban patriots belonging to the Assault Brigade "2506" landed at the Bay of Pigs. Their mission was to overthrow a dictatorial communist regimen led by Fidel Castro and to reestablish democracy and freedom in their homeland. However, the military operation which had been personally approved by the President of the United States lasted only three days.  After seventy-two hours of continuous fighting, the exhausted brigadistas found themselves encircled by more than 40,000 enemy troops, hundreds of artillery pieces and 50 heavy tanks and abandoned by those who had encouraged, organized and trained them.

     We should all remember that the brigadistas were able to defend their assigned positions and repel continuous enemy attacks from all fronts; from Playa Girón to Playa Larga. However, on the second day, without ammunition, the BrigadeÍs second-in-command, Erneido Oliva, had to redeploy his forces from Playa Larga to GirónÍs Western Front. The lack of air support caused the unexpected sinking of the Rio Escondido and the Houston by CubaÍs air force. Along with the ships, the supplies required to sustain military operations were lost.  For the invasionÍs plans to have succeeded, it was also necessary for the Cuban people to rise up against the communist dictatorship and join the invasion forces, however, this uprising never materialized.  By the end of the third day, with no supplies or ammunition and with 114 heroic comrades already dead, the brigadistas realized that the marines aboard the U.S. warships that they knew were only a mile from the beach would never come to support them. Facing that bitter reality, Oliva, accompanied by the last defenders of Playa Girón, withdrew to the Zapata swamp where several brigadistas were executed on the spot, and the majority taken prisoners.

    Unfortunately, nothing has changed in Cuba during the 44 years since the invasion. Cuban dictator Fidel Castro and his brother Raul remain entrenched in power unchallenged by the international community, despite their intense crackdown on dissidents, executions, and continued human rights violations. The tyrant, now 77 years of age, and his 72 year-old brother have outlasted ten U.S. presidents who have failed to recognize the threat represented by Cuba to the national security of the Americas. Yet despite almost half a century of unfulfilled promises made by U.S. Presidents, Cuban veterans still hold out hope that economic and political pressure will eventually give way to a democratic government for Cuba. Today, many who were enemies at the Bay of Pigs have become friends and have joined forces under the Cuban American Military Council (CAMCO). Now working together, these men and women share the same hope for the reunification of the Cuban families in a free Cuba. As Oliva, CAMCO Chairman and a retired two-star general, recently said in a message sent to the members of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces: "We only want to return to a free Cuba in a spirit of understanding, forgiveness, justice and reconciliation"-- a new Cuba that is, general Oliva emphasized, without the Castro brothers.

 


   CUADRAGÉSIMO CUARTO ANIVERSARIO DE LA INVASIÓN DE BAHÍA DE COCHINOS 

     El 17 de abril del 1961, aproximadamente 1,300 valientes patriotas cubanos, miembros de la Brigada de Asalto "2506", desembarcaron en la Bahía de Cochinos. Su misión era derrocar al régimen comunista lidereado por Fidel Castro y restablecer la libertad y la democracia en la Patria nativa. Sin embargo, la operación militar que había sido aprobada personalmente por el Presidente de Estados Unidos, duró solamente tres días. Después de setenta y dos horas de contínuo combate, los agotados brigadistas se encontraron rodeados por más de 40,000 soldados enemigos, cientos de cañones de artillería y más de 50 tanques pesados, y abandonados por aquellos que los alentaron, organizaron y entrenaron.
 
     Todos debemos recordar que los brigadistas pudieron defender las posiciones asignadas y repeler los continuos ataques enemigos en todos los frentes; desde Playa Girón hasta Playa Larga.  Sin embargo, durante el segundo día, sin municiones, el segundo jefe de la Brigada, Erneido Oliva, tuvo que desplazar sus fuerzas de Playa Larga al Frente Occidental de Girón. Al mismo tiempo, la falta de apoyo aéreo facilitó lo inesperado, el hundimiento del  Río Escondido y el Houston por la Fuerza Aérea cubana. Con los barcos, se hundieron los suministros y armamentos necesarios para continuar la operación militar. Para que la invasión tuviera éxito, era esencial que el pueblo cubano se sublevara contra la dictadura comunista y se uniera a las fuerzas invasoras, pero esa insurrección nunca se materializó. Al final del tercer día, sin suministro ni municiones y con 114 heróicos combatientes muertos, los brigadistas comprendieron que los infantes de marina abordo de los barcos de guerra que se encontraban a una milla de las costas cubanas no los ayudarían. Ante esa amarga realidad, Oliva, acompañado por los últimos defensores de Playa Girón,  tuvo que retirarse hacia la ciénaga de Zapata, donde varios brigadistas fueron impunemente ejecutados y la mayoría capturados.

     Desafortunadamente, nada ha cambiado en Cuba durante los últimos 44 años. El dictador cubano Fidel Castro y su hermano Raúl permanecen atrincherados en el poder, sin oposición por parte de la comunidad internacional, a pesar de la ola de terror realizada contra los disidentes politicos, fusilamientos, y violaciones de los derechos humanos. El tirano, ahora de 77 años de edad, y su hermano, de 72, han sobrevivido a diez presidentes estadounidenses que no pudieron o quisieron reconocer la amenaza que Cuba representa para la seguridad nacional de las Américas.  A pesar de casi medio siglo de promesas incumplidas por presidentes de EE.UU., los veteranos cubanos aún están esperanzados que presiones económicas y políticas puedan eventualmente facilitar el advenimiento de un gobierno democrático en Cuba. Hoy, muchos de los que combatieron frente a frente en Bahía de Cochinos han establecido afectuosos lazos de amistad y se encuentran trabajando armoniosamente dentro del Consejo Militar Cubano-Americano (CAMCO). A esos hombres y mujeres los estimula en estos momentos  la misma fe y esperanza de que muy pronto Cuba será libre y la familia cubana podrá felizmente reunirse de nuevo. Como bien dijo Oliva, presidente de CAMCO y general retirado de dos estrellas, en un mensaje enviado recientemente a los miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Cubanas: "Nosotros sólo deseamos regresar a una Cuba libre con un espíritu de comprensión, perdón, justicia y reconciliación". Una Cuba nueva, el general Oliva enfatizó, sin los hermanos Castro.    


"The Battle Of Their Lives"
For three days, the CIA-sponsored exile commander opposed the Cuban militia leader 
 -- his former teacher.




Erneido A. Oliva
                            

 By Helga Silva  
and 
Guy Gugliota

 Herald Staff Writers



José R. Fernández


      Girón, Cuba ¿ For three cruel days they sweated and died in a steaming Cuban swamp, one side to save its revolution, the other side to change it. For the victors, it was the triumph of Playa Girón. For de losers, it was betrayal and heartbreak at the Bay of Pigs.

     But for the two men who commanded opposing troops, it is still the battle of their lives.

     José Ramón Fernández Alvarez was 34, a career officer jailed for plotting against the government of Fulgencio Batista and released by the Cuban revolution. Victory would make him worthy in his own eyes and justify Fidel CastroÍs trust.

    Erneido A. Oliva was 27, an exile, but also a professional. He had been captain of cadets at the Cuban Military Academy where he studied artillery under Fernández. Much of what he knew about war he learned from the man he would face at the Bay of Pigs.

    Neither man knew the other was there when the fighting started. Neither has spoken for publication about the other ¿ until now. The Herald interviewed Fernández for two hours in Havana and spoke with Oliva by telephone from his home in Washington, D.C.

    "Girón was a tough battle," Fernández  said. "It made us stronger, both militarily and politically. It showed that a nation willing to fight can never be occupied."

    Fernández, a tall and courtly man, today is CubaÍs minister of education and a member of the Communist Party Central Committee. He remembers Oliva as "smart, energetic, strong-willed, a young man with talent, black, and I think, with a great complex because of the color of his skin."

    Oliva, equally tall, and intense anti-Communist, is a U.S. national Guard colonel in Washington and a former 82nd Airborne division captain who says, "I never had any complexes in my life."

    "The United States had two opportunities to get rid of Castro: the Bay of Pigs and the October (1962 Cuban Missile) Crisis," said Oliva. "I would do it over again. The only thing I would do differently is to have a propaganda machine, a lobbying group ¿ the battles are won in Washington."


      SIDES ILL-TRAINED
  In three days of fighting ¿ April 17 ¿ 19, 1961 ¿ OlivaÍs battalion of green CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles challenged FernándezÍs equally green, but expanding force of Cuban militiamen. At stake was a narrow strand of mangrove, bunch grass, coral head and sand bounded by the Bay of Pigs, the Ciénaga de Zapata swamp, the town of Girón and Playa Larga, 30 miles away.

    Cuba said the fighting killed 155 of its citizens. The United States listed 114 exiles and four American pilots dead. Cuba took at least 1,180 prisoners; the exact number has never been established. Some were shot as war criminals, some were kept in jail and the rest were ransomed 19 months later for $53 million in food and medicine.

    The Cubans built a war museum at Girón to celebrate their triumph. The exiles lit a flaming torch in Little Havana to honor their dead. Publicly each side view the other with contempt.

    The exiles believe the invasion failed because the Kennedy administration canceled air support a day into the invasion and abandoned them to their fate. The Cuban believe they would have won anyway.

    When Fidel Castro called him just after midnight on April 17, Fernández Alvarez was probably the only former Batista officer in CubaÍs revolutionary army. Castro told him of the invasion and ordered him to Matanzas to pick up 600 militia officers. Then he was to get to Girón as fast as possible.

    "I think it was an opportunity to fight for something in which I believed, but never before really had the opportunity to fight for," Fernández said. "There was satisfaction in knowing I had FidelÍs trust."

    Castro pushed Fernández constantly and stayed right behind him throughout the invasion, sending help, directing operations and anticipating the enemyÍs moves, historian say. Whenever underlings asked for a vital decision, Castro made the right call.

    The first priority was to get Fernández across the swamp to establish a strongpoint at Palpite on the road to Playa Larga. Fernández and his militiamen marched into the hamlet that afternoon.

    "When we took Palpite, Fidel told me: ïWeÍve won the war,Í" Fernández said. "We had a beachhead in enemy territory."


    ORDERS TO DIG IN

   Oliva, second-in-command of the entire expedition, was on a transport off the Cuban coast. His order were to bring his men ashore, dig in at Playa Larga, hang on and wait for the U.S. assistance. At dawn he moved forward with the Second Battalion, accompanied by a single tank and two .50-caliber machine guns mounted on armored trucks.

    Sparring began at 2:00 p.m., mostly close-quarters, small-arms work. "There were several killed and wounded," Oliva said. "At that moment, the planes came. It was one of the few times I was able to make radio contact with a B-26. They told me there were hundreds of militiamen advancing toward our position. I ordered them to attack the area."

    The roof fell in on FernándezÍs militia. But neither he nor Oliva knew that the sortie was to be exilesÍ last coordinated air strike. For political reasons, the Kennedy Administration was to leave them without help, marooned in hostile territory.

    Oliva was doomed already, but didnÍt know it.

    Fernández, meanwhile, could feel some encouragement from reinforcements, which arrived with a four-cannon anti-aircraft battery. He now had Oliva outgunned and outmanned, but "some of the tanks didnÍt even shoot," Fernández said, because the gunners didnÍt know how.

    It was during the lull when Oliva, eavesdropping on enemy radio, learned who was opposing him.

    "The radio said troops from Matanzas had arrived," Oliva said. "What came to mind was that when I left Cuba, Fidel Castro had ordered me to join the cadet school that Fernández directed."

    At 8:00 p.m., Fernández opened a four-hour artillery barrage ¿ 2,000 rounds, about one shot every seven seconds.

    Oliva: "They were terribly inaccurate. They were either way long or way short. I had nothing to respond with, because artillery is the only thing that can answer artillery. ThereÍs nothing you can do except sit it out."

    Fernández: "The assault was very difficult because there was only one road to the Rotonda (a traffic circle), which is the entrance to Playa Larga. The enemy was well entrenched at the Rotonda and we were unable to take it."


     ALL NIGHT ATTACK  

    Oliva: "When the smoke cleared, I passed the word, man-to-man, that the infantry attack was imminent."

     It lasted all night. Although it was unsuccessful, Fernández exhausted OlivaÍs ability to resist. At dawn, Oliva pulled back to join the rest of the invading force a Girón. Fernández tried but failed to cut him off.

    Oliva dug in about half a mile outside Girón and waited. That night there were only "a few skirmishes."

    What should have been the final battle began around 2 p.m. on April 19. It lasted until 4:30 p.m. when, suddenly, the militiamen withdrew.

    We were already overrun," Oliva said. "I was stunned."

    What had happened was that Fernández and his artillerymen were confronting two American destroyers about 1.5 miles off the beach at Girón. "My men wanted to shoot the ships. They were within our range. Then the destroyers suddenly turned around and disappeared over the horizon.

    "I think it was a wise decision on my part ¿ and by the ships, too," Fernández said. "Up to then, we had no gone beyond what was prudent. No one knows what would have happened if firing broke out between ships and shore."

    The decision that delayed FernándezÍs victory at Girón may have saved two countries from war. It almost certainly saved the exiles from annihilation.

    When Fernández entered Girón at sunset, the invaders had dispersed. Eventually almost all were cornered in the swamps.

    Fernández finally met Oliva (two weeks later) on the beach at Girón.

    "You only caught me because I ran out of bullets, Oliva said.

    Fernández smiled.


   
   ON DECEMBER 29, 1962, THE PRISONERS OF WAR WERE WARMLY WELCOMED BY PRESIDENT KENNEDY AND THE FIRST LADY, JACQUELINE, AT THE ORANGE BOWL OF MIAMI. THE PRESIDENT SAID:

 "I BRING MY NATION'S RESPECT FOR YOUR 
COURAGE AND YOUR CAUSE..."

 
    Above: President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Manuel Artime Bueza and the Second-in-Command of the Assault Brigade "2506", Erneido A. Oliva.   

Oliva, addressing the thousands in the stadium said:

 "Mr. President, the men of the Brigade 2506 give you their banner; we temporarily deposit it with you for safekeeping."

     
 Above:  Erneido A. Oliva presents the Brigade flag to President John F. Kennedy. 

       The President unfurled the Brigade flag, stepped to the microphone and said:

"Commander, I want to express my great appreciation to the Brigade for making the United States the custodian of this flag."

He paused, and then his voice rising emotionally declared:

      "I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THIS FLAG WILL BE RETURNED TO THIS BRIGADE IN A FREE HAVANA."



    
 Above:  Fifteen hundred members of the Assault Brigade "2506" marching to their assigned positions in front of the presidential platform at Miami's Orange Bowl.