RAUL SOLIS, CUBAN PILOT, REMINISCES ON A FAILED BAY OF PIGS PLAN, APRIL 20TH, 1961

The bay of pigs was a plan that was created by Dwight D. Eisenhower. The plan was to send people like me, exiled Cubans that were supported by the CIA, into the southern part of Cuba to try and overthrow Castro and his government. The name bay of pigs comes from where we were meant to land in Cuba. I was a pilot for this invasion of Cuba. I flew the Douglas C-54 aircrafts to send people over to Cuba. The whole reason America wanted to get Castro out of power was because he was becoming to friendly with the Soviet Union.
We were first recruited in April 1960 by the CIA, they were looking for any and all Cuban exiles. The CIA got 1,500 Cubans to come and help in this invasion. We trained for 3 months in different parts of Florida. There was places for specialized forces and other facilities for just the normal soldiers. I was in the facilitie for the normal soldier since I was not going to actually fight, instead I was just to transport all of the people over to Cuba. The invasion officially began on April 15, 1961, almost an entire year since we were first recruited.
The invasion was kicked off with the bombing of three different airfields in Cuba. The same airplanes used to cary people over were also used in the bombings of these airfields. The day that we finally stepped foot on Cuba was April 17, 1961. I was the pilot of the first plane to go over to Cuba and send the exiled Cubans, there was only one problem. When I saw that America was not going to help support this invasion I quickly realized this was not going to end well. The exiled Cubans were greatly out numbered against the Cuban Army and militia. Without any help from the Americans I knew that it was going to be a slaughter, that the exiled Cubans did not have a chance of defeating Castro and his government.
When I returned back to America I refused to take any more people over to Cuba. I left the effort to over throw Castro because I knew there was no way of winning without America coming in and helping. Without them the whole invasion would be a complete failure, and I was right. The invasion lasted a total of three days until Castro won. He either killed or captured almost all of the exiled Cubans that were their on Cuba. It was a slaughter, the invasion had no chance of working without America's support.
Kennedy promised that we would have the navy in the water with full support of the American troops. When I first flew over I saw for my self that there were no such navy in the water out side of Cuba helping us invade. It was only us vs the Cuban nation and I knew we could not win. America felt bad about how much of a disaster the invasion was that he offered to help out the Cubans that were captured as prisoners. Castro traded 1,113 prisoners for 53 billion dollars in food and medical supplies to Cuba.
From a political standpoint this really hurt Kennedy. He lost a lot of popularity with the American people with this failed invasion. This invasion was an embarrassment to him and his campaign because it failed so badly. Che Guevara sent a letter to Kennedy saying, “Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it's stronger than ever.” This shows how much of a disaster the Bay of Pigs was, it was a complete success for Cuba and gained a lot of popularity for Castro and his party.