Episode 286: Bay of Pigs: The CIA’s Failed Coup!

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do a deep dig on the facts and failures of the attempted CIA-backed revolution that was meant to topple Fidel Castro in Cuba, The Bay of Pigs invasion. The Bay of Pigs was a not-so-secret plan for the CIA to train and arm exiled Cubans living in Miami, so they would go back to Cuba and take the island back from Fidel Castro’s communist regime. This plan had the backing of the State Department, the NSA, and even two US presidents (including John F. Kennedy), but it was so badly botched that it is pretty amazing.

First off, why did the CIA do this? Well, they did it once in Guatemala and thought they could do it again in Cuba. Why did the US care? Because corporate interests had been driven from Cuba by Castro, and you don’t mess with the US lobbyist’s pocket books.

So much went wrong in this plan that it’s almost hard to concisely cover it all. First, they only had 1500 men against a standing militia of 200,000 Cubans. Second, the Bay of Pigs invasion was not so secret. Castro (and most of Miami) knew it was happening before it did. It was in the papers, and Soviet radio announced the CIA invasion four days before it happened! Third, the idea that the small force would build support once they landed in Cuba simply wasn’t true. Fourth? I don’t know—coral reefs that they thought were seaweed, sinking ships, stalled boats, a botched air raid that didn’t destroy any of Cuba’s air force, you name it.

This was a critical part of the Kennedy administration and led to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the seemingly permanently strained relations between Cuba and the US ever since the cold war. Plus as a bonus, it’s not the typical sausage fest in the Fight Club Studios; we have a very special guest with us in the studio on this one as well—Patti Larson from Just the Worst Podcast!