Compatriots:
Exactly 40 years ago, at this same time, in this same
place, we proclaimed the socialist nature of our Revolution. We had just buried the men
who had died victims of the perfidious attack made at daybreak on April 15, 1961.
A sea of rifles was
raised by the people
who, like 40 years ago,
swore to defend, with
their last drop of blood,
"this Revolution of
the humble, by the
humble and for
the humble." |
The B-26 bombers used for the attack, a
property of the U.S. government, had been painted with the color and insignias of our
modest Air Force. Our three main air bases—in Ciudad Libertad, San Antonio de los
Baños and Santiago de Cuba—were the targets hit on that treacherous and bloody
morning. The aircraft involved were carrying 10,000 kilograms of bombs, 64 five-inch
missiles and 23,040 50-caliber bullets. In a matter of seconds, our young artillerymen,
still in training, responded to the surprise attack with their antiaircraft weapons. The
enemy could only destroy three fighter planes on the ground.
Seven of our compatriots died and 53 others were
wounded, including five children who lived in the vicinity of the Ciudad Libertad airport.
The attackers’ planes had taken off from a base
in Nicaragua. One of them was shot down, two had to make forced landings in different
places, and all those that made it back to their base had been hit repeatedly by
antiaircraft fire.
By the end of the fighting at the Bay of Pigs, our
cunning enemy had lost 14 pilots, including four U.S. citizens, and 62% of the aircraft
supplied by the United States.
The Revolution, after fighting off the attack of
April 15, was still left with more fighter planes than pilots. And 48 hours later, at
daybreak on April 17, those pilots would deal a devastating blow to the invading forces.
That air attack had served to alert us to the imminent invasion, 36 hours before the
invaders had landed. By then, all of our forces were mobilized and on full alert.
Thus the superpower commenced its loathsome and
cowardly military aggression against our country, in a flagrant violation of international
law.
As was to be expected, the powerful imperialist
machinery of propaganda and deception was immediately put in action. How did the United
States explain those events to the world?
In order to explain this to the generations born
later, I will use excerpts from the same wire dispatches I used on that April 16 to
denounce the shameless conduct of that country’s leaders:
"Miami, April 15, UPI.- Cuban pilots who escaped
from Fidel Castro’s Air Force landed today in Florida in World War II bombers after
having blown up Cuban military facilities¼ One of the Cuban Air Force B-26 bombers landed
in the Miami international airport riddled with bullet holes from antiaircraft artillery
and machine guns, and with only one of its engines working. Another came down in the air
station at the Key West marina; a third bomber landed in another foreign country different
from the one they had originally planned to head to after the attack. There are
unconfirmed reports of another plane crashing off Tortuga Island. The U.S. Navy is
investigating the case. The pilots, who asked for their identities not to be revealed,
disembarked from their planes wearing their maneuver uniforms and immediately requested
asylum in the United States."
Minutes later, another cable:
"Miami, UPI. The pilot of the bomber that landed
in Miami explained that he was one of the 12 B-26 pilots who remained in the Cuban Air
Force¼ ‘My comrades took off earlier to attack the airfields we had agreed to hit.
Later, because I was running out of fuel, I had to head to Miami because I wouldn’t
have been able to make it to our planned destination."
"Miami, April 15, AP. Three Cuban bomber pilots,
fearful of being betrayed in their plans to escape from Fidel Castro’s government,
fled to the United States today after strafing and bombing the airports in Santiago and
Havana.
"One of the two twin-engine bombers landed in
Miami international airport, and the pilot described how he and three others of the 12
B-26 pilots who remain in the Cuban Air Force had planned for months to escape from Cuba¼
Immigration authorities placed the Cubans in custody and seized the planes." As you
can see, they seized their own planes.
"Mexico City, April 15, AP. The bombing of Cuban
bases by Cuban deserter planes was particularly welcomed here by the majority of
newspapers, which joined with the Cuban exile groups to say that the bombing was the
beginning of a movement for liberation from communism¼ . A great deal of activity was
seen among the Cuban exiles. A Cuban source commented that the new Cuban government in
exile would head to Cuba shortly after the first wave of the invasion against the Fidel
Castro regime, to establish a provisional government that it hoped would be quickly
recognized by many anti-Castro Latin American countries. Amado Hernández Valdés, of the
Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front here, said that the time of liberation was drawing
close. He declared that four Cuban bases had been attacked by the three Cuban deserter
planes."
Both agencies published the following news item:
"Statement issued by Dr. Miró Cardona: A heroic
blow in favor of Cuban freedom was dealt this morning by a certain number of officers from
the Cuban Air Force. Before flying their planes to freedom, these true revolutionaries
tried to destroy as many of Castro’s military planes as possible. The Revolutionary
Council is proud to announce that their plans were carried out successfully, and that the
Council has been in contact with them and has encouraged these brave pilots. Their action
is another example of the desperation to which patriots of all social strata can be led
under Castro’s relentless tyranny.
While Castro and his followers try to convince the
world that Cuba has been threatened by an invasion from abroad, this blow in favor of
liberty like others before it, was dealt by Cubans living in Cuba who decided to fight
back against tyranny and oppression or die trying. For security reasons, no further
details will be released."
Miró Cardona was none other than the head of the
provisional government that the United States had locked up in the barracks of an air
base, together with other political leaders, with their bags all packed and a plane ready
to land them on an airstrip in the Bay of Pigs as soon as a beachhead had been secured.
But, the countless lies did not stop here. The wire
services reported that same afternoon:
"The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,
Adlai Stevenson, rejected Roa’s claims¼ and showed the Commission photographs from
United Press International showing two airplanes that landed in Florida today after taking
part in the raids against three Cuban cities. ‘They have the mark of Castro’s
Air Force on their tails, they have the star and the Cuban initials; these are clearly
visible. I will exhibit these photographs with pleasure.’ Stevenson added that those
two planes were piloted by officers of the Cuban Air Force and manned by deserters from
the Castro regime. ‘No U.S. personnel participated in the incident today, and the
planes were not from the United States, they were Castro’s own planes that took off
from his own airfields.’"
Possibly the U.S. government’s trickery and lies
deceived even the press agencies.
It is clear how such lies were concocted in advance
and fed to the pilots: everyone regurgitated the same lies with the same details.
The frustrated president of the Provisional
Government could not be expected to do anything other than repeat the same version.
The case of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
was lamentable. He had been a presidential candidate respected by the general public and
politicians in the United States. Many believe he too was deceived, with no consideration
whatsoever for his reputation.
