prior probability

“Until April 1961, the United States had never lost a war, and above all had never deserted a friend.”

–Grayston Lynch, Decision for disaster: betrayal at the Bay of Pigs (2000), p. 26

In other words, before the USA lost the Vietnam War, the war on terror (“Operation Enduring Freedom” in Afghanistan), and the so-called war on drugs, we lost Cuba.

Yesterday (15 May) was my father’s burial. As I mentioned previously (see here), he was a veteran of the heroic Assault Brigade 2506, which fought to liberate Cuba in April 1961. I will have more to say about the Brigade (especially the 6th Battalion, my father’s unit) in the next day or two …

hat tip: Kottke; #HotFrankSummer

Congratulations to the class of 2024, including my daughter Aritizia O., who graduated from the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida (UCF) on May 3rd, as well as my son Kleber E., who graduated from the College of Engineering at the University of Florida (UF) on May 5th. Also, if you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend Jerry Seinfeld’s heartfelt address at this year’s commencement ceremony at Duke:

Performed by the legendary Cachao, one of my father’s favorite fellow Cuban artists:

I have had the somber task of writing my father’s obituary this week (see here), and one of the most surprising and awe-inspiring biographical facts I found as I was digging into the details of my father’s life was that he was a veteran of the heroic Brigada de Asalto 2506, which fought to liberate Cuba in April of 1961! (Here is the brigade’s full membership list; see also here.)

Alas, my father never revealed this part of his early life to me; all I know (so far) is that he joined the Brigade before he met my mother, he was only 18 when he enlisted, was assigned serial number #4133, and was attached to the last of the military units to be formed for the ill-fated invasion, the 6th Battalion under the command of Francisco Montiel Rivera.

If only my father were still alive, for I have so many questions I want to ask him! In the meantime, I have already checked out a few books and downloaded some scholarly articles on the legendary Cuban Brigade and the Bay of Pigs invasion to see if I can uncover any additional details, especially about the 6th Batallion. My preliminary reading list (in alphabetical order, by author) appears below:

BOOKS:

Haynes Johnson, The Bay of Pigs: the leaders’ story of Brigade 2506 (Norton & Norton, 1964), especially 103-202.

Grayston Lynch, Decision for disaster: betrayal at the Bay of Pigs (Potomac Books, 2000).

Victor Andres Triay, Bay of Pigs: an oral history of Brigade 2506 (University Press of Florida, 2001).

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Journals: 1952-2000 (Penguin, 2006), especially pp. 107-119.

Lucien S. Vandenbroucke, Perilous options: special operations as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy (Oxford University Press, 1993), especially pp. 19-50.

Peter Wyden, Bay of Pigs: the untold story (Simon & Schuster, 1979), especially pp. 139-288.

SCHOLARLY ARTICLES:

Brian E. Campbell, “Brigade 2506: young, idealistic, and anti-Castro“, Senior Honors Thesis (The Ohio State University, 2011).

Michael Dunne, “Perfect failure: the USA, Cuba, and the Bay of Pigs, 1961“, Political Quarterly, Vol. 82, No. 3 (Jul., 2011), pp. 448-458.

Piero Gleijeses, “Ships in the night: the CIA, the White House, and the Bay of Pigs”, Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Feb., 1995), pp. 1-42.

Lyman B. Kirkpatrick, Jr., “Paramilitary case study: the Bay of Pigs“, Naval War College Review, Vol. 25, No. 2 (Nov./Dec., 1972), pp. 32-42.

Donald L. Moore, “The Bay of Pigs: an analysis“, Naval War College Review, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Nov., 1966), pp. 1-35.

Lucien S. Vandenbroucke, “Anatomy of a failure: the decision to land at the Bay of Pigs“, Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 99, No. 3 (Autumn, 1984), pp. 471-491.

OTHER/ONLINE:

The George Washingtion University, “The Bay of Pigs: 40 years after: chronology“, The National Security Archive (undated), https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/bayofpigs/chron.html.

Wikipedia, “La invasión de la bahía de Cochinos“, Wikipedia: La Enciclopedia Libre (undated), https://archive.ph/eLC7B.