Page 45 - Gobierno ivisible

Date: 4/5/2011 Page: 45 of 237

"We must hold twenty-four hours more," the CIA chief said. "Don't play the bells loud, but something is going to
happen."

It was the sort of vague promise that the Cubans, by this time, were fed up with. Now they rebelled. Cosme
addressed the assembled pilots. "I think we've had enough losses," he told them. "I believe this operation is a
failure. I don't see any reason to continue the flights. Either they appoint another operations officer or no airplane
takes off from Happy Valley with Cubans aboard."

It was 9:45 A.M. The air operations at Happy Valley were over. In four days of combat the exile air force had
flown more than thirty-six missions, against overwhelming odds. It had fought an air battle against faster, more
maneuverable planes, jets and conventional fighters that were supposed to have been destroyed on the ground.*
Its men were weary from lack of rest and sleep.

It had suffered fifty-percent losses -- twelve of its twenty-four B-26s were gone. Fourteen pilots had died -- ten
Cubans and four Americans.

***

This final day of the invasion found Mario Abril with his battalion west of Giron Beach fighting against the
militia as the perimeter was gradually pushed back.

"We stayed there until 1:00 P.M. At that time Erneido Oliva, the battalion commander, he told us everything was
real bad and we were doing pretty bad, no support at all from the Americans. We could see the ships and they
don't send nothing. He told us to try to run to the hills. He told us he was going that way, to resist until we can do
something. So we started walking that way. At Giron Beach 1 got water, and with a couple of friends of mine, 1
started running for the woods. That was 3:30, maybe 4:00 P.M. * 1 was in real bad condition. 1 started walking
toward Cienfuegos. 1 got friends there and I believed if I could get there 1 would be saved."

The invasion was over. By 5:30 P.M. Castro's forces were engaged in mopping-up operations at the Bay of Pigs.
At the same hour the indignant members of the Cuban Revolutionary Council, free at last from their Opa-locka
confinement, were meeting secretly with Kennedy at the White House. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., the Harvard
historian and assistant to the President, and Adolf Berle had flown to Miami during the night to placate the Cuban
leaders, after which the Council was flown to Washington for a meeting that was both emotional and difficult.
This meeting was not disclosed by the White House until the next day.

In New York, Lem Jones issued two more bulletins for the CIA. The last one regretted that:

... the recent landings in Cuba have been constantly though inaccurately described as an invasion. It
was, in fact, a landing mainly of supplies and support for our patriots who have been fighting in Cuba
for months ... Regretfully we admit tragic losses in today's action among a small holding force which
courageously fought Soviet tanks and artillery while being attacked by Russian Mig aircraft -- a
gallantry which allowed the major portion of our landing party to reach the Escambray mountains.

We did not expect to topple Castro immediately or without setbacks. And it is certainly true that we did
not expect to face, unscathed, Soviet armaments directed by Communist advisers. We did and survived!

The struggle for the freedom of six million Cubans continues!