Operation 40
Operation 40was thecode namefor aCentral Intelligence Agency-sponsoredcounterintelligencegroup composed ofCuban exiles.[1]The group was formed to seize control of theCuban governmentafter theBay of Pigs Invasion.[2]Operation 40 continued to operate unofficially until disbanded in 1970 due to allegations that an aircraft that was carryingcocaineandheroinin support of the group crashed in California.[1]
It was approved by PresidentDwight D. Eisenhowerin March 1960, after the January 1959Cuban Revolution,and was presided over by Vice PresidentRichard Nixon.[citation needed]
Origins
[edit]On 11 December 1959, following theCuban Revolutionof January 1959, ColonelJ.C. King,chief of theCIA'sWestern Hemisphere Division,sent a confidential memorandum to CIA directorAllen W. Dulles.King argued that inCubathere existed a "far-left dictatorship, which if allowed to remain will encourage similar actions against U.S. holdings in other Latin American countries."[citation needed]
The group was presided over by then-Vice PresidentRichard M. Nixonand included AdmiralArleigh Burke,Livingston Merchantof theState Department,National Security AdviserGordon Gray,as well as Dulles himself.[citation needed]
Tracy Barnesfunctioned as operating office of theCuban Task Force.He called a meeting on 18 January 1960, in his temporary office near theLincoln Memorial.[citation needed]
On 17 March 1960,President Eisenhowersigned aU.S. National Security Councildirective on the anti-Cuban covert action program authorizing the CIA to organize, train, and equip Cuban refugees as a guerrilla force to overthrow the government of Cuban prime ministerFidel Castro.[citation needed]
Operations
[edit]Operation 40 was not only involved in sabotage operations. One associate of the group, although never a member,Frank Sturgis,allegedly told author Mike Canfield: "this assassination group (Operation 40) would upon orders, naturally, assassinate either members of the military or the political parties of the foreign country that you were going to infiltrate, and if necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents...We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time."[citation needed]The group sought to incite civil war in Cuba against the government of prime minister Fidel Castro. When Operation 40 failed in accomplishing this goal, then in October 1960,Brigade 2506was created, a CIA-sponsored group made up of 1,511Cuban exileswho fought in the April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion.
On 17 April 1961, Vicente León León, with other members of Operation 40, landed at the Bay of Pigs via the CIA-chartered freighterAtlántico.He was killed in action.[3]
See also
[edit]
- Brigade 2506
- Assassination attempts on Fidel Castro
- Richard M. Bissell, Jr.
- Cuban Power
- Cuban Project
- Echo 31
- Guillermo Hernández-Cartaya
Notes
[edit]- ^abSmith, Jr., W. Thomas(2003)."40, Operation".Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency.New York: Facts on File, Inc. p. 104.ISBN9781438130187.RetrievedOctober 5,2015.
- ^Bartlett, Charles(May 11, 1961)."Cuban Terror Unit Barred?".The Palm Beach Post.Palm Beach, Florida. p. 9.RetrievedMay 7,2015.[permanent dead link]
- ^Rodriguez (1999), p.153
Bibliography
[edit]- Bohning, Don. 2005.The Castro Obsession: U.S. Covert Operations Against Cuba, 1959–1965.p. 303ISBN1-57488-676-2
- Rodriguez, Juan Carlos. 1999.Bay of Pigs and the CIA.Ocean Press Melbourne.ISBN1-875284-98-2
External links
[edit]- Bay of Pigs, 40 Years After: ChronologyatThe National Security ArchiveviaGeorge Washington University
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