Why Did The CIA Fail in the Bay of Pigs Invasion?

A failed mission that turned the relations between the US and Cuba sour; let’s know more about the Bay of Pigs invasion

Jules
5 min readApr 9, 2023
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons

The Bay of Pigs invasion has been heavily criticized throughout the history and is seen as a massive failure of the US foreign policy. The operation was meant to be a covert mission by the CIA to oust Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba, but instead, it turned into a colossal failure that still stains the reputation of the CIA today.

The plan was to equip and train Cuban exiles to create a hold on the southern coast of Cuba. Moreover, they wanted the Cuban people to join the exiles in their quest for a new government. However, the plan was riddled with problems from the beginning and consequently did more harm than good.

In this article, we will explore the key factors that led to the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Poor Planning and Execution

To say that the planning of the Pigs Bays invasion was poor would be an understatement as it was full of several fundamental flaws. Firstly, the CIA assumed that a small group of trained Cuban exiles, supported by U.S. air power, could easily overthrow the Cuban government.

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Jules

Psychology Expert | MSc Social and Cultural Psychology