where did the bay of pigs take place
Cuba
title: Bay of Pigs text: of swampland to the north and east. At the north end of the bay, the village of Buena Ventura is adjacent to Playa Larga (Long Beach). southeast of that, Playa Girón (Giron Beach) at the village of Girón, named after the notorious French pirate Gilberto Giron (c. 1604). Playa Girón and Playa Larga were the landing sites for seaborne forces of armed Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an American CIA-sponsored attempt to overthrow the new government of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro in April 1961. According to Fidel Castro's former bodyguard, the late Juan Reinaldo Sánchez, Castro title: Bay of Pigs text: Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs () is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones located on the southern coast of Cuba. By 1910, it was included in Santa Clara Province, and then instead to Las Villas Province by 1961, but in 1976, it was reassigned to Matanzas Province, when the original six provinces of Cuba were re-organized into 14 new Provinces of Cuba. The bay is historically important for the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961. Former Cuban president Fidel Castro owned a private island with twenty mansions, a helipad and yachts in the Bay of Pigs. title: Bay of Pigs Invasion text: in Las Villas Province, 150 km south-east of Havana, and east of the Zapata Peninsula. The landings were to take place at Playa Girón (code-named "Blue Beach"), Playa Larga (code-named "Red Beach"), and Caleta Buena Inlet (code-named "Green Beach"). Top aids to Kennedy, such as Dean Rusk and both Joint chiefs of staff later said that they had hesitations about the plans but muted their thoughts. Some leaders blamed these problems on the "Cold War mindset" or the determination of the Kennedy brothers to oust Castro and fulfill campaign promises. In March 1961, the CIA helped Cuban exiles in Miami title: Bay of Pigs Invasion text: Cuba and the Soviet Union. This eventually led to the events of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The invasion was a major failure for US foreign policy; Kennedy ordered a number of internal investigations across Latin America. Since the middle of the 18th century Cuba had been the crown jewel of the Spanish colonial empire. In the late 19th century, Cuban nationalist revolutionaries rebelled against Spanish dominance, resulting in three liberation wars: the Ten Years' War (1868–1878), the Little War (1879–1880) and the Cuban War of Independence (1895–1898). The United States government proclaimed war on the Spanish Empire, resulting title: Bay of Pigs Invasion text: April 1961. Over 1,400 paramilitaries, divided into five infantry battalions and one paratrooper battalion, assembled in Guatemala before setting out for Cuba by boat on 13 April 1961. Two days later, on 15 April, eight CIA-supplied B-26 bombers attacked Cuban airfields and then returned to the US. On the night of 16 April, the main invasion landed at a beach named Playa Girón in the Bay of Pigs. It initially overwhelmed a local revolutionary militia. The Cuban Army's counter-offensive was led by José Ramón Fernández, before Castro decided to take personal control of the operation. As the US involvement became