This bad blood started when some plucky communists overthrew a US backed autocrat called Fulgencio Batista in 1933, and of course Castro became more and more Anti-American. One thing lead to another and soon the US was perpetrating some of the most interesting and unfortunmate conspiracies of the 20th Century.One year before the Cuban Missile Crisis the US took a stab at trying to distablize Cuba. It landed a well funded brigade of cuban exiles to overthrow Castro and take back the governemtn from the communists. Airfields were bombed, and 1500 armed men landed with then intention of starting a war. Unfortunately when it looked like Castro had known about the whole thing and that the brigade was going to fail Mr. JFK himself got cold feet and pulled the plug on the support for the ivaders, thus collapsing the whole thing.

The administration was disgraced, many heads of the CIA resigned, most of the exiles were captured and were released in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine. This was a conspiracy and was not lawful, not was it well planned, and it made Castro and Cuba very paranoid. In that same year the US had been trying to setup revolution from within Cuba itself. In something called Operation Monsoose the US began to stir up the Anti-Castro sentiment inside Cuba. The project had a “six-phase terrorist schedule” and would be a coordinated program of political, psychological, military, sabotage, and intelligence operations as well as assassination attempts and would culminate in October 1962 with an "open revolt and overthrow of the Communist regime." Tis of course never came to pass as the Cuban Missile Crisis put the brakes on the whole operation. Operation Mongoose was a governement conspiracy, was covert, and was unlawful. To this day the effects of both the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Moongoose can be felt in the Cuban attitude towards the US and the worlds ability to belive that the US is capable of trying anything to get rid of its precived enemies.

People growing up in the United States of America today might not be too aware of historical events such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Operation Moongoose. As the USA engadges in its War On Terror and its invasion of Iraq, we can only guess what kind of covert operations were presented to Bush Jr. behind the palisades of power. Perhaps it was such events such as the Bay of Pigs that cause the Bush Administration to use open force instead of quiet revolution; it would be better to shoot first and ask questions later instead of looking like an idiot when your little conspiracy went arwy and your exiles got captiured.

It is also interesting to note that John F. Kennedy was involved in both of these covert operations and he is still considered one of the most sucessful presedents in US history. JFK was of course assasinated a little more than a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. That in itself is one of the most (if not the most) famous conspiracy throeys of the 20th Century and perhaps all time. To this day no one is entrly sure who killed JFK, why they killed him, or even how many people were involved. The conspiracies of the 1960’s left a legacy of distrust and paranoia that continues to thirve even to this day. On September 11th people were not only shocked that such horrible things could happen on American soil; public opnion stayed steadfast while the rubble at “Ground Zero” was still smolsering, but soon questions were asked. Why were our citizens attacked? Who was involved? Did our government know anything about the attacks before they happened? Moved made by people like Micel Moore fanned the fames of distrust and soon 9-11 was a conspiracy theory playground.

One thing to note about the Bay of Pigs Invasion and Opertaion Mongoose is that they were proven to exist and therefore are not theroies. Perhaps in fifty years documents from the FBI and CIA will shed light on the events of the first five years of the 21st Centruy. Both the Pigs and the Mongoose have taught Americans to be cautious of their government.

BY: Ryan Fairley