The mercenary bombing of the airports of San Antonio de los Baños and Ciudad Libertad in Havana, and of Santiago de Cuba, 65 years ago, was nonetheless expected and deeply impacted the Cuban population, as it was widely believed to be, with a high degree of certainty, the prelude to an invasion.
The entire country mobilized. April 15, 1961, served as a wake-up call, and the National Revolutionary Militias, founded on October 26, 1959, transformed every town and city into a vibrant sea of denim blue and olive green.
Student militias also spontaneously quartered themselves in some secondary schools, without any kind of support, to receive weapons training and be ready to join the defense of the threatened homeland.
On October 7, 1960, Cuban Foreign Minister Raúl Roa denounced the preparations for an invasion of Cuba at the United Nations: "Since late August and early September, troops and barges of the Guatemalan army have been concentrating on the country's Atlantic coast, (...) and numerous exiles and adventurers are receiving special training under the command of U.S. military personnel."
Before the bombing, on February 19, an airplane dropped thousands of leaflets over Havana neighborhoods. On February 28, 14-year-old militiaman Pedro Morejón was murdered, shot in the back by a group of counterrevolutionaries, and on March 6, another militiaman was killed and the warehouse he was guarding was burned down.
On March 14, an armed vessel opened fire with machine guns and cannons on the Santiago de Cuba refinery. On April 13, 1961, the largest department store in Cuba, "El Encanto," was set on fire in Havana, completely destroyed. In this terrorist act, employee Fe del Valle died and 18 people were injured.
At the funeral for the victims of the bombing, Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz proclaimed before a crowd of militiamen with rifles raised high: "We will defend this Socialist Revolution with the same valor with which our anti-aircraft gunners yesterday riddled the aggressor planes with bullets."
This enemy action, besides sowing fear and confusion, aimed to destroy the small and outdated Cuban Air Force (FAC) on the ground, thus ensuring impunity for future enemy incursions by land.
On April 15, eight B-26 bombers took off from Puerto Cabezas in Nicaragua and, upon approaching Cuba, took three different routes: the Puma squadron, with three aircraft, attacked the Ciudad Libertad airfield; the Linda squadron, also with three bombers, headed for Santiago de los Baños; and the Gorilla formation would attack the Santiago de Cuba airport.
The planes were camouflaged with the insignia of the Cuban Air Force. A ninth B-26 bomber flew directly from Nicaragua to Miami to deliver the public version of an alleged desertion and rebellion by Colombian Air Force (FAC) pilots.
Of those B-26s, only five were able to return to Nicaragua. One was shot down by revolutionary forces; another was hit by rebel artillery and forced to land in Key West, while a third, also shot down, had to make an emergency landing on Grand Cayman.
The attack occurred simultaneously minutes before six in the morning. The squadron that attacked Ciudad Libertad encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire, and some pilots emptied their machine guns in areas near the base, killing seven people, including militiaman Eduardo García Delgado, who, before dying, wrote Fidel Castro's name in his blood. Another 53 residents of the area were wounded.
On the morning of April 15, 1961, the presiding officer of the United Nations session gave the floor to Raúl Roa, Cuba's representative, on a point of order. According to established rules, Cuba would not have the opportunity to speak until April 17 to discuss a denunciation of the latest US aggressions against the island. To the perplexity of the US delegates, Roa denounced the bombing of Cuban airports by American planes originating from the United States or from Central American countries subservient to it. The president of the General Assembly warned the Cuban representative that the point he was raising was not a matter of order, but a matter of substance, and therefore he could not address it in that manner. Roa thanked him and added that he could not leave without denouncing the imperialist government of the United States and the actions that "endanger international peace and security." Upon being admonished again, Roa exclaimed: "I have already said it, and I am leaving."
Immediately, the USSR representative requested an urgent meeting, which was approved for 3:00 p.m. that day. Meanwhile, at the memorial service for the victims of the bombing in Havana, Fidel challenged anyone to identify the alleged "deserter" pilots.
In the early morning of April 17, the mercenary landing began on the Zapata Peninsula. The 339th Battalion from Cienfuegos was sent to the area and clashed with the mercenaries' Company E, and combat immediately ensued.
The Cuban people overcame the imperative to defeat the mercenaries in less than three days, and under the leadership of Fidel Castro, they eliminated the invaders in just 66 hours of fighting. The invaders surrendered on the sands of Playa Girón at dusk on April 19, 1961.