Consequences

Fidel Castro & Che Guevara

The invasion is recognized as making Castro (and Guevara) even more popular... The revolution "Marxist-Leninist" was declared and Cuba pursued closer relations with the Soviet Union, that helped pave the way for the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Castro was increasingly wary of further US intervention, and more open to Soviet suggestions of placing nuclear weapons on Cuba to ensure its security.

You'll find more information about the Cuban Missile Crisis on Florian Jassogne's blog on the subject !

Political reactions

• John F. Kennedy

The failed invasion severely embarrassed the Kennedy Administration ! On 21 April, in a press conference, President Kennedy said: "There's an ode saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan... What matters is only one fact, I am the responsible officer of the government." 

President Kennedy was angered with CIA's failure, and declared he wanted "to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the wind."

Determined to make up for the failed invasion, the administration initiated Operation Mongoos : a plan to sabotage and destabilize the Cuban government and economy. The plan included the possibility of assassinating Castro. Almost 50 years later, relations between Castro's Cuba and the United States remain strained and tenuous.

President Kennedy with wife Jackie and Officers during a press conference

• Cuban reactions

The invasion failure made Castro wary of future US intervention in Cuba.

In August 1961, during an economic conference in Uruguay, Che Guevara sent a note to Kennedy. It said: "Thanks for Playa Girón. Before the invasion, the revolution was weak. Now it's stronger than ever. "