This excellent report by Hank Tester is from 2011 but well worth another view:
NBC 6 Miami Reporter Hank Tester and Photojournalists Pedro Cancio debuted this package on WTVJ at 11pm July 29th to honor Cuban exile pilots who fought Communism in the Congo Wars after a failed Bay of Pigs mission. Luckily, some of these pilots and the author of the book that peeked Hank’s interests reside in Miami so he able to bring this story to the TV screens–and now the web.
What courage and commitment these men had. Unsung heroes to say the least.
Very good history, but little consolation. All that the US did was tap into the frustration of Cuban exiles [frustration that they created] and used them for their own purposes that had nothing to do with Cuba’s liberation. The fact remains that we are a much maligned people and there has never been any real desire to bring an end to the castro’s tyranny like there was to bring an end to the communism in the Congo, Vietnam, Chile, Granada, etc…. Cuba is the one exception. That’s not to say that we Cuban exiles have not been partially responsible. I’m not going to be like our “Lateeno brothers and sistas” who blame everything on the US. We have to look no further than people like the Estefan’s, Saladrigas, the Fanjuls, Jorgito Mas Santos, that low-life Argentine born Cuban real estate mogul, the myriad of Cuban American acadamicians who for tenure and a chair at a university side with the regime and the Cubanoids who run back to Cuba after one year of living here to enjoy Cayo Coco vacations and deposit thousands of dollars in castro’s coffers to see how responsible we are. That said, I think that those pilots were used.