Two members of the Brigada 2506, the assault force made up of Cuban refugee freedom fighters who stormed the beach at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs in an effort to free their homeland from communist tyranny, have died in exile here in the U.S. Roberto Pichardo and Armando Bolet, both Bay of Pigs veterans, passed away over the weekend.
Roberto Pichardo and Armando Bolet, members of the 2506 Brigade, the group that led the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, passed away in the United States this past weekend.
Vicente Blanco Capote, a fellow member of the Brigade, confirmed to Martí Noticias that the two Cuban fighters died in exile.
Roberto Pichardo was the head of the Technical Department of the Air Force, Blanco Capote explained, noting that Pichardo was responsible for all “radio equipment issues” as well as radar equipment.
He landed in Cuba with 11 mechanics to provide logistical support to the B-26 aircraft that were intended to land in Girón.
After his time in prison, Pichardo “continued his career, fighting against the communists. He also went to the Congo to provide technical support to the B-26 aircraft for the Brigade pilots involved in the Congo operation,” Blanco Capote added.
Armando Bolet, on the other hand, was a paratrooper during the Girón invasion and fought in San Blas, Blanco Capote recalled. Later, Castro’s forces captured him.
He had a career as a civilian pilot and flew 747 aircraft, said Blanco Capote, who is also a member of the Brigade.
Little by little, hero by hero, the Cuban exile community is losing its historic generation. The generation that risked their lives to fight tyranny and communist oppression. May they rest in peace and their legacy never be forgotten.
May they rest in peace, unlike the man who assured the invasion’s failure.
I agree. Kennedy got romanticized and he was never as good a president as was reported and believed.
Kennedy was a Ken doll. He looked and sounded far better than he actually was, but the media fawned on him and the public ate it up. Yes, he screwed Cuba big time, but more importantly for Americans, he got the US into Vietnam, which had very noxious and longstanding consequences.