Fix the Bus

Remember, everyone, conspiracies cannot happen.

Operation Zapata, described here, otherwise known as the Bay of Pigs invasion, proves it.

“Many of the veterans of Operation Success returned to reprise their roles from six years earlier. Dulles welcomed the idea but, as usual, did not ride herd on the details. Tracey Barnes, who had done so well in 1954, returned to oversee political and psychological warfare. Jake Esterline, who ran the Washington war room for Operation Success, was named chief of a new Cuba task force. Howard Hunt, the snappy-dressing spy novelist who handled the political agenda of the Guatemalan rebels, was recalled from Uruguay to organize the AMCIGARs. Hunt’s good friend Dave Phillips, who had organized the clandestine radio and propaganda operation in 1954, took on the same duties for the Cuban exile cause. At the State Department, Ray Leddy took the lead coordinating a report from “the intelligence community” declaring that Castro was “pro-Communist and his advisers either communist or pro-Communist,” an assessment that was more accurate than the agency’s description of Arbenz. Leddy also testified to the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee about the threat of Castro.”

— Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA by Jefferson Morley

Copyright 2022 Archer Crosley All Rights Reserved