Bahia de Cochinas

This is the famous Bay of Pigs. It was the site of the ill fated invasion of Cuba in April, 1961. There is controversy about the exact politics of both how and why, but either way it was a mess. Ca. 1100 of the "troops" in the invading force were captured and subsequently ransomed free to the cost of $53 million in material and cash. Today the bahia is quite beautiful and peaceful. I found an interesting discussion of the incident on a talk page from Wikipedia. This event, like so much in Cuba's recent history, provokes much discussion and many different opinions. One of the most insightful comments in the discussion I read is that "it may be another fifty years before the history of the incident is truly understood." So much of Cuba's history of the past 100 years is misunderstood, controversial, and conflicted. People are so caught up in the travails of the Castro government that they have forgotten the awful treatment of the Cuban people under Machado and Batista. Unfortunately there is a long trail of abuse, exploitation, and murder over the past century.