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American Morning

Bay of Pigs Remembered

Aired April 17, 2001 - 10:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A historical landmark today, many Cubans and a small band of veterans are remembering the Bay of Pigs invasion. Forty years ago, about 1,500 U.S. backed Cuban exiles launched an ill-fated attempt to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The Bay of Pigs invasion was an utter failure. Now it's 40 years later and Cuban leader Fidel Castro is still in power and the Cuban government is holding a celebration to commemorate the island nation's victory over the invaders.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It may have been a long time ago, but, you know, there are still strong feelings about that invasion and about the Cuban leader, as well. In fact, one Florida based veteran discovered that the hard way after a recent trip to Cuba.

CNN's Susan Candiotti has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mario Cabello found himself hustled out of the room after being voted out of the Miami-based Bay of Pigs Veterans Association.

MARIO CABELLO, BAY OF PIGS VETERAN: I was called a scoundrel. I was called a traitor. I was called a son of a bitch, you know, all the insults in the dictionary.

CANDIOTTI: Cabello's infraction was participating in a conference in Cuba attended by Cuba President Fidel Castro to decision the Bay of Pigs invasion. Former U.S. and Cuban government officials, veterans and historians examined America's futile attempt to overthrow Castro's government using 1,500 CIA-trained exiles. One hundred fourteen exiles were killed by Castro's forces. Nearly 1,200 more were captured.

Cab was held prisoner for almost two years. By attending the Havana conference, Cabello broke the Cuban vets' cardinal rule, no contact with Castro.

CABELLO: I think they're blinded by hate and resentment and I don't have any hate. I don't have any resentment.

ESTEBAN BOVO, BRIGADE 2506 VETERANS ASSOCIATION: This fellow here was shot down on the first raid over Havana.

CANDIOTTI: As Esteban Bovo, who flew a B-26 in the ill-fated invasion, says Cabello betrayed the Association.

BOVO: How would you feel meeting Stalin or if you are a Jew meeting Adolph Hitler? This was a civil war. It was fathers shooting against sons, brother against brother.

CANDIOTTI: Bovo says as long as Castro is in power, there can be no dialogue.

BOVO: We are intransigent. We are not going to talk to Castro, period.

CANDIOTTI: U.S. national security archivist Peter Kornblum helped organize the conference. He defends Cabello's right to attend it without retribution.

PETER KORNBLUM, BAY OF PIGS AUTHOR: Even though this is a small step towards the future it's a symbolic and important step that there can be a civil dialogue over differences in U.S.-Cuban relations.

CANDIOTTI: Not for this Bay of Pigs group. It says if its members want to talk with Castro, they're out. Cabello says he stands by his freedom to make that choice.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: For more now on the 40th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion, let's go to Washington. CNN's Jeanne Meserve standing by there -- good morning, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. And joining me from Miami is another veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion who also attended that conference in Miami, Alfredo Duran.

Mr. Duran, first, tell me briefly about your experiences 40 years ago.

ALFREDO DURAN, BAY OF PIGS VETERAN: It was a very intense thing. You have to remember that more or less at this time we were under heavy artillery fire and it continued for 48 straight hours. Many Cubans died on those beaches there from both sides and it was really very intense fighting.

We were a group of young men full of patriotism that went there trying to avoid a Stalinist type of communist dictatorship in Cuba.

MESERVE: Now, at the time you obviously opposed President Fidel Castro and yet you attended this conference in Havana. Why did you go?

DURAN: I still have substantial differences with the Cuban government, especially in the civil rights area. I went to that conference because it was important that the point of view of the members of the Brigade 2506 be stated in those historical records. We've been referred to as mercenaries, as functioning as part of the foreign policy of the United States and none of that is true.

We were there as Cuban patriots trying to defend our land from what we believed was an evil that was coming to it and we were looking towards the future of Cuba and to the best interests of the Cuban people and the republic.

MESERVE: And for you, attending this conference, did it bring some sort of reconciliation?

DURAN: It was very, very intense to be sitting at a table around, surrounded by people who were 40 years ago were adversaries and who were shooting at each other very closely and many people on both sides died. But by the time I left that conference, I was, I left full of good faith for my past enemies and with the hope that we set there in that conference a seed of national reconciliation among all Cubans.

MESERVE: What stance do you believe the U.S. government should be taking now towards Cuba? Do you support the hard line approach that says sanctions should remain in place?

DURAN: Not at all. That policy hasn't worked in the past 40 years. It's not working now and it will not work in the future. The United States should rethink its policy towards Cuba and come forth with some innovative and new policy towards Cuba. What's in place right now has not worked and will never work.

MESERVE: Alfredo Duran, thank you so much for joining us from Miami with your perspectives on events of 40 years ago and more recently in Havana.

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