On this day in 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion took place when a force of 1400 Cuban exiles, funded and led by the U.S., landed on the southwest coast of Cuba in a failed attempt at overthrowing the revolutionary Cuban government.
Covertly financed and directed by the U.S. government, the operation took place at the height of the Cold War and its failure led to major shifts in international relations between Cuba, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
The coup attempt came after the Cuban government expropriated property from American capitalists. U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower allocated $13.1 million to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in March 1960 for use against Castro's government. With the aid of Cuban counter-revolutionaries, the CIA proceeded to organize an invasion.
On April 14th, 1961, a squadron of U.S. B-26 bombers camouflaged with Cuban insignias begin a two-day bombing campaign of Cuban airports, destroying a large portion of the Cuban air force.
On the night of April 17th, an invasion force of approximately 1400 Cuban exiles and CIA officers landed on the beach at Playa Girón in the Bay of Pigs. After a few days, the insurgents became overwhelmed by the Cuban army. President Kennedy refused to provide air support for the operation.
The invasion's defeat solidified Castro's role as a national hero and strengthened Cuba-Soviet relations. Several Cuban exiles and two Americans were executed upon capture. Over 1,000 prisoners were exchanged for humanitarian aid from the U.S. government.
- 🐻Link to all Hexbear comms https://hexbear.net/post/1403966
- 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube](https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
- 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread https://hexbear.net/post/4474329
- ⚔ Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread https://hexbear.net/post/4474295
- ✨ Talk with fellow Trans comrades in the New Weekly Trans thread https://hexbear.net/post/4474253
- 👊 New Weekly Improvement thread https://hexbear.net/post/4531124
- 🧡 Disabled comm megathread https://hexbear.net/post/4485105
- Parenting Chat https://hexbear.net/post/4528813
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
I spent a not insignificant amount of time this week trying to explain to a homophobic boomer how HPV and HIV are different.
Oh no, that's awful. The big thing though, that's about viruses, not sexuality, why were they so slow to grasp viruses? Guess homophobia hampers other areas of thought.
A not insignificant part of the discussion was disentangling HPV from their homophobic ideas about HIV+AIDS.
The whole thing started with them declaring that people got HPV from doing sex tourism in Thailand, with detours through why boys should take the HPV vaccine because it's "Gay men who get AIDS" and other fun subjects.
Good work
By the end they acknowledged the difference between HPV and HIV, thought men should get the vaccine (But not for homophobic reasons) and also acknowledged that while gay men are overrepresented in HIV statistics they aren't the biggest demographic.
So that's cool. It also took a while.
Progress is progress! Maybe the homophobia tackling can come another time.