Cold War enemies make up

Famous victory for Cuba, humiliating defeat for the US

Cuba's President Fidel Castro has met some of the American protagonists of the failed US-backed invasion which aimed to overthrow him nearly 40 years ago.

Mr Castro made an unexpected appearance at conference being held in Havana by senior advisors to the then-US president, John F Kennedy, former soldiers from both sides, Cuban officials and historians.

The meeting is aimed to be an academic exercise to discuss the operation and battleground tactics in the light of recently declassified documents covering one of the Cold War's tensest moments.

About 1,500 men were trained by the CIA and sent to overthrow the fledgling Castro government.

The force landed in the Bay of Pigs on 17 April 1961, but were annihilated within 65 hours by Cuban forces led by Castro himself.

Infamous defeat

When the shooting was over, about 200 members of the exile force, the 2506 Assault Brigade, were dead, and more than a 1,000 taken prisoner. Washington had to pay $50m for their release.

For Fidel Castro, it was victory over "Yankee imperialism"

For Cubans, the victory was their first triumph over what they called " Yankee imperialism".

For the US, it was a humiliating defeat.

From that point, relations between the two countries were effectively severed, leading to the tensions that persist today.

A year later, the Cuban missile crisis took the world to the brink of Cold War nuclear confrontation.

Among those attending the conference is Arthur Schlesinger, a historian and special adviser to President Kennedy during the disastrous invasion.

Failed invasion

There has long been controversy over why the invasion failed.

Historian Arthur Schlesinger was a top adviser to President Kennedy

Many members of the 2506 Brigade blamed bungled planning and the Kennedy administration's failure to provide sufficient air cover.

But Cuban vice-president Jose Ramon Fernandez rejects this view, and says the invaders were unprepared for the bravery and firepower of the Cuban troops.

"Usually, history is written by the victors," he said. "But in this case, it has been written by the losers."

The conference has divided the Cuban exile community in the United States, which has criticised some of their colleagues for taking part.