CUBA ON A KNIFE EDGE
Lopez de la Cruz recalls being imprisoned in Havana while the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted around him
The Cuban Missile Crisis took the world to the brink of nuclear war when the Soviet Union installed missile sites on Cuba. Fidel Castro had closely aligned himself with the Soviets following the Bay of Pigs and requested that the missile sites be established to deter a future invasion. They were discovered by an American U-2 spy plane in October 1962 and a tense standoff ensued between President Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.
Inside Castillo del Príncipe prison, Lopez de la Cruz was initially unaware of events due to being in solitary confinement: “I didn’t know anything because I had no communications in the cell. When they got me out I read that something was going on.” It transpired that Brigade 2506’s captors had murderous plans if the crisis escalated: “The guards were going to put dynamite in the prison so if the Americans came we’d be killed. They also reinforced the area and had antiaircraft units in preparation for an invasion.”
Although Cuba had become a nuclear geopolitical hotspot, Lopez de la Cruz recalls the prisoners’ defiance: “We were obviously concerned but we also thought that the crisis would perhaps end Castro’s government. I remember telling the guard, ‘We’re watching you and know that when the Americans get here just see what will happen to you.’ People were throwing things at the guards from the doors of the cells and a couple of times they would shoot inside. Several people were wounded but fortunately nobody died.”
The crisis ended on 29 October 1962 with the Soviets removing the missile sites. One of the conditions was an American assurance that they would not re-invade Cuba. This greatly disappointed Brigade 2506. “The crisis was the result of Kennedy not doing what he had to at the Bay of Pigs. I think the brigade’s commanders felt that Kennedy was a wimp because he could have done anything he wanted. Fortunately, the crisis didn’t turn into a nuclear war but the worst thing about the missile agreement was the pledge that America would not invade Cuba. That was horrible because Kennedy was asking us to fight while he signed an agreement saying, ‘I’m not going to invade Cuba again.’ It was not a clear message.”
“THE GUARDS WERE GOING TO PUT DYNAMITE IN THE PRISON SO THAT IF THE AMERICANS CAME WE WOULD BE KILLED”
on their way to Cuba. We were briefed but were ignorant of the changes that had been made. We knew that anybody could die but in our minds we would win.”
Invasion
Now the second-in-command of D Company, 1st Paratrooper Battalion, Lopez de la Cruz was restless for action on the morning of 17 April 1961. “We departed from Nicaragua at around 3am and flew in some C-46 [transport aircraft]. Many of us were so excited to get in the planes that we were sleeping under their wings. We were like sardines because there were too many people in each aircraft but we were excited. The morale was high and you could tell that people were really enthusiastic about going. The feeling was, ‘We can finally go and fight for our country.’”
Lopez de la Cruz was one of 177 paratroopers while 1,334 other members of Brigade 2506 travelled by sea to the Bay of Pigs. The airborne battalion spearheaded the invasion. “Our mission was to stop anything on the roads that were going to the beach. We were to provide time so that the rest of the brigade could disembark. We flew over three avenues of approach to the beach and started jumping almost immediately. I jumped over a small town called San Blas and it was a matter of minutes before we secured the place. We waited for the enemy but it was only a couple of hours later that they were arriving and fighting the battle.”
Castro lost no time in assembling his forces against Brigade 2506. Taking personal charge of the counterattack, he commanded over 20,000 troops of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces and Militia. The brigade immediately ran into trouble, with Castro’s remaining aircraft strafing soldiers on the beach and sinking two ships. Over the next three days the exiles struggled to keep fighting. “We were able to hold San Blas for a while. On the second day, 3rd Battalion came to help us and on the third day a brigade tank arrived. However, we didn’t receive any resupplies so we fought with what we had and by the third day we had ran out of ammunition.”
Lopez de la Cruz recalls an intense fighting experience where the brigade fought against overwhelming odds. “Castro’s forces were using old tactics like mass attacks instead of manoeuvring. It was very easy to stop those attacks but you spent a lot of ammunition doing it. That was a problem and the fighting was almost non-stop. On the second day we were under artillery attack for hours and had to move 500 yards back while they were firing shells. We didn’t get any casualties from those artillery rounds but we had to leave our established line of defence.”
Although he was only 20 years old Lopez de la Cruz quickly had to assume command. “We were divided into three groups. Only half of my company was there and I was in command because my commander was wounded during the jump and had to be evacuated to the beach. With my group I was preoccupied with making sure we were not outflanked or anything like that.”
By the third day of the invasion, the lack of ammunition became critical. “I knew by then that we were going to run out, and we did. I only had one carbine and my pistol. I first ran out of ammunition for my carbine and the only thing I had left was my pistol, and most of the other people were in the same way.”
After being informed by his battalion commander to withdraw to the beach, Lopez de la Cruz and his men destroyed most of their weapons and rethought their plans.
“There were just a few rounds left by the time we got to the beach. We were then told there was no hope, no ammunition coming and that there was no way we could stop Castro’s forces. We thought we could try and infiltrate through the enemy lines so we divided into very small groups of three to five people. My group moved northeast and we waited for a couple of days until we were surprised and captured in an open field.”
“We’re going to die”
With over 100 members of Brigade 2506 killed or downed and almost 1,200 captured, the
Bay of Pigs Invasion was a decisive victory for Castro. On the ground, Lopez de la Cruz was captured in tense circumstances. “We knew we could die but capture never crossed my mind and I was confused and frustrated. One of the guys who captured us was really angry and wanted to know if we were paratroopers. When we said yes he said, ‘You son of a bitch, you killed my brother.’ He actually wanted to kill us but the rest of the group stopped him.”
The prisoners were escorted back to the beach before they were placed into trucks bound for Havana. Lopez de la Cruz and approximately 100 other captives were forced into a container truck with zero ventilation. “We were really packed when they started closing the doors. A prisoner by the doors said, ‘If you close them we’re going to die. There’s no way we can breathe here.’ One of the captors said, ‘We’re going to close the doors. It doesn’t matter because you’re going to be executed anyway so we’ll be saving on the bullets.’”
The prisoners now embarked on a horrific journey. “It was really bad. We were so packed in, there was no air and – in desperation – people tried to break some of the inside wall with wood. They were able to break open a couple of little holes in two different places
of the container. Air started to come in but the trip took about seven hours.”
Dehydration and suffocation tormented the captives ,who began to die in the cramped truck. “Condensation from the ceiling fell like rain and people tried to capture it because there was no water. However, there was sweat, urine and all kinds of things on the floor. We also trod on people and we knew that they had died from asphyxiation. If I have to say what the most horrific thing I have experienced is then it has to be that one because asphyxiation is a horrible death.
“It was also dark because there was no lighting inside. There were only the little peep holes and their light was enough to show the shadows of the bodies, although you couldn’t recognise their faces. It was one of the most horrific crimes I have experienced.”
By the time the truck arrived in Havana, several prisoners were dead. “When they opened the doors it was like walking into a very cold, air-conditioned place. That says something because Cuba was already hot. People had dropped dead and when I got out I looked back and saw nine bodies lying on the floor of the container. The guards tried to hide it but we already knew there were nine people dead. They said they were going to take serious measures against the people responsible but they didn’t do anything. It was just horrible.”
“We planned an escape”
Upon arrival, the Brigade 2506 prisoners were moved around various locations before they were imprisoned in an 18th century Spanish fort called Castillo del Príncipe in central Havana. They were put on trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison with hard labour. Lopez de la Cruz recalls that the Castro regime attempted to divide the brigade by offering ransoms to those who could afford it. “They divided us into different groups for payment. They were trying to divide the people between those with wealthy families and economic resources against those who didn’t have any money. Three people were able to pay but the vast majority didn’t. I remember one of my friends was offered release because his ransom had been paid but he refused to leave. Our morale was still high – even in prison.”
Lopez de la Cruz decided to make his own bid for freedom. “I knew there was no hope I would be able to pay the ransom but I wouldn’t do it anyway out of principle. However, I did say ‘I have to get out of here’ so with two other friends we planned an escape.”
The escapees prepared two ropes to abseil 40 feet down from their crowded cell to a patioed area of the prison. “It was so crowded in the cell that a guard wouldn’t be able to see in and so we could slip out. The two ropes were needed to get down to the ground before we crossed the moat and climb over the other side.”
On the night of 13-14 June 1962, Lopez de la Cruz lowered from his cell with another comrade. “It was a difficult situation but the night came and it was raining like crazy. The guard on the other side of the moat that usually overlooked our cell left his post. My friend and I then avoided the searchlights, got to the other side, jumped another fence on the outer perimeter and finally emerged into the middle of Havana.”
The pair immediately visited a member of Lopez de la Cruz’s family whose presence in Havana was unknown to the authorities. “We changed clothes and got some money but we weren’t going to stay there. We didn’t want to put this family member into a really bad situation.”
As part of the intricate escape preparations, an arrangement had been made with a contact who would help the escapees leave Cuba.
However, the contact did not appear and Lopez de la Cruz and his friend fruitlessly attempted to seek asylum in various embassies. Castro’s local intelligence forces soon caught the escaped pair. “In every block they had groups that [supported] the revolution. We went to a house that belonged to a lady whose husband had been captured the week before. By the time we got there [Castro’s forces] were waiting for us. We told them we were students on vacation in Havana. They asked for our wallets but we couldn’t provide any ID so we were captured again.”
Lopez de la Cruz and his friend were subsequently interrogated by members of Cuba’s state intelligence agency (known as G2) before they were sent back to Castillo del Príncipe and placed in punishment cells. Confined in a small, dark room for three months, Lopez de la Cruz developed a serious infection and was treated in the prison infirmary before he was reunited with his fellow brigade members.
“Good job”
By the end of 1962, American sympathisers to Brigade 2506’s plight successfully negotiated their freedom. This included Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, who exhorted pharmaceutical companies and even baby food manufacturers to provide financial contributions. Castro ultimately accepted $53 million-worth of materials from America, including medicine and agricultural supplies, in exchange for the prisoners’ release on 23 December 1962. However, Lopez de la Cruz did not leave until Christmas Eve. “I was considered ‘dangerous’ so I left in the very last plane from Cuba on 24 December, before we arrived in Miami that night.”
For the survivors of Brigade 2506, the feeling of freedom was bittersweet. “It was confusing. Obviously we were happy to be out of the
horrors of prison but we were also sad because we had not accomplished what we wanted to do. We all felt that even though we had lost the battle we were willing to continue the fight.”
Soon after Lopez de la Cruz returned to America, he attended a ceremony with the rest of Brigade 2506 and President Kennedy at the Miami Orange Bowl stadium on 29 December 1962. The brigade’s flag was handed over to the president, who declared: “I can assure you that this flag will be returned to this brigade in a free Havana.”
After the speech, Lopez de la Cruz briefly met the president as he walked through the brigade’s ranks. “I was in front of my unit and he came and said hello to me. At that time I had lost a lot of weight and I was really skinny. In my then very bad English I tried to explain what I had done and he said: ‘Good job, good job’ before he left. It was a very short conversation.”
Despite Kennedy’s famous charisma, Lopez de la Cruz was not impressed with his handling of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. “I was highly disappointed and many people were really angry at him. I have to understand that the president and the people around him had to make really tough decisions. As president he had the responsibility for his country. That’s the case for any leader. It’s also politics and he tried to help us in the way that he did. He made a mistake but my main feeling about him at the time was just disappointment.”
Nevertheless, Kennedy did make a private promise to the brigade at the Orange Bowl, which Lopez de la Cruz accepted. “The message was that the fight would continue with another invasion. The Americans would retrain and continue training volunteers and 607 of us accepted that challenge. We joined the US Armed Forces on 11 March 1963 in different branches and started training. This included some Cuban units within the US Army.”
Kennedy’s personal pledge to re-invade Cuba fell apart when he was assassinated on 22 November 1963. “With his death all those plans disappeared because there was an administration change. We were still thinking that we had a chance to go back to Cuba and we were still looking forward in certain ways. We were still in the fight and didn’t want to stop.”
“I would do it again”
Lopez de la Cruz went on to serve for 26 years in the US Army, where he served in the Vietnam War and retired as a decorated colonel. In the 60 years since the Bay of Pigs Invasion he watched Cuba being ruled unopposed by Castro as president until his retirement in 2008. Castro’s younger brother Raúl continued to serve as leader of the Cuban Communist Party and defacto head of state until April 2021. Lopez de la Cruz traces all this to the failure of the invasion. “Because Brigade 2506 was defeated, that had a lot of consequences for the United States and the world. Castro felt that by defeating us he had consolidated his regime and from then he began interfering in different countries.”
Now the president of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association, Lopez de la Cruz is highly critical of how Castro governed Cuba. “What we do with the association is try to convince every US administration that Cuba is dangerous, a communist satellite and oppressing its people. Castro ruined its economy, destroyed families and executed so many people in their thousands. He destroyed a country.”
Since his release in 1962, Lopez de la Cruz has never returned to his home country.
However, if given the chance he would still decline. “The way Cuba is now is the reason why I left. There would have to be a regime change but until that time I would never think of going back.”
Nevertheless, despite the passage of 60 years and a lifelong exile, Lopez de la Cruz is proud of what Brigade 2506 tried to achieve. “I and everybody else in the brigade feel that we did what we had to. That was our vocation, our mission. I would take any opportunity to win democracy and freedom in Cuba and so would every other member of the brigade. That was the reason why we fought and it will always be the reason why we still fight. I would do it again – no matter what.”
Johnny Lopez de la Cruz is the president of the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association. The association’s mission is to assist Brigade 2506 veterans and to defend the values of democracy, human rights, justice and individual liberties. The association also runs the Brigade 2506 Museum in Miami, Florida.
“WE ALL FELT THAT EVEN THOUGH WE HAD LOST THE BATTLE WE WERE WILLING TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT”
For more information visit: www.bayofpigsbrigade2506.com