In April 2026, Cuba marks the 65th anniversary of one of the most symbolic victories in its modern history: the defeat of a CIA-backed mercenary brigade that landed on April 17, 1961, atс, near Playa Girón on the island’s southern coast.
The operation, orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency and endorsed byPresident John F. Kennedy, was intended to toppleFidel Castro’srevolutionary government within days.
Instead, it became a humiliating fiasco for Washington. By April 19, Cuban forces, personally directed by Castro, had crushed the invaders.
Among the attackers, approximately 114 were killed and more than 1,200 surrendered. Cuban losses included around 176 members of the regular armed forces, along with a significant number of militiamen.
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Today, amid an acute energy crisis and renewed American pressure, this anniversary carries fresh resonance.
President Donald Trump, whose administration is entangled in a protracted conflict with Iran that has shown signs of stalemate, is once again eyeing America’s “backyard.” Cuba, already reeling from what many describe as an effective energy blockade, fears it may be cast in the role of a “small victorious war” designed to restore the White House’s battered prestige.
Since January 2026, the Trump administration has imposed measures widely characterized by analysts and Cuban officials as an energy blockade.An executive order declared the situation in Cuba an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security and authorized tariffs on goods from countries supplying oil to theisland. Venezuelan deliveries – which had previously covered up to 50 percent of Cuba’s needs, roughly 35,000 barrels per day — halted after the U.S. operation that removed Nicolás Maduro in early January.
Mexican and other tankers faced threats and practical obstacles. The result: several nationwide blackouts in March, as the island’s already aging power grid simply collapsed under thestrain
Source: Global Research
