Brigade 2506

Brigade 2506 (Brigada Asalto 2506) was the name given to a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles formed in 1960 to attempt the military overthrow of the Cuban government headed by Fidel Castro. It carried out the abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion landings in Cuba on 17 April 1961.

See Main article: Bay of Pigs Invasion

History
In May 1960, the CIA began to recruit anti-Castro Cuban exiles in the Miami area. For most recruits, infantry training was carried out at a CIA-run base code-named JMTrax near Retalhuleu in the Sierra Madre on the Pacific coast of Guatemala.

In November 1960, with 430 men in training, the leaders of the brigade were chosen, and the group was named Brigade 2506, using the membership number of Carlos (Carlyle) Rafael Santana Estevez, who had died in a training accident in September 1960. The principal commanders were appointed as follows :


 * Manuel Francisco Artime Buesa: political leader
 * José Alfredo 'Pepe' Pérez San Román: military commander
 * Erneido Andrés Oliva Gonzalez: military second-in-command
 * Manuel Villafaña Martinez: commander of the air force
 * Alejandro del Valle Marti: 1st paratroop battalion
 * Hugo Sueiro Ríos: 2nd infantry battalion
 * Noelio Montero Díaz: 3rd battalion
 * Valentín 'Pipo' Bacallao Ponte: 4th armoured battalion
 * Ricardo Montero Duque: 5th infantry battalion
 * Francisco Montiel (Maciera) Rivera: 6th infantry battalion
 * Roberto Pérez San Román: heavy gun battalion
 * Ramon J. Ferrer Mena: chief of staff
 * Enrique Ruiz Williams Alfert
 * Higinio Nino Díaz Ane

About 2,680 names are known for members of the brigade. About 1,334 men travelled on the seaborne force, of which about 1,297 actually landed in Cuba, plus an additional 177 airborne paratroops. An estimated 114 drowned or were killed in action, and 1,183 were captured, tried and imprisoned. Private sympathizers in the United States eventually negotiated to give $53 million worth of food and drugs in exchange for release and repatriation of Brigade prisoners to Miami starting on 23 December 1962. On 29 December 1962, President John F. Kennedy hosted a 'welcome back' ceremony for captured Brigade 2506 veterans at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Some of its members have gone on to found the Brigade 2506 Veteran's Association which controls the Bay of Pigs Museum & Library in Miami.

Among the brigade members were:


 * Lorenzo (CABALLO LOCO) Serrano-Perez
 * Felix Candido Beruvides Ballesteros
 * Orlando Bosch
 * Jorge Más Canosa
 * Luis Posada Carriles
 * Jose Antonio Llama
 * Bernard Barker
 * Félix Rodríguez (Central Intelligence Agency)
 * Sergio Gilberto Díaz
 * Alfredo Gonzalez Duran
 * Raul Masvidal
 * Orlando Atienza
 * Anibal P. Naranjo
 * Hiram Gomez