OPERATION MONGOOSE
"At a meeting in the White House on November 3, 1961, President Kennedy authorized the development of a new program designed to undermine the Castro government in Cuba. The program was code named Operation Mongoose" - (U.S. Department of State).
"Convinced he had been betrayed by his military and intelligence advisers in the decision to launch the Bay of Pigs invasion, John Kennedy placed Cuba in the hands of the one man he knew he could trust", his brother, Robert F. Kennedy (PBS). "My idea is to stir things up on island with espionage, sabotage, general disorder, run & operated by Cubans themselves with every group but Batistaites & Communists. Do not know if we will be successful in overthrowing Castro but we have nothing to lose in my estimate” (U.S. Department of State). |
(U.S. Department of State)
"Detailed report of what Operation Mongoose hoped to accomplish" :
We hope to “Undertake as many political, economic, psychological and other actions as feasible, designed to weaken the Castro regime and isolate it from the rest of the Hemisphere.” |
(U.S. Department of State)
"'End Objective' of Operation Mongoose':
“Cuban-owned shipping (22 ships). Sink in Cuban or Bloc ports, or high seas. Sabotage cargoes. Make crews inoperative” |
"History has revealed that Operation Mongoose was, in its own way, every bit as disastrous as the Bay of Pigs. 'It was an expensive and embarrassing failure,' summed up Thomas. 'Castro after all is still alive in Cuba, and the people who tried to get him are long since gone. And the way they went after him, by hiring the Mafia, was something that has long-term effects on U.S. foreign policy. People still see the CIA as this sinister, nefarious force'" (PBS).
"The placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba, discovered in the fall of 1962, caused a suspension of Mongoose activities, and efforts to deal with Cuba took a different turn" (Mary Ferrell Foundation).