In New York, the Democratic Front and the Revolutionary Movement of the People, two major Cuban opposition groups, announced agreement on setting up a revolutionary council with ex-premier José Miro Cardona as president. He urged all Cubans to revolt against Castro.
Rumors became rife of anti-Castro forces led by the Cuban revolutionary council. At the UN on April 15, Cuban foreign minister Raúl Roa accused theU.S. and the Latin American nations of preparing an invasion.
A CUBAN REBEL FORCEof about 1,600 men, funded and trained by theCIA, INVADED SOUTHERN CUBA and established a beachhead near the Bay of Pigs, but it was driven off with heavy losses. The force had been directed by CIA officials, but at the last moment the U.S. government withdrew air support, effectively guaranteeing a massive defeat. In the aftermath of the invasion, popular support for Castro in Cuba reached new heights, and Castro began to refer to the revolution as a socialist one. Members of the former PSP also assumed more prominent roles in his government.
