:''Note: "Playa Girón" is also the title of a song included in the album " Días y Flores", by Silvio Rodriguez.'' Playa Girón (; "Girón beach") is a beach and village on the east bank of the Bahia de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs), which is located in the province of Matanzas, on the southern coast of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. It is part of the municipality of Ciénaga de Zapata.

Geography

Playa Girón is located in one of the largest wetlands in the world, the Ciénaga de Zapata (Zapata Swamp). The adjoining village of Girón was named after the notorious French pirate

Gilberto Giron Gilberto is the Iberian and Italian version of the originally Norman-French given name '' Gilbert'', used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish languages. In Galician, it's spelled Xilberto or Xilberte. ''Gilbert'' is ultimately derived from the Ger ...

(c.1604).

History

Bay of Pigs Invasion

In April 1961, Playa Girón was one of two landing sites for seaborne forces of about 1,500 armed Cuban exiles in the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called ''Invasión de Playa Girón'' or ''Batalla de Playa Girón'' after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly fin ...

, an American

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

-sponsored attemptInfo on CIA website
/ref> to overthrow the new government of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro. Over 72 hours, fighting took place in many parts of the Cienaga de Zapata, Playa Girón being the last remaining area occupied by the invaders. Today, the Museo Girón is a small museum dedicated to the historical conflict.

Other

Since

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, the Campeonato Nacional de Boxeo Playa Girón amateur boxing tournament is held at the beach; winners have included

Teófilo Stevenson Teófilo Stevenson Lawrence (29 March 1952 – 11 June 2012) was a Cuban amateur boxer who competed from 1966 to 1986. He won the Val Barker Trophy (1972) and was honored with the Olympic Order (1987). Stevenson is one of only three boxers t ...

and Juan Hernández.

Music

The Cuban folk singer

Silvio Rodríguez Silvio Rodríguez Domínguez (born 29 November 1946) is a Cuban musician, and leader of the Nueva Trova movement. He is widely considered Cuba's best folk singer and arguably one of Latin America's greatest singer-songwriters. Known for his in ...

composed a song called ''Playa Girón'', dedicated to the fishermen in a boat with that name in which he worked from 1969 to 1970. This song was later included in the album ''Dias y Flores'' (Days & Flowers), published in 1975. However, the ''Playa Girón'' theme has a double meaning. It refers to both the boat and the conflict won by Cuban government forces. Not to be confused with ''Prelude Giron'', another song by Silvio Rodríguez that also addresses the issue of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Another possible explanation, suggested by the lyrics themselves, is that the song is a reference to the preludes of the infamous Quinquenio Gris, the Grey Quinquennial.

Gallery

File:04052016PlayaGironPropagande.jpg, A roadside billboard in Playa Girón celebrating Cuban victory in 1961 File:Costa de Playa Girón.jpg, The surf breaking on the rocks of the Playa Girón File:Victory os Socialism.JPG, 'Victory of Socialism' political poster File:2012-02-14 001 IMG 7201.JPG, A view down the hall of the Museo of Playa Giróm File:Airplane in Museo Giron.jpg, A

Hawker Sea Fury The Hawker Sea Fury is a British fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. It was the last propeller-driven fighter to serve with the Royal Navy, and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft ...

FB.11 - these were refurbished

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

airframes File:Russian tank.jpg, A Soviet-made T-34-85 tank File:Monument rus tank.jpg, A Soviet

SU-100 The SU-100 ('' Samokhodnaya Ustanovka'' 100) was a Soviet tank destroyer armed with the D-10S 100 mm anti-tank gun in a casemate superstructure. It was used extensively during the last year of World War II and saw service for many years af ...

tank destroyer File:Playa giron museum.jpg, The same Sea Fury viewed from the rear File:Puska rus.jpg, A mortar and baseplate in the museum File:Orudie.jpg, Rifles in a display case File:Gun pushka rus.jpg, A quad towed mount

DShK The DShK 1938 ( Cyrillic: ДШК, for russian: Дегтярёва-Шпагина Крупнокалиберный, Degtyaryova-Shpagina Krupnokaliberny, links=no, "Degtyaryov-Shpagin large-calibre") is a Soviet heavy machine gun with a V-shaped bu ...

Bibliography

*Rodriguez, Juan Carlos. 1999. Bay of Pigs and the CIA. Ocean Press. Melbourne.

References

External links

Playa Girón
on EcuRed {{DEFAULTSORT:Playa Giron Populated places in Matanzas Province Beaches of Cuba