DATE=8/20/1999 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT TITLE=BAY OF PIGS MONUMENT NUMBER=5-44101 BYLINE=MICHAEL BOWMAN DATELINE=MIAMI CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: In Miami, Cuban exiles have announced plans to construct a monument to honor pilots who were killed while taking part in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. V-O-A's Michael Bowman has details. TEXT: Amado Cantillo was one of 72 pilots the U-S Central Intelligence Agency trained in Guatemala in the months leading up to the Bay of Pigs invasion. The pilot's mission was to bomb selected targets in Cuba and to provide air support for the 1500 exiles who landed on the island. Mr. Cantillo flew a B-26 twin-propeller plane the C-I-A disguised so as to appear that it belonged to the Cuban airforce. Mr. Cantillo survived the disastrous campaign, but says he often thinks about his fellow-pilots who did not: the 10 Cubans and 4 Americans who died attempting to oust the government of Fidel Castro from Cuba. Mr. Cantillo says the pilots who lost their lives deserve to be remembered. // CANTILLO ACT // Let's build a monument - with an original B-26 aircraft - for these brave pilots. And let's not forget this historic event. // END ACT // The monument will feature a B-26 plane donated by a U- S Air Force museum in California, as well as plaques bearing the names of the 14 deceased pilots. With financial support from the Bacardi-Martini Beverage Company, the monument will be constructed at an airfield south of Miami and is to be completed by April of next year - the 39th anniversary of the ill- fated invasion. Bay of Pigs veteran pilot Amado Cantillo says the fact that the 1961 campaign failed does not invalidate the sacrifices or the motivations of those who took part in the effort. // ANTILLO ACT / We lost. When you lose, a lot of people don't want to remember. But we do want to remember. We want other people to know what happened and why we lost. Remember, we were fighting for democracy - not only for Cuba - but (also) for the rest of Latin America. // END ACT // Not everyone who supports the monument's construction was born in Cuba. Janet Ray Weininger, a native of (the southern state of) Alabama, is the daughter of the late Thomas Ray, one of four American pilots who were killed flying missions over Cuba. Thomas Ray belonged to the Alabama Air Guard, and was recruited by the C-I-A for the Bay of Pigs mission. He was shot down while attempting to bomb Fidel Castro's headquarters and executed by Cuban security forces. Janet Ray Weininger says her father knew the risk he was taking. // WEININGER ACT // He said, `If we don't stop communism in Cuba, (then) one day we will have to fight it in our own backyard.' That was his way of telling why he was going to die, most likely, in a country that was not his own. // END ACT // // BEGIN OPT // Historians continue to argue over who was primarily responsibility for the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion. Some point to President John F. Kennedy, who gave final approval for the campaign within months of taking office. Some blame the president's advisors. Others blame the C-I-A. Ms. Weininger says, regardless of where the blame falls, there is a clear lesson to be learned from the event: // WEININGER ACT // When our government and our politicians make the decision to send a man or woman into war, then, by God, they better support them 110-percent - as though it was their own children (who would be fighting). // END ACT // END OPT // The Bay of Pigs invasion became a diplomatic nightmare for the United States - and provided the Cuban government with a public relations bonanza, both at home and on the world stage. Many Cuban exiles that took part in the invasion remain bitter about the way it was executed and its ultimate failure. But they say they take solace from the fact the memories of some of their fallen brothers-in-arms will be preserved when construction of the monument is completed. (SIGNED) NEB/MCB/ENE/KL 20-Aug-1999 14:13 PM EDT (20-Aug-1999 1813 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .