10 Pesos 40th Anniversary - Battle of Giron

The Bay of Pigs invasion — known in Cuba as the Battle of Girón — lasted 72 hours in April 1961 before the CIA-backed exile brigade collapsed without the U.S. air cover Kennedy withheld at the last moment. Castro personally commanded tank units at the front during the final push, a detail the Cuban government has never allowed to fade from official memory. This 2001 issue marks the 40th anniversary of what Havana considers its first definitive military defeat of American imperialism in the Western Hemisphere.