On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the defeat of U.S.-backed mercenaries by Cuban revolutionaries at the Bay of Pigs, heightened discussion in newspapers and on television is stimulating interest in the book, which features excerpts of several speeches by Cuban commander-and-chief Fidel Castro before and after the battle, and also the July 1999 testimony by José Ramón Fernández before a Havana court detailing the background to the April 1961 victory. Fernández, commander of the main column of the victorious Cuban revolutionary forces, is retired from active duty and holds the rank of brigadier general in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba.

On April 17 CNN featured an article on its web site called "Bay of Pigs Fiasco Spawned Anti-Castro Plotters," which put forward the commonly used argument that the invasion failed because then-president John Kennedy or the CIA botched the operation by failing to provide sufficient air cover to the invaders. In Playa Girón, Fernández and Castro explain how in fact the U.S. invasion failed because the revolutionary morale of the Cuban workers and farmers, based on real steps forward such as the land reform and the literacy campaign, made them capable of rapidly overwhelming a force made up of wealthy landowners and businessmen who were fighting for property.

An article in last week's Militant printed a review of Playa Girón from El Diario/La Prensa, the Spanish-language daily with the biggest circulation in the New York area, criticizing the book on several counts, and a reply by coeditor Mary-Alice Waters. The owner of the Spanish-language bookstore Mundo de las Letras (World of Letters) in Jackson Heights, Queens, called Pathfinder's office in response to the caustic review, reports Pathfinder editor Luis Madrid. "Even if it's a negative review, it could still be good for the book," the store owner told Madrid, and ordered 35 copies of the book and 40 copies of Che Guevara Talks to Young People.

Participants at two celebrations of the anniversary of the Bay of Pigs victory, one in Miami and the other in New York City, bought 15 copies of the new book, 6 in New York and 9 in Miami, and a total of $450 in books and pamphlets at the two meetings.

In New York City, the three Socialist Workers Party branches and the Young Socialists got out a number of street tables in workers districts in Manhattan and Brooklyn over the same weekend, and attended several events, including a concert by Cuban musician Pablo Milanes and a two-day Socialist Scholars Conference. They sold more than $1,200 in Pathfinder literature in four days, including 19 books at the concert, mostly in Spanish, and 17 at the conference.

Pathfinder supporters are finding that by stepping up visits to book buyers they are reaping results. One of the largest Barnes and Noble bookstores in Houston is hosting a community event May 12 featuring veteran socialist and unionist Tom Leonard. The store is sending out 100 postcards, a press release, and a flyer that reads, "Join Tom Leonard as he discusses Playa Girón/Bay of Pigs: Washington's First Defeat in the Americas. Tom Leonard will present this new book published for the 40th anniversary of the invasion and recount his firsthand experiences in defense of Cuba during the tumultuous events of April-May 1961." Leonard, a former merchant seaman, was involved in activities in defense of Cuba in Denver, Colorado, in the years following the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Marie-Claire David reports from Montreal that in March, "supporters of Pathfinder Press in Quebec sold 152 books to French-language chains and bookstores, 60 of these in Quebec City. This is a major step in expanding the reach of Pathfinder books to Quebecois workers, farmers, and youth." One of the biggest sales--92 books in French--were to the Renaud-Bray Group, which had never ordered from Pathfinder before.

Pathfinder supporters Linda Joyce and Maceo Dixon visited a buyer at the Waterstone Book Sellers store at the Atlanta airport, who ordered 20 copies of Playa Girón and 98 other books, for a total of $1,175 wholesale.
 
 
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