The Cuban Revolutionary Council (CRC) was a group formed, with CIA assistance, three weeks before the April 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...

 to "coordinate and direct" the activities of another group known as the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front

Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front

The Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front was founded in May 1960 by anti-Castro Cuban exiles and was initially headquartered in Mexico. It was known in Spanish as the Frente Revolucionario Democratico and was composed of five major anti-Castro groups...

. Both groups were composed of Cuban exile

Cuban exile

The term "Cuban exile" refers to the many Cubans who have sought alternative political or economic conditions outside the island, dating back to the Ten Years' War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century...

s dedicated to overthrowing Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

's communist government in Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

. José Miró Cardona

José Miró Cardona

José Miró Cardona was a Cuban politician. He served as Prime Minister for a period of some six weeks in early 1959, following his appointment by President Manuel Urrutia on January 5, 1959...

, former Prime Minister of Cuba

Prime Minister of Cuba

Prime Minister of Cuba was a position in the government of Cuba. Fidel Castro assumed the position of Prime Minister in 1959 replacing José Miró Cardona....

, was chairman of the Cuban Revolutionary Council. On its board of directors were: Antonio de Varona, Justo Carrillo, Carlos Hevia

Carlos Hevia

Carlos Hevia y Reyes-Gavilan was the President of Cuba, serving for less than three days. During the third week of 1934, Hevia was President from 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 15, until 1:20 a.m. on Thursday, January 18. Cuban junta leader Fulgencio Batista had obtained the resignation of Hevia's...

, Antonio Maceo, Manuel Ray

Manuel Ray

Manuel Ray Rivero is a Cuban born engineer, politician and revolutionary, who later has been involved in civic and professional actitivities in Puerto Rico. He received a scholarship from the Cuban Ministry of Public Works to study civil engineering at the University of Utah...

, and Manuel Artime

Manuel Artime

Manuel Francisco Artime Buesa, M.D. was a Cuban-American who former took part to the rebel army of Fidel Castro, later was the political leader of Brigade 2506 land forces in the abortive Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in April 1961.-Biography:Manuel Artime was the nephew of popular Cuban poet José...

.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful action by a CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles to invade southern Cuba, with support and encouragement from the US government, in an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. The invasion was launched in April 1961, less than three months...

 floundered and Miró Cardona, whose son had joined the invasion force, blamed the CIA for the failure. Miró Cardona concluded that the CIA had disregarded resistance groups within Cuba, ignored the paramilitary groups led by Manuel Ray

Manuel Ray

Manuel Ray Rivero is a Cuban born engineer, politician and revolutionary, who later has been involved in civic and professional actitivities in Puerto Rico. He received a scholarship from the Cuban Ministry of Public Works to study civil engineering at the University of Utah...

, and misled the Cuban exile

Cuban exile

The term "Cuban exile" refers to the many Cubans who have sought alternative political or economic conditions outside the island, dating back to the Ten Years' War and the struggle for Cuban independence during the 19th century...

s over the role of the U.S. military in the invasion. After the October 1962 missile crisis, the Kennedy administration withdrew much of its support to the Cuban Revolutionary Council and other militant exile groups. In April 1963, Miró Cardona resigned as chairman of the CRC, claiming that Kennedy had chosen a path of peaceful coexistence with Castro's government.

In 1961-62, the New Orleans chapter of the Cuban Revolutionary Council occupied an office in the Newman Building at 544 Camp Street. This was the building where anti-Castro activist and accused JFK Assassination conspirator Guy Banister

Guy Banister

William Guy Banister was a career member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a private investigator. He gained notoriety from the allegations made by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, after Banister's death, that he had been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy...

 also had his office. During this period, Banister associate Sergio Arcacha Smith was the "official delegate" for the New Orleans chapter of the CRC.