Cuba has held one of its largest military parades in decades, to mark the 50th anniversary of the failed CIA-led invasion at the Bay of Pigs.
Hundreds of thousands of Cubans marched in Havana to celebrate the occasion, seen as a triumph over the US. A key Communist Party congress, which is expected to back moves towards market reform, is also taking place. President Raul Castro has said Cuba must shrink the state and encourage private enterprise to save socialism. BBC News
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 after John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency in the United States. The Cuban armed forces, trained and equipped by Eastern Bloc nations, defeated the invading combatants within three days. (Wikipedia)