Intermediate Spanish - The Bay of Pigs
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This intermediate Spanish story is about the Bay of Pigs. In April 1961, 1,500 troops including Cuban exiles organised by the United States tried to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro. After the 1959 revolution the United States wanted Castro gone and wanted the island back for capitalist plunder, so the CIA trained the exiles in Guatemala. They landed at the Bay of Pigs on the 17th of April, but Castro's forces were there and ready. They captured more than a thousand of the invaders. It was a humiliating failure for the United States.
Written for intermediate learners, the story uses connected sentences and a mix of imperfect and preterite verbs.
Listen to the audio, follow the full transcript, and click any word for an instant translation. You can also download the full story as a free PDF to study offline.
The ten verbs are:
intentaron - they tried
invadir - to invade
fue - was
tenía - had
estaban - were
querían - wanted
había - there was or there were
entrenó - trained
llegaron - they arrived
capturaron - they captured
Transcript
Select a Spanish word or phrase for a translation.
La Bahía de los Cochinos
The Bay of Pigs
In April 1961,
1,500 Cuban exiles organised by the United States
landed at the Bay of Pigs
to overthrow Castro.
His forces captured over a thousand of them.
It was a humiliating failure.
Vocabulary from the story
mil quinientos - one thousand five hundred
listas - ready
diecisiete - seventeen
1961 - 1961
Verbs from the story
intentaron - they tried
intentaron invadir Cuba - they tried to invade Cuba
invadir - to invade
intentaron invadir Cuba - they tried to invade Cuba
entrenó - trained
la CIA entrenó a los exiliados - the CIA trained the exiles
capturaron - they captured
capturaron a más de mil invasores - they captured more than a thousand invaders
Ahora, la historia
La Bahía de Cochinos
En abril de 1961
mil quinientos cubanos exiliados intentaron invadir Cuba.
Fue una operación militar
organizada por Estados Unidos.
Después de la revolución de 1959,
Cuba tenía un nuevo líder,
Fidel Castro,
y los Estados Unidos no estaban contentos.
Querían el fin de Castro
y querían la isla para el capitalismo.
En Washington había un plan.
La CIA entrenó a los exiliados cubanos en Guatemala,
y los exiliados llegaron a Bahía de Cochinos
el diecisiete de abril de mil novecientos sesenta y uno.
Pero las fuerzas de Castro estaban allí
y estaban listas.
Capturaron a más de mil invasores.
Fue un fracaso humillante para Estados Unidos.