Operation 40 necessary some of your own members who were suspected of being foreign agents...We were concentrating strictly in Cuba at that particular time." The group sought to incite civil war in Cuba against the government of prime minister Fidel Castro. "In October 1960, they realize that this project has failed, and that is when Brigade 2506" was created, a CIA-sponsored group made up of 1,511 Cuban exiles who fought in the April 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion. On 17 April 1961, Vicente Leon Leon, with other members of Operation 40, landed at the Bay of Pigs via the CIA-chartered freighter "Atlantico".
Protestantism in Cuba walls keeping Protestants out of Cuba were broken down. Many Protestants began to make their home in Cuba. Several more Protestants influenced the culture and society by coming to trade or vacation on the island. Even with the opening of trade, tensions remained strong between Catholics and Protestants in Cuba throughout the early days of the colony. Many of the Protestant churches in Cuba have ties to the United States through various missionary activity. The Baptist Convention of Cuba is an influential Protestant group that was begun by a Cuban exile who was associated with the American Southern Baptist Convention.