Cuba–United States relations Air Force MiG-29, killing three Cuban-Americans and one Cuban U.S. resident. The Cuban government claimed that the planes had entered into Cuban airspace. Some veterans of CIA's 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, while no longer being sponsored by the CIA, are still active, though they are now in their seventies or older. Members of Alpha 66, an anti-Castro paramilitary organization, continue to practice their AK-47 skills in a camp in South Florida. In January 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton eased travel restrictions to Cuba in an effort to increase cultural exchanges between the two nations. The Clinton administration approved a
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.