MIAMI — The Bay of Pigs Brigade 2506 Museum and Library in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood will host a grand reopening in April 2026 to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The new two-story, 11,000-square-foot facility was constructed on the same site as the original museum with funding from Miami-Dade County, the state of Florida and private donors.

The new building officially opens Friday with a ceremony for Brigade members and their families, and will reopen to the public after that. The original Bay of Pigs museum opened in Little Havana in 1988 at an old home and held a collection of photographs, documents and other memorabilia, as well as a documentary film about the three-day invasion.

About 1,500 Cuban exiles, with the backing of the CIA, attempted to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs on April 17, 1961. More than 100 of the U.S.-backed fighters drowned or were killed in action, and another 1,200 fighters known as Brigade 2506 were taken prisoner after running out of ammunition. The prisoners spent about 20 months in captivity before their release was negotiated. About 200 Brigade 2506 veterans remain alive, with the youngest in their 80s.

"The Bay of Pigs is a historical moment that defined the future of Cuba, of the United States, of Miami, and of many Latin American countries, because the failure of that intervention made communism stay in Cuba forever and change the country completely," said Rafael Montalvo, president of the Brigade 2506 Veterans Association. "The museum's purpose is not only to cement the legacy of what thousands of men did on that day, but also, from a historic perspective, to tell the new generations that freedom has a price," said Manuel Portuondo, a Brigade 2506 member.

Portuondo was a teenager when his family fled Cuba for Miami in 1960. While attending school in Miami, he and several classmates decided to enlist in a military force of Cuban refugees organized by the U.S. government. "As an 18-year-old with a lot of ideals and a big heart, I wanted to be back in my country and be free and be able to do what I wanted. I enrolled in the invasion and shipped to Guatemala for training," he said.

Ernesto Freyre, a member of Brigade 2506, has been dreaming of a liberated Cuba since shortly after Fidel Castro took power. "It was the biggest purpose and commitment that I took upon myself," Freyre said. "But at least I'm hoping that my descendants do see it."