Havana  - Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom "officially" apologized to Cuba for his country's involvement in the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion sponsored by the US government.

On the final day of a state visit to the island, Colom also decorated Fidel Castro with Guatemala's highest award, and condemned the continuing US economic embargo against Cuba.

"I would like to apologize for having lent our country, our territory, for the preparation of the invasion against Cuba. It wasn't us, but it was our territory," Colom said in an address at the University of Havana.

Guatemala permitted the installation of training camps for the anti-Castro exiles recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency for the failed invasion, as did Nicaragua and Puerto Rico.

Some 1,500 exiles and US mercenaries attacked Cuba at Playa Giron on April 17, 1961, but were defeated within 72 hours by troops personally commanded by Castro. Most of the invaders were taken prisoner, and exchanged a year later for 53 million dollars worth of medical supplies and other products needed by the island.

Colom said he was offering an official apology in his role as "president, chief of state and commander in chief of the Guatemalan army."

The gesture came one day after Colom decorated Castro with the Order of the Quetzal, plans for which produced political controversy in the largely conservative Guatemala prompted some business leaders to boycott the trip.

Colom defended his decision as "a symbol of friendship and brotherhood," saying he was "fully convinced" and motivated by appreciation and respect.

"And, above all, our gratitude for sharing the fruits of a revolution that you Cubans made, built and paid for, and we are receiving that solidarity," Colom said.

Colom, the first Guatemalan president to visit Cuba in more than a decade, planned to end his visit Wednesday. (dpa)