After the u. s. launched a near-total trade embargo on cuba in 1960, and the two nations formally ended diplomatic relations in january 1961, what u. s. agency recruited cuban exiles to engage in an invasion of cuba at the bay of pigs in april 1961, which ended in cuban victory, the imprisonment of many exiles, and embarrassment for kennedy?

The US agency that recruited Cuban exiles to engage in an invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 was the CIA.

Explanation:

The invasion of Bay of Pigs was an unsuccessful attempt to invade southern Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro's government made by CIA-trained exile Cubans with support from the US government.

The plan was implemented in April 1961, less than three months after John F. Kennedy became President of the United States. The Cuban forces, which had received material support and training from eastern bloc nations, defeated the invasion forces in three days.  

After the unsuccessful invasion, President Kennedy felt that he had not received the proper military advice from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and appointed, on April 22, 1961, Maxwell D. Taylor to lead the investigative team to find what went wrong. The group submitted its report on June 13 of the same year. The group concluded that the defeat came as a result of a failure to analyze the potential for success with such a secret action, the use of unsuitable aircraft, restrictions on weapons, and aircraft attacks, and not least the loss of central vessels and lack of ammunition.

small european communities with shared traditions consolidated into large new states (apex)