The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Lider Maximo

by Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, Axel Gyldén, Catherine Spencer (Translator)

Overview

In The Double Life of Fidel Castro, one of Castro’s soldiers of seventeen years breaks his silence and shares his memoirs of his years of service, his eventual imprisonment and torture for displeasing the notorious dictator, and his dramatic escape from Cuba.

Responsible for protecting the Líder Máximo for two decades, Juan Reinaldo Sánchez was party to his secret life: from the ghost town in which guerrillas from several continents were trained; to Castro’s immense personal fortune, including a huge property portfolio, a secret paradise island, and seizure of public money; as well as his relationship with his family and his nine children from five different partners.

Sánchez’s tell-all exposé reveals countless state secrets and the many sides of the Cuban monarch: genius war leader in Nicaragua and Angola, paranoid autocrat at home, master spy, Machiavellian diplomat, and accomplice to drug traffickers. This extraordinary testimony makes us reexamine everything we thought we knew about the Cuban story and Fidel Castro Ruz.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250092366
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/19/2016
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,098,298
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

LIEUTENANT COLONEL JUAN REINALDO SÁNCHEZ was Fidel Castro’s personal bodyguard for seventeen years before being imprisoned in 1994 for the “crime” of wanting to retire early. He left Cuba in 2008 after ten unsuccessful bids to escape. He made a new life in Miami, where he passed away in May 2015.

Table of Contents

1 Cayo Piedra, the Castros' Paradise Island 1

2 Juan Sanchez, Fidel's Bodyguard 19

3 The Castro Dynasty 42

4 The Escort: His Real Family 67

5 Guerrilla Fighters of the World, Unite 93

6 Nicaragua, Fidel's Other Revolution 114

7 Fidel in Moscow, Sanchez in Stockholm 129

8 Raul's Clan 139

9 A Mania for Recording 152

10 The Venezuelan Obsession 170

11 Fidel and the Tin-Pat Tyrants 180

12 A Kings Ransom 193

13 At Death's Door 205

14 Fidel, Angola, and the Art of War 217

15 The Ochoa Affair 228

16 Prison and … Freedom! 245

Index 265

Editorial Reviews

"Explosive." —BBC

"Remarkable revelations! Fidel Castro's worst hypocrisies, regal indulgences, and narcissistic excess are bared by his former chief bodyguard. Sanchez, and respected French journalist Gyldén, depict the Cuban leader as no writers ever have before." —Brian Latell, author of After Fidel and Castro’s Secrets

"Sánchez's nonstop revelations, energetic voice, and cognitive dissonance are liable to entertain and intrigue almost any audience."—Library Journal

“Sánchez’s account shows the real Castro. Vengeful, self-absorbed, and given to childish temper tantrums—aka ‘tropical storms’ . . . The book is timely.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Juan Reinaldo Sánchez exposes the drug dealing and deception of the former Cuban president.” —NYPost.com

From the Publisher