The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El Líder Máximo

“Remarkable revelations! Fidel Castro's worst hypocrisies, regal indulgences, and narcissistic excess are bared by his former chief bodyguard.” —Brian Latell, author of After Fidel

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

Responsible for protecting the Lider maximo for two decades, Juan Reinaldo Sánchez was party to his secret life—because everything around Castro was hidden. From the ghost town in which guerrillas from several continents were trained, to his 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 expose 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 re-examine everything we thought we knew about the Cuban story and Fidel Castro Ruz.

“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

“Explosive.” —BBC

© 2024 St. Martin's Press (Ebook): 9781466888289

Release date

Ebook: 6 August 2024