Fidel Castro's double life revealed - Former bodyguard claims Cuban dictator directed cocaine trafficking operations 'like a real godfather' and interfered in officials' trials

Fidel Castro's double life revealed: Former bodyguard claims Cuban
dictator directed cocaine trafficking operations 'like a real godfather'
and interfered in officials' trials
- Juan Reinaldo Sanchez, 66, makes explosive claims in a new tell-all book
- Says Castro directed cocaine trafficking operations 'like a real
godfather'
- Adds Cuban dictator presided over the trials of two government officials
- He then 'made other officials watch a video of one of men's executions'
- Sanchez was eventually imprisoned and tortured in Cuba in 1994 after
he attempted to retire over concerns about Castro's 'corrupt' practices
- Castro, now 88, was previously Prime Minister and President of country
By SOPHIE JANE EVANS FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:20 GMT, 3 May 2015 | UPDATED: 17:07 GMT, 3 May 2015

He spent 17 years in close proximity to Fidel Castro as one of his
bodyguards.

Now, Juan Reinaldo Sanchez has revealed the Cuban dictator's 'double
life' in a new tell-all book.

The 66-year-old - who was eventually imprisoned and tortured in 1994
after he attempted to retire over concerns about Castro's 'corrupt'
practices - discloses countless state secrets in his expose.

He tells of how Castro directed cocaine trafficking operations 'like a
real godfather', presided over the trials of two government officials
and then forced him to watch one of the men's executions.

And he speaks of how he came to the realization that 'the man for whom I
had long sacrificed my life... and who counted more in my eyes than my
own family' was leading a 'corrupt' secret life.

Sanchez, who lost more than 30 kilograms during his time in prison,
escaped from his tiny isolation cell in 2008. He headed to Mexico by
boat, crossed the Texas border and finally settled in Miami.

In his book, The Double Life of Fidel Castro, Sanchez claims that his
former boss controlled about 20 luxury homes, owned a secret Caribbean
island and carried out the seizure of public money.

He tells of how, in 1988, he listened to a lengthy conversation between
Castro and General José Abrantes - his 'loyal' Interior Minister and
former head of security - in Castro's Havana-based office.

Despite being told 'don't record!' by Castro, Sanchez decided to turn on
a microphone that was hidden in a false ceiling in the office 'out of
curiosity' and 'to kill the time' - and was shocked by what he heard.

He claims that a Cuban drug smuggler, who was living in the U.S. and
conducting a 'huge drug-trafficking' business with the government,
wanted to holiday in his native country for a week.

Abrantes allegedly asked Castro for his permission to bring the
trafficker temporarily to Cuba, where he planned to visit the luxury
beach, Santa María del Mar, situated east of Havana, with his parents.

'The lanchero would pay $75,000 - which, at a time of economic
recession, wouldn't go amiss ', Sanchez writes in his book, according to
the New York Post. He adds: 'Fidel was all for it.'

Shockingly, Abrantes then formulated a way to ensure that the
trafficker's parents would keep the vacation a secret - by making them
believe their son was a Cuban intelligence officer, Sanchez says.

The minister reportedly suggested telling the parents that their son had
infiltrated the U.S. and would be at risk at death if they did not keep
their holiday 'absolutely secret' - and Fidel agreed: 'Very well.'

'It was as if the sky had fallen in on me,' Sanchez says of overhearing
the alleged agreement.

'I realized that the man for whom I had long sacrificed my life, the
Líder whom I worshipped like a god and who counted more in my eyes than
my own family was caught up in cocaine trafficking to such an extent
that he was directing illegal operations like a real godfather.'

Sanchez goes on to write that while cocaine trafficking - which Castro
viewed as a 'weapon of revolutionary struggle' - grew in Latin America,
economic aid from Moscow started to dry up.

In response, Castro founded the MC ('moneda covertible') Department,
which traded in goods for hard currency from third parties - and came to
be known as the 'Marijuana and Cocaine Department'.

However, as the U.S. government 'became suspicious of Cuba's drug
dealing', Castro publicly declared that an 'honest' investigation had
been launched into the 'appalling' matter.

During the inquiry, Abrantes and prominent Cuban general Arnaldo Ochoa
were arrested.

The latter was sentenced to death following a trial which was 'censored
by Castro before it was broadcast' on Cuban television.

In addition to the alleged censoring, Castro also gave instructions to
the president of the court, prosecutors and jurors at breaks in the
officials' trials, Sanchez writes in his book.

At the end of the proceedings, Abrantes was sentenced to 25 years in
prison for charges including negligence, abuse of office and improper
use of financial and military resources.

While Abrantes died of a heart attack in 'suspicious' circumstances in
prison in 1991, Ochoa was killed for treason in an execution that
Sanchez claims he and Castro's other men were forced to watch on video.

He describes the incident as 'the most painful episode of my career',
according to the Post. He adds that Ochoa faced death with 'exceptional
dignity', refusing to be blindfolded by his executioners.

In another section of his book, Sanchez discusses Castro's brother
Raúl's descent into alcoholism after 'taking part in the assassination
of his friend', which he possibly feared could happen to him.

Castro reportedly told his younger sibling: 'If what's worrying you is
that what happened to Abrantes will happen to you, let me tell you that
Abrantes no es mi hermano [is not my brother]!

'You and I have been united since we were children, for better and for
worse. So, no, you are not going to experience Abrantes' fate, unless...
you persist with this deplorable behavior.'

Castro, now 88, served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and
President from 1976 to 2008. He also worked as the First Secretary of
the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011.

Under his administration the Republic of Cuba became a one-party
socialist state. Many view Castro as a totalitarian dictator whose
administration oversaw numerous human-rights abuses and killings.

Meanwhile, Raúl Castro is currently President of the Council of State of
Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba, as well as
Commander in Chief of the country's Armed Forces.

The Double Life of Fidel Castro: My 17 Years as Personal Bodyguard to El
Lider Maximo, written by Sanchez alongside author Axel Gyldén, will be
published by St Martin's Press on May 12.

According to an online description of the book, the authors also discuss
Castro's' relationship with his family and his nine children from five
different partners', as well as his 'immense personal fortune'.

'Sanchez'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, the description says. 'This
extraordinary testimony makes us re-examine everything we thought we
knew about the Cuban story and Fidel Castro Ruz.'

Source: Fidel Castro lived corrupt 'double life', ex-bodyguard Juan
Reinaldo Sanchez reveals | Daily Mail Online -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3066116/Fidel-Castro-s-double-life-revealed-Cuban-dictator-s-ex-bodyguard-claims-directed-cocaine-trafficking-operations-like-real-godfather-interfered-officials-trial.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490