Fidel Castro: Trouble in Paradise
May 3, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min · 17 segments
Fidel Castro - a revolutionary turned strongman dictator, beloved by his supporters and loathed by his enemies. The bête noire of the United States who pushed the world to the brink of annihilation…
Lillian GuerraGuest
Alex von TunzelmannGuestJennifer LambeGuestEduardo Zayas-BazánGuestOrlando Luis Pardo LazoGuest
Carlos EireGuest
Michael J. BustamanteGuestIn the Plaza de la Patria, something special is stirring.
At this early hour, it would normally be all but empty.
This morning, it's full to bursting.
100,000 people fill every inch of the plaza and the surrounding streets.
Many are dressed in patriotic red T-shirts.
Almost all are holding tiny Cuban flags.
They're here to commemorate events that took place on this very day 53 years earlier, when a gang of rebels attacked the Moncada army barracks.
To many in the country, this is a cherished event, the opening sally of the Cuban Revolution.
It was also the first time that most Cubans had ever heard the name of the rebels' leader, a name they would never forget: Fidel Castro.
As the sun fills the plaza with daylight, an elderly man with a patchy gray beard, dressed in military green, shuffles onto a stage.
It's the headline act, the one they're all here to see.
It's Fidel himself.
There's a roar from the crowd, chanting of his name.
Then Fidel begins his speech, a lightning-quick one by his standards, just two and a half hours.
It's very much a greatest hits set: the evil of Yankee imperialism, the eternal truth of the revolution, Cuba as a beacon of hope in a world benighted by capitalism.
There isn't a person in the crowd who's not heard all this before, but still they applaud and bellow as their leader reaches his denouement before he slopes off stage.
And yet things are not quite as they used to be.
Nobody here dares say it, but Fidel is no longer Fidel.
He's sallow, listless, ailing, and suddenly very old.
In the days following this public appearance, Fidel, the ubiquitous presence in Cuban life, becomes conspicuous by his absence.
Hushed rumors swirl, but in a country where nothing is official until Fidel says so, nobody knows what's truly going on.
Then on July the 31st, earth-shattering news arrives.
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In the Plaza de la Patria, something special is stirring.
At this early hour, it would normally be all but empty.
This morning, it's full to bursting.
100,000 people fill every inch of the plaza and the surrounding streets.
Many are dressed in patriotic red T-shirts.
Almost all are holding tiny Cuban flags.
They're here to commemorate events that took place on this very day 53 years earlier, when a gang of rebels attacked the Moncada army barracks.
To many in the country, this is a cherished event, the opening sally of the Cuban Revolution.
It was also the first time that most Cubans had ever heard the name of the rebels' leader, a name they would never forget: Fidel Castro.
As the sun fills the plaza with daylight, an elderly man with a patchy gray beard, dressed in military green, shuffles onto a stage.
It's the headline act, the one they're all here to see.
It's Fidel himself.
There's a roar from the crowd, chanting of his name.
Then Fidel begins his speech, a lightning-quick one by his standards, just two and a half hours.
It's very much a greatest hits set: the evil of Yankee imperialism, the eternal truth of the revolution, Cuba as a beacon of hope in a world benighted by capitalism.
There isn't a person in the crowd who's not heard all this before, but still they applaud and bellow as their leader reaches his denouement before he slopes off stage.
And yet things are not quite as they used to be.
Nobody here dares say it, but Fidel is no longer Fidel.
He's sallow, listless, ailing, and suddenly very old.
In the days following this public appearance, Fidel, the ubiquitous presence in Cuban life, becomes conspicuous by his absence.
Hushed rumors swirl, but in a country where nothing is official until Fidel says so, nobody knows what's truly going on.
Then on July the 31st, earth-shattering news arrives.
