Fidel Castro: Trouble in Paradise
May 31, 2026 · 51 min · 11 segments
A man who was right there tells us the tale of one of history’s most notorious military failures. Castro’s former lover is given a handful of poison capsules and dispatched to Fidel’s hotel. A Havana…
Monica Mercedes Perez JimenezGuest
Carlos EireGuest
Peter KornbluhGuest
Alex von TunzelmannGuestIleana YarzaGuestIt's April the seventeenth, nineteen sixty-one, just after midnight.
On board are six men.
Their painted faces shine in the silvery moonlight.
Stealthy, shadowy, dressed head to toe in dark colors, they have the appearance of burglars.
Some would say that's exactly what they are, thieves intent on taking what isn't theirs.
The men themselves are adamant that they aren't stealing anything.
Quite the opposite, they're returning something precious to its rightful owners.
The raft sails onwards.
Its crew looks stern, focused, alert.
Ahead of them is the dim outline of landfall.
Five of these men are Cuban exiles.
Having fled the rule of Fidel Castro, they're about to make a spectacular return.
The sixth man in the party is an American from the Central Intelligence Agency.
One of those Cubans is Eduardo Sias Basan.
Tonight, he's in the raft, inching towards home, brimming with confidence.
Eduardo breathes deeply and swallows hard.
There's just minutes until they reach their destination, minutes until they make war on their own homeland.
Out of nowhere, the raft jolts and sways.
There's something underneath, attacking them.
Ironically, Cuba's natural beauty is to blame, a giant fragment of coral reef.
Their mission at risk of instant failure, they all bail out.
Sloshing about in the sea, Eduardo tries to keep his firearms out of the water and his mind on the task in hand.
This wasn't meant to happen.
The CIA has assured them that the beach was free of hazards.
And then, in the distance, Eduardo spots something, a glimmer on the beach, headlights of a vehicle.
The water was up to our waist, and that's when suddenly this Jeep comes, turns towards us, and that's when our American instructor said the first word at the Bay of Pigs invasion, "Fire."
From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is part five of the Fidel Castro story.
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It's April the seventeenth, nineteen sixty-one, just after midnight.
On board are six men.
Their painted faces shine in the silvery moonlight.
Stealthy, shadowy, dressed head to toe in dark colors, they have the appearance of burglars.
Some would say that's exactly what they are, thieves intent on taking what isn't theirs.
The men themselves are adamant that they aren't stealing anything.
Quite the opposite, they're returning something precious to its rightful owners.
The raft sails onwards.
Its crew looks stern, focused, alert.
Ahead of them is the dim outline of landfall.
Five of these men are Cuban exiles.
Having fled the rule of Fidel Castro, they're about to make a spectacular return.
The sixth man in the party is an American from the Central Intelligence Agency.
One of those Cubans is Eduardo Sias Basan.
Tonight, he's in the raft, inching towards home, brimming with confidence.
Eduardo breathes deeply and swallows hard.
There's just minutes until they reach their destination, minutes until they make war on their own homeland.
Out of nowhere, the raft jolts and sways.
There's something underneath, attacking them.
Ironically, Cuba's natural beauty is to blame, a giant fragment of coral reef.
Their mission at risk of instant failure, they all bail out.
Sloshing about in the sea, Eduardo tries to keep his firearms out of the water and his mind on the task in hand.
This wasn't meant to happen.
The CIA has assured them that the beach was free of hazards.
And then, in the distance, Eduardo spots something, a glimmer on the beach, headlights of a vehicle.
The water was up to our waist, and that's when suddenly this Jeep comes, turns towards us, and that's when our American instructor said the first word at the Bay of Pigs invasion, "Fire."
From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is part five of the Fidel Castro story.