The Men From Miami: American Rebels on Both Sides of Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution

By Christopher Othen

An exhilarating real-life Cold War thriller about the Americans who fought for Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution – then switched sides to try to bring him down

Back in 1957, Castro was a hero to many in the USA for taking up arms against Cuba’s dictatorial regime. Two dozen American adventurers joined his rebel band in the mountains, including fervent idealists, a trio of teens from the Guantánamo Bay naval base, a sleazy ex-con who liked underage girls, and at least two future murderers. Castro’s eventual victory delighted the world – but then he ran up the red flag and some started wondering if they’d supported the wrong side.

A gang of disillusioned American volunteers – including future Watergate burglar Frank Fiorini and journalist Alex Rorke, whose 1963 disappearance remains unsolved – changed allegiances and joined the Cuban exiles, CIA agents and soldiers of fortune who had washed up in Miami ready to fight Castro’s regime by any means necessary. These larger-than-life characters wreaked havoc across the Caribbean and went on to be implicated in President Kennedy’s assassination, a failed invasion of ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier’s Haiti and the downfall of Richard Nixon.

The Cold War had arrived in Miami, and things would never be the same again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Biteback Publishing
• Release date: May 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781785907418

Christopher Othen

Christopher Othen is an English writer currently based in Eastern Europe, uncomfortably close to the Russian army. His day jobs have included journalist and legal representative for asylum seekers. In off-the-clock adventures he has interviewed retired mercenaries about war crimes, discussed lost causes with political extremists, and got drunk with an ex-mujahid who knew Osama Bin Laden. He has been interviewed by Michael Portillo for Times Radio, and appeared on multiple history and military podcasts and programmes.