Near San Cristobal, Cuba (CNN) -- Fifty years ago, 15-year-old Omar Lopez knew a secret that governments around the world would have killed to learn or safeguard: Soviet troops were building hidden military installations in Cuba. One of those installations was on the farm where his family raised chickens and pigs. In 1962, Fidel Castro's revolution was just beginning to reshape Cuba. Thousands of Cubans had fled the country, and the year before, Castro's troops had routed a U.S.-backed invasion at the Bay of Pigs. Read more: Should the U.S. fight or befriend Cuba? But little of the drama of those times reached the remote Lopez farm in western Cuba, where palm trees vastly outnumber human residents.
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A small family farm in Cuba hosted Soviet missiles in 1962
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A Cuban teen found out about emplacement when relocated pigs returned to old farm
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Remnants of Soviet bunkers still can be seen on the farm
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"That's when you saw a lot of movement among the @placeholder troops."
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The planes Lopez saw were @placeholder spy planes, and as they flew over San Cristobal on October 15, 1962, they were capturing the first photos of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.
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Lopez said they never heard of the crisis while it unfolded or that a deal was reached between the Americans and @placeholder to remove the missiles if the Americans promised not to invade Cuba.
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He does remember the loud noise of trucks hauling the @placeholder equipment from their farm.