Cuba: Government Finally Charges Ex-Minister Alejandro Gil
for espionage, embezzlement, and other crimes
Detained in a secret location since March 2024, the former Minister of Economy and Finance was one of president Diaz-Canel’s most trusted officials.
HAVANA TIMES – After more than a year and a half without official news, it was revealed this Friday, October 31, that former Minister of Economy and Planning Alejandro Gil Fernandez is being tried for a string of crimes that include espionage, embezzlement, money laundering, and falsification of public documents, in a case involving several other defendants whose identities remain unknown.
Since March 2024, when the opening of a criminal case against Gil was first announced, no other official information had been published about his situation. This Friday’s statement fills part of that void but leaves more questions than answers. Signed by the Office of the Attorney General, the document asserts that “in accordance with Article 156 of the Constitution of the Republic,” the entity “oversaw the criminal investigation carried out by the Ministry of the Interior.”
“Once the investigative actions were completed,” responsibility was sought for crimes of “acts detrimental to economic activity or contracting, embezzlement, bribery, falsification of public documents, tax evasion, influence peddling, money laundering, violation of rules for the protection of classified documents, and the theft or damage of documents or other objects in official custody.”
The statement concludes by affirming that “in all cases, prison sentences were requested for the defendants, corresponding to the acts committed.” The announcement does not specify the trial dates or the number of years in prison requested by the Prosecutor’s Office. The publication of this terse note on Friday afternoon—while the country is still reeling from the effects of Hurricane Melissa—reinforces the atmosphere of secrecy surrounding the case against Gil Fernández.
The criminal proceedings against the official were first announced on March 7, 2024. Until a month before that, he had served as Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Ministry of Economy and Planning. According to a statement published by the official press and signed by Miguel Díaz-Canel, the former senior government official was being investigated for “serious errors committed in the performance of his duties.”
The official declaration did not specify whether he was under arrest. However, several later testimonies—especially from his sister, Maria Victoria Gil—confirmed his detention. “My brother is being held along with his partner (Gina Maria González); they have no cell phones, there’s no way to contact them,” said the television presenter after traveling to Cuba from Spain, where she lives. “My niece (Laura María Gil Gonzalez) is at home but under house arrest, also without a phone,” she added after returning to Europe.
The official statement asserted that after a “rigorous investigation” and “given the level of verification of the facts,” the Political Bureau of the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the Council of State “approved the initiation of corresponding proceedings by the competent bodies of the Ministry of the Interior to fully clarify these actions.”
Díaz-Canel added that the Communist Party and the Government “have never allowed, nor will they ever allow, the proliferation of corruption, deceit, or insensitivity,” without offering further details. Gil Fernandez acknowledged “serious accusations” regarding his conduct and, according to Díaz-Canel, “resigned from his position as a member of the Central Committee of the Party and as a deputy to the National Assembly of People’s Power.”
Until shortly before that announcement, Gil had been one of the regime’s key figures. When Díaz-Canel appointed him Minister of Economy and Planning in 2018, he was an unknown. By the following year, he had also become Deputy Prime Minister. He was one of the most visible faces of the unpopular Tarea Ordenamiento (Economic Reorganization Plan), implemented in January 2021, which triggered soaring prices for food and basic services.
A frequent guest on the Mesa Redonda television program, Gil’s apparent optimism when announcing each measure seemed bulletproof—even in the face of the most unrealistic plans. Since his arrest, no official picture of the official has circulated, though an alleged leak of his police file showed him gaunt and aged.
As the jackal chews off its first leg.