Cuba: The Farce of the Alejandro Gil Trial Part One
HAVANA TIMES – The first part of the trial against Cuba’s former Minister of Economy and Planning (2018–2024), Alejandro Gil Fernández, has ended, and the calls for transparency—even from within some government circles—once again fell on deaf ears.
Even former Cuban spy Rene Gonzalez, a member of the well-known Wasp Network and one of the emblematic Cuban Five Heroes, asked that everything be aired on national television.
However, under complete secrecy (not even his daughter, Laura María Gil, was allowed to attend), with no access for independent press or observers, the espionage case concluded and is now pending sentencing. We will see when the hearing takes place for the rest of the long string of atrocities pinned on Gil.
Over the past weeks, Laura María was one of the few voices close to the accused who spoke about the process. On social media she defended her father’s innocence and demanded transparency.
Inside the courtroom the only family member allowed to attend was Alejandro Gil Gonzalez, the former minister’s son, who has not said a word publicly.
Under the pretext of “national security,” a large military and paramilitary operation was deployed around the court, located in the Havana municipality of Marianao. This fuels speculation and doubts about the transparency of the process, especially since it is taking place while the country is still recovering from the severe impact of Hurricane Melissa—a context that strengthens public perceptions that the trial is being used to clean up the image of the upper nomenklatura by offering up Gil as a scapegoat.
Streets and businesses were shut down near the building, a venue that surprised some because he was actually charged by the Supreme Court—which is in Old Havana—and there were no reports from the official press during the three days of sessions, nor afterward.
The court is expected to issue a ruling in the coming days, and his family is hoping for a reduced sentence.
His sister, former television presenter and lawyer María Victoria Gil, stated from Spain, where she lives, that she has faith the Prosecutor’s Office will reduce their initial request of 30 years in prison after the arguments presented and the solid defense offered by attorney Abel Sola Lopez, in her view.
Sola Lopez managed in 2017 to secure sentences of only 13 and 17 years for Alina Lopez Miyares and her husband, Felix Martín Milanes Fajardo, who were also charged with espionage—a crime that can carry the death penalty.
That trial, also held behind closed doors in the Military Court of Marianao, was likewise closed to the accused’s relatives.
“I want the people of Cuba to know that my brother denied point by point every allegation related to the espionage charge the Prosecutor’s Office has leveled against him,” Maria Victoria said in statements on the podcast El mundo de Darwin, citing information provided under anonymity by someone who attended the hearing.
“My brother may have committed economic crimes, but Alejandro Miguel Gil is not a spy. This is nothing more than a political setup,” she insisted.
She had previously suggested that if her brother engaged in espionage, it was not on behalf of another government—hinting that the upper leadership knew everything he was doing and that the “industrial secrets” he revealed were not solely for his personal benefit.
She also denounced that the former official is in a “very precarious” physical and mental condition and claimed he has been psychologically tortured during nearly two years of imprisonment at the Guanajay prison in the western province of Artemisa.
Days before the trial began, María Victoria said a visiting relative told her that her brother could barely stand and was speaking incoherently.
With not even a single photo of the hearing, everything remains shrouded in uncertainty. A photo circulating online—apparently manipulated—shows Gil completely bald and looking severely deteriorated.
The Attorney General’s Office (FGR) will try him in a separate proceeding for the remaining charges, and it is unclear whether that second trial will be public, as it apparently includes other individuals under investigation.
Along with Gil, two other ministers were dismissed: Elba Rosa Perez Montoya, Minister of Science, Technology, and Environment; and Manuel Santiago Sobrino Martinez, Minister of the Food Industry. While the former does not appear linked to the case, the latter may well be involved because the accusations include producers who received privileged information.
One of the underlying problems in this case—and one that precisely warrants a public hearing—is the lack of oversight concerning the activities and personal income of ministers and other high-ranking officials of the dictatorship.
Neither the Prosecutor’s Office nor the General Comptroller’s Office has any knowledge of their finances, and it is common for dismissed officials to become entrepreneurs inside or outside the island, making investments impossible to justify on a Cuban public servant’s salary.
Likewise, through direct dealings with entrepreneurs and officials from other countries, they may develop personal ties that later lead to privileged information exchanges or even shady business ventures, precisely because of the lack of oversight over their actions.
Still awaiting the Official Note announcing the end of this first chapter of the farce, Cubans continue to hope that at least the second part will show some signs of transparency—but nothing suggests that will be the case.