Havana/After more than a year and a half without official news, this Friday it was learned that the former Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, is being tried for a string of crimes including espionage, embezzlement, money laundering and falsification of public documents, in a case that includes several defendants whose identity is unknown.
Since the opening of criminal proceedings against Gil Fernández was announced in March 2024, no other official information about his case had been published. This Friday’s note comes to fill part of that emptiness but it leaves more questions than answers. Signed by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic, the minutes ensure that “in accordance with the provisions of Article 156 of the Constitution of the Republic” this entity “controlled the criminal investigation carried out by the bodies of the Ministry of the Interior.”
“Once the investigative actions are concluded,” responsibility has been requested for the crimes of “acts detrimental to economic activity or contracting, embezzlement, bribery, falsification of public documents, tax evasion, influence peddling, money laundering, violation of the rules for the protection of classified documents and theft and damage of documents or other objects in official custody.”
The note concludes by assuring that “in all cases the the accused custodial sanctions, in accordance with the acts committed.” The announcement does not detail the dates of the trial or the number of years in prison requested by the Prosecutor’s Office from the court. The publication of the brief text on this Friday afternoon, when the country is still immersed in the effects left by Hurricane Melissa, reinforces the climate of secrecy with which the case against Gil Fernández has been handled.
Several subsequent testimonies, especially from his sister María Victoria Gil, confirmed his arrest.
On March 7, 2024, a criminal proceeding was initially announced against the official, who until a month before was serving as deputy prime minister and head of the Island’s Economy and Planning portfolio. According to a note published by the official press and signed by Miguel Díaz-Canel, the former senior government official was then being investigated for “serious errors committed in the performance of his duties.”
The official statement It did not specify whether the official was arrested. However, several subsequent testimonies, especially from his sister María Victoria Gil, confirmed his arrest. “My brother is detained along with the woman (Gina María González), they do not have cell phones, there is no way to communicate with them,” this is how the television presenter summarized the situation after making a trip to Cuba from Spain, where she resides. “My niece (Laura María Gil González) is in the house but in house arrestalso without a cell phone,” he said after his return to Europe.
The official statement stated at that time that, after a “rigorous investigation” and “taking into account the level of verification of the facts,” the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party and the State Council “approved that the competent bodies of the Ministry of the Interior initiate the corresponding actions for the complete clarification of these behaviors.”
When he was appointed Minister of Economy and Planning by Díaz-Canel, in 2018, he was unknown
Díaz-Canel added that the Party and the Government had “never” allowed, “nor will they ever allow, the proliferation of corruption, simulation and insensitivity”, without giving further details. Gil Fernández recognized “serious accusations” in his conduct, which is why, Díaz-Canel assured, the official “resigned his status 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 Fernández had been one of the key men of the regime. When he was appointed Minister of Economy and Planning by Díaz-Canel, in 2018, he was unknown. The following year he already added the position of deputy prime minister. He was one of the most visible faces of the unpopular Ordering Task that, implemented in January 2021, skyrocketed the prices of food and basic services.
A regular guest on the Mesa Redonda program, Gil Fernández’s apparent optimism when announcing each measure seemed bulletproof, even in the face of the wildest plans. Since his arrest, no official image of the official has been circulated, although an alleged leak of his police file showed him emaciated and aged.
