As soon as this November 11 and only 10 days after the charges are known, the Supreme People’s Court will hold the oral trial against the former Minister of Economy and Planning and former Vice Prime Minister Alejandro Gil, accused last week of crimes of espionage, embezzlement, falsification of documents, tax evasion, influence peddling and money laundering, among others.
However, contrary to the popular request promoted by his daughter Laura María Gil González that the trial is public, with total transparency around the process, the Chamber of Crimes against State Security of the Supreme People’s Court advertisement that assistance will only be limited to “procedural parties and authorized persons” for “national security reasons.”
“In compliance with due process, the lawyers and the accused have had access to the file and the provisional conclusions of the Prosecutor’s Office, and delivered the conclusions of the Defense,” the court note states.
Gil is also accused of acts detrimental to economic activity or contracting, bribery, violation of the rules for the protection of classified documents, and theft and damage of documents or other objects in official custody.
In his statement in Facebookhis daughter requested that the Cuban Government expand public information about the accusations, specifying “what he did, which country or countries he refers to, what information he revealed and under the direct order of who he acted,” among other elements. It also considers that the governments allegedly involved should make an official statement.
“These are important details that the prosecutor’s note did not cover and the Cuban people deserve to know, and I also consider that the government or governments for which he supposedly worked and received instructions should officially make a statement on the matter in question, which I believe, in my opinion, is a very serious accusation, which transcends the Cuban political sphere and is involved in an international case,” he continued.
Gil González then assured that both she and her father support the demand for an open-door trial, with the presence of national and foreign media, broadcast on Cuban television and Cubavisión International.
Daughter of former minister Alejandro Gil demands transparency and public trial against her father
“Not only me, Alejandro Gil is also demanding it, not from today, but from day one,” he wrote.
Gil, the largest senior official dismissed for corruption in Cuba in decades, was dismissed in February 2024 and a month later the country’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, reported an investigation against him for “serious errors,” pointing to corruption crimes.
Now, a year and seven months later, the prosecution formally presented charges against someone who was one of Díaz-Canel’s trusted people. During this time, the former minister has been in provisional prison.
When referring to the investigation into Gil in March 2024, Díaz-Canel spoke of “serious accusations” that had led the senior official to resign from his positions as a member of the central committee of the Cuban Communist Party and deputy.
The accusation against the former deputy prime minister was understood as the culmination of an anti-corruption campaign that the Government then launched, reinforced by official media, and that uncovered different cases at various administrative levels at a time of growing social discontent due to the economic crisis.
