The Attorney General’s Office of Cuba reported this Friday of the indictment of former Minister of Economy and Planning and former Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Gil for the crimes of espionage, embezzlement, falsification of documents, tax evasion, influence peddling and money laundering, among others.
The prosecutor’s office indicated in a statement that he 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.
“The Attorney General’s Office of the Republic controlled the criminal investigation carried out by the bodies of the Ministry of the Interior against Alejandro Gil,” according to the statement, which explains that this body “exercised public criminal action” and presented the proceedings to the corresponding court.
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, one year and seven months later, the prosecution formally presents 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.
“As part of the invariable ethics of the Cuban revolution during these 65 years, the leadership of our party and the Government has never allowed and will never allow the proliferation of corruption, simulation and insensitivity,” the president said then in a statement.
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.
Gil was Minister of Economy and Planning between 2018 and 2024. He was in charge of the implementation of the great monetary reform of 2021, the controversial Task Ordering, which tried to end the use of a double currency in Cuba, but was a failure.
He was also in charge of applying the first adjustment measures to try to stabilize the Cuban economy and return to the path of growth. Among them, the controversial rise in fuel prices stood out, with increases of up to 400%.
