The family warns that the process will once again be carried out behind closed doors and that the regime seeks to silence the former minister for fear that it will reveal internal tensions in the power leadership.
MADRID, Spain.- The second judicial process against the former Minister of Economy and former Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández could be held in a matter of days and, according to his family, it is not ruled out that it will take place even this Wednesday. The trial, like the previous one, would take place behind closed doors. This was confirmed from Spain by her sister, the lawyer and former Cuban television presenter María Victoria Gil, in conversation with Martí News.
“My source has told me that the trial is imminent, possibly this week,” he said, emphasizing that the case continues to be surrounded by strong secrecy, similar to that which marked the recent trial for alleged espionage.
For the family, the separation of the processes is not accidental. They consider that the regime seeks to carefully manage information and reduce the political impact of a file that, in the words of María Victoria, “involves very important people and can uncover many internalities of power.”
Although they requested that the oral hearing be public, the former minister’s sister rules out that possibility. “It is very unlikely that they will do it open doors. My brother knows too much. From the first day he said he wanted to speak, and of course, they are going to silence him,” he said.
The ten additional crimes attributed to Gil – such as embezzlement, money laundering, bribery and influence peddling – are related to his time as manager of the maritime insurance company Caudal in the United Kingdom. During that period he lived in London with his wife and children and had access to benefits typical of senior executives, such as a luxury car and membership in an exclusive Miramar club. According to María Victoria, these privileges were part of the state structures to move capital out of Cuba, not personal criminal activities.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office has not officially revealed its requests, the family maintains that in this second trial they could seek a sentence of 30 years. In the previous process, the prosecutor’s request would have been a life sentence for alleged espionage for the CIA, an accusation that the sister rejects as “totally false.” Even so, he adds: “I prefer to think that my brother was captured by the CIA than to believe that he was a faithful servant of the regime that is now destroying him.”
María Victoria believes that the authorities are seeking to prevent her brother from speaking about tensions within the power elite: fights between the military, technocrats and leaders of the Communist Party, as well as discrepancies around the role of MSMEs and the influence of GAESA.
So far, the Supreme People’s Court has not reported whether it has concluded the evaluation of the first process nor has it announced a date for the second.
The first trialheld between November 11 and 13, was carried out under rigorous security at the courthouse at 100 and 35, in Marianao. On that occasion, access to the building was restricted since dawn, with streets closed, the presence of State Security agents dressed in civilian clothes and a deployment of official vehicles and motorized police in the surroundings. The oral hearing took place in a military room and was also held behind closed doors for “national security reasons,” leaving out the independent press and the public.
