In an atmosphere of strict opacity, heavy police measures, and total absence of press coverage, the second trial against the former Minister of Economy and Planning of Cuba, Alejandro Gil Fernández, began on Wednesday in Havana.
Gil, who was processed two weeks ago for espionage, now faces over a dozen additional charges, including embezzlement, tax evasion, influence peddling, and money laundering.
The hearing takes place at the People's Court of Civil and Family Matters in Marianao, where the preliminary trial for espionage was also held. The session began at 9:30 a.m., with no prior notification to the public or any official announcement.
According to the portal 14ymedio, an independent reporter early on confirmed the presence of State Security monitoring the perimeter, although with a lower deployment than in the first trial.
This time the streets were not closed and no international press was observed, and only a lone photographer was lurking around the area.
According to anonymous sources, the two children of the former minister, Alejandro and Laura María Gil González, attended the oral hearing after signing a confidentiality clause that prevents them from disclosing any details about the proceedings.
In the previous trial, Laura María was not allowed to enter, after having publicly requested a "public and open" process for her father.
For her part, the sister of the former minister, María Victoria Gil, clarified to the Cuban YouTuber known as El Mundo de Darwin that the trial will last four days and will conclude for sentencing on Saturday.
"This time, the secrecy has been even greater, as neither the media, television, nor radio in Cuba have informed the public. The door is closed again, with very selected individuals..." he said.
"My niece only told me: 'I saw my father very strong, very well, in good spirits, very thin, that's true, but very well in spirits, with a strong desire to fight,'" she detailed.
According to a source close to the case, this trial includes about twenty additional defendants, among them "a member of the National Assembly and a secretary of the Communist Party."
For Gil, the Prosecutor's Office would be requesting 30 years in prison; for the others, a minimum of 15. None of the defendants have been publicly identified.
The trial for espionage and the internal confrontation in power
Although the result of the first trial has not been made public, the defense put forth by lawyer Abel Solá López was said to be "brilliant," according to María Victoria Gil.
The sister of the former official claims that the accusation of espionage - which carries a request for life imprisonment - stems from a maneuver orchestrated by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, following the impact of the Ordering Task policy, designed and implemented by Gil, on the economic interests of military sectors within the regime.
According to his account, Gil was summoned by Marrero on February 1, 2024, to inform him that his work "had not produced the expected results."
Upon his appearance the following day, **[State Security agents were already waiting to detain him](https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2024-02-02-u1-e43231-s27061-diaz-canel-destituye-alejandro-gil-ministro-economia)** and transfer him, along with his wife, to a secure house. He was subsequently sent to the maximum-security prison in Guanajay; she was released after four months of detention.
The family claims that the file remains officially inaccessible, that their homes have been searched and their electronic devices confiscated, and that even the ex-minister's niece reports constant surveillance from cars that follow her.
"My brother wants to speak, and of course, they are going to silence him," María Victoria warned.
A trial amid national collapse
The second legal proceeding against Gil occurs while Cuba is experiencing massive blackouts, hyperinflation, extreme shortages, and rising popular discontent.
For the family of the former minister, this repressive and opaque deployment aims to create a "single culprit" for the economic disaster and divert responsibility from a policy endorsed by the entire power elite.
The crisis today affects all sectors of the country, including those that have historically been most protected by the regime.
The economic collapse makes it clear that there are no sacred cows in this crisis: neither hospitals, nor bread, nor energy, nor the sports that were once a source of pride.
While the population faces endless lines, hunger, and blackouts, the government focuses its attention on a heavily protected trial, lacking transparency, aimed at a former minister who was, until last February, the right-hand man of President Miguel Díaz-Canel himself.
A trial where the public cannot enter, the press cannot ask questions, and family members must remain silent. A trial whose verdict, as Gil's sister states, "is already written."
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