Who is Fernando Javier Albán, the businessman associated with Alejandro Gil?

Fernando Javier Albán Torres He is a Cuban businessman who is allegedly detained for having links with the former Minister of Economy and PlanningAlejandro Gil Fernandez, in a corruption plot in Cuba.

Albán graduated in Economics from the University of Camagüey in 2004. His name began to be relevant since 2002 when he was thepresident of the FEU and were expelled from their university center, the studentsJoan Columbia andHarold Cepero, for supporting the Varela Project.

Columbié and Cepero (young opponent who died alongsideOswaldo Paya in Cuba) demanded before Albán and other leaders of the FEU, the expulsion from the university for defending political ideas referred to in the Constitution. The communist student leader's response was: "We stand above the Constitution."

After graduating in Economics, Albán once again gained relevance by creating, in 2017, a "local development project" in Ciego de Ávila. He said he was inspired byCelia Sánchez Manduley and called it "Media Luna". He got support from the regime to push it at a suspicious speed in Cuba.

In 2020, private companies were not approved but Albán and his team had trade abroad. He said that Media Luna was included in the Economy Plan with a "closed scheme", it had to earn 2 million 70 thousand dollars from exports, 46% would go to replenishment of the project, and the rest for theCentral Financing Account of the country's leadership.

The Cuban Economist explained that the "closed foreign currency financing scheme" was a financial procedure by which they executed the economic plan approved for companies and the State applied a liquidity retention coefficient to external income, to meet external obligations.

Albán's business successes and his loyalty to the regime favored his company to be represented on the list ofCuban MSMEs whose entrepreneurs traveled to Miami in September 2023 to receive training and exchange with "successful Cuban Americans."

Sources consulted byCyberCuba They claim that he was not at the event, but there was at least one person representing "Media Luna" who was under his direction.

Since the creation of "Media Luna", this businessman has received numerous recognitions from the regime, highlighting the importance of his private company as a role model in the country.

The history of the AgroIndustrial Media Luna

"Media Luna" began by employing young people from the rural area of Avila, in the cultivation and processing of fruits and vegetables. It was located on land that was full of marabou and mysteriously it turned out to be super productive.

The first puzzle about this project isWhere does the initial investment come from?. No official report details the economic issue, but it involved a large sum of money as it included the construction of productive areas, laboratories, warehouses and the installation of machinery impossible for a simple entrepreneur to acquire in Cuba.

A video of the company's history shows the entire process and the magnitude of the facilities they built in less than a year. "Media Luna" quickly gained relevance in the Cuban press where it was taken as a reference for prosperity "within socialist legality."

Werepioneers in e-commerce receiving payments from abroad. They assured that this "capital was necessary to be able to sustain themselves over time" and maintain some production lines for the people.

Here you notice acommon message with Gil's speech, who sought to apply the same system to other companies and productive sectors in Cuba, during his term as Minister of Economy.

On October 18, 2021, "Media Luna" became a medium-sized private company, but had already entered the international market with exports of fruits and their derived products, under theTuaba brand. As it did? They achieved it with the explicit support of the government, the same one that is now pursuing them for corruption.

This was the first private company in Ciego de Ávila. It is not the first time that he is under investigation, he has already faced a similar process before, who was allegedly detained at the request of Gil when he was still in power.

The fall of Albán and Gil

The "movements of management cadres" that occurred on the island at the beginning of February predicted that something was not going well at the top of the regime. The alarms exploded with the surprise dismissal ofAlejandro Gil, who was the most visible figure in the economic changes promoted by the government ofMiguel Diaz-Canel.

Last week, a month after his dismissal, the regime reported that Gil has an investigative file open in theGeneral Prosecutor of the Republic, for committing "serious errors" in the performance of his duties, among which was promoting the "new actors" of economic change in Cuba.

Among these "new actors" would beFernando Javier Albán, main partner of the MipymeAgroIndustrial Media Luna, based in Ciego de Ávila, arrested allegedly for corruption.

The cases of these Cubans could be related due to personal benefit for both parties. However, it is likely that, as has happened in other similar corruption scandals in Cuba, the regime will never reveal the magnitude of the connections between them, nor the involvement of other political officials in the matter.