The presenter and lawyer María Victoria Gil, sister of the former Minister of Economy and Planning of Cuba Alejandro Gil Fernández, stated that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz has been “the person who has been at the forefront and behind the entire judicial process” for espionage against the former official.
In an interview granted this Saturday to Mario J. Pentón, a journalist from Martí Noticias, Gil revealed that, according to a "very reliable" source he cannot identify for safety reasons, the charge against his brother is espionage in favor of the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States.
“Has confirmed to me that the charge of espionage against him (…) is a crime of espionage in favor of the CIA. Incredible. I am left speechless,” he said, before emphasizing that he finds it impossible for Alejandro Gil to have become a spy for any country.
María Victoria stated that the former minister "strongly denies, point by point" all the facts related to the alleged espionage, starting from the very beginning of the investigations.
He added that the defense attorney, Abel Solás, made a "brilliant" defense, countering each of the elements of the accusation and questioned the construction of the case file.
According to the explanation, in Cuba, cases of espionage are not prosecuted by the Attorney General's Office but rather directly by State Security, which operates "in an encrypted manner," making it difficult to determine whether the events are real or "a great lie intended to frame someone and maximize the chances of conviction."
The interview takes place nine days after the conclusion of the espionage trial, without the regime having officially announced that the process has even ended.
Gil emphasized that the Cuban government has not said “a single word” about the case, nor has it communicated whether the former minister was declared guilty or innocent.
Nonetheless, María Victoria stated that, due to the way the process has unfolded, the life sentence is “predetermined,” in line with the classification of the crime.
The role of Marrero and the fall of Gil
María Victoria pinpointed the beginning of her brother's downfall to February 1, 2024, when Alejandro Gil received a call from Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz.
In that conversation, he said, Marrero informed him that his work at the Ministry of Economy and Planning "had not yielded the expected results," that it had been "poor work" and that he would be dismissed the following day, so he needed to immediately start handing over all documentation related to the ministry.
On February 2nd, the dismissal of Gil as minister was publicly announced, a date that coincides with the birthday of his wife, Gina María González.
On that same day, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel publicly congratulated him for his "good work" at the helm of the ministry, and the former minister responded on the social media platform X that he would continue working and "making revolution."
Despite his dismissal, Gil continued to go to the Ministry of Economy for weeks to prepare and submit the documents from his management, as Marrero had instructed him.
According to María Victoria's account, on February 24, her brother was summoned to the Prime Minister's office to finalize the submission of documents.
Upon arrival, he found that along with Marrero, there were two officers from State Security, who informed him that from that moment on he was under investigation and that both he and his wife would be subjected to a kind of "house arrest" in one of the houses controlled by the Ministry of the Interior in neighborhoods such as Nuevo Vedado or Miramar.
The sister of the former minister claimed to be familiar with this type of property because in the past she was an officer of State Security dealing with art trafficking, under the operational name of "agent LOIPA," and she would meet there with her contact officer.
She explained that Alejandro Gil and Gina María stayed for about four months in one of those houses, a period during which the criminal case was reportedly initiated.
Finally, her sister-in-law was released and returned to her home in Miramar, while her brother was transferred to a maximum-security prison, one of the "toughest" jails in the country, where —she said— he receives visits from his children and wife for only 15 minutes every two weeks.
“Marrero is the person who has been at the forefront and behind all this process against Alejandro Gil,” stated María Victoria, who described the prime minister's actions as a “persecution.”
He recalled that when his brother is accused of economic crimes to strengthen the case, “Marrero has committed them five times more”, and described him as an openly corrupt official linked to major businesses since his time as head of the Ministry of Tourism.
Espionage, internal struggles, and corruption
For the sister of the former minister, Alejandro Gil's case "speaks of internal struggles within the power" more than of a solid espionage file.
He pointed out that, in a country "where the entire leadership is corrupt" and the children of the main figures of the regime study at very expensive European universities, it seems cynical to single out just one official to judge for corruption, money laundering, or influence peddling.
"They would have to judge them all," he said, adding that this is why they resort to a politically charged crime of maximum impact like espionage.
The accusation that Gil was spying for the CIA, he noted, fits into the historical narrative of the regime attributing its failures to the United States.
The interviewee sarcastically remarked that, following that logic, the disastrous "monetary reform" implemented during her brother's tenure as Minister of Economy must have been “an assignment from the CIA” to destroy the Cuban economy, when in reality — she stated — the collapse of the country is due to a failed, corrupt system responsible for the total destruction of Cuba.
Although she directly holds Marrero accountable, María Victoria also questioned the role of Miguel Díaz-Canel and stated that if the president was unaware of what was being plotted against one of his ministers, that alone would warrant impeachment.
"When you hold a position, you are legally obliged to oversee the actions of your subordinates. If you fail to do so, you are also responsible," he said, reiterating that, in his opinion, "the least culpable" in what is being done to Alejandro Gil is the president himself, as he has been removed from the maneuver.
The family, fear, and official silence
María Victoria, who has lived in Spain for ten years, claimed to be the only member of her family who has never defended the regime, unlike her sister-in-law and her nephews, who until recently publicly supported the government.
He explained that one of them was able to enter the trial, but believes that he had to sign a confidentiality document to be able to do so, which would explain his silence.
"What he has is fear. He lives in a dictatorship where, if you're not with me, you're my enemy," he said about his nephew.
The sister of the former minister also mentioned that, some time ago, she offered Alejandro Gil the possibility of obtaining Spanish citizenship, like her, since both are children of Galician parents and grandparents.
According to his account, he rejected the offer arguing that "he was happy living in Cuba" and that "he would give his life for his country", a decision that today prevents his children from benefiting from historical memory laws to emigrate.
Meanwhile, Pentón announced that he will send the information regarding the espionage accusation in favor of the CIA to the United States Department of State, in an attempt to obtain an official response, given that no Cuban authority has publicly confirmed the nature of the crime attributed to Gil.
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