The former presenter of Cuban television, María Victoria Gil, sister of the former Minister of Economy and Planning of Cuba, Alejandro Gil Fernández, broke the silence that official media has maintained regarding the legal proceedings facing the former official, who is accused of espionage.
From Spain, in a conversation with journalist Mario J. Pentón, he provided several relevant and even astonishing details about the process.
"Díaz-Canel is the least guilty."
The jurist also described the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel as "the least culpable" in the case.
According to his account, the president would have been unaware of what was being organized against one of his subordinates, something that, in his view, would also make him politically responsible.
However, he insists that he "knew nothing" about what was being planned against the then minister.
María Victoria explained that on February 1, 2024, her brother received a call from Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz, who informed him that he would be dismissed the following day due to "poor performance" and had to begin the immediate handover of the organization's documents.
The next day, despite the dismissal, he recalled that Díaz-Canel publicly congratulated his brother for his performance.
"Congratulate my brother for the work he has done at the Ministry of Economy and Planning on social media X, and my brother responds: 'Thank you, Canel, I will continue working and I will keep making the revolution,'" he detailed.
Subsequently, on February 6, the ruler once again greeted Gil on social media for his birthday, something that, in María Victoria's opinion, highlights Díaz-Canel's ignorance of everything that was being plotted against his brother.
The sister of the former leader even linked it to a detail she considers symbolic: the dismissal occurred on the same day as Alejandro Gil's wife's birthday, something she attributes to either coincidence or perhaps to the "macabre" nature of the system.
A silent and controlled process
According to the legal expert, after stepping down from his position, the former minister continued to visit the Ministry of Economy for weeks to submit documents accumulated over four years of management, a process she describes as "long, difficult, and complicated."
Finally, he was summoned to complete the delivery on February 24, this time at the office of Prime Minister Marrero.
It was at that meeting when, according to the account, two officers from State Security appeared and informed him that he was under investigation and that from that moment on, he would be subjected to a "kind of house arrest," without further public explanations or access to procedural guarantees.
A trial without information and under control
María Victoria's statements provide one of the few first-person accounts of what occurred from the ousting of the former minister to his current situation, under restrictions imposed by the political police.
She stated that State Security is overseeing her brother's case and that the Cuban justice system is subordinate to political interests.
She stated that her brother is being accused of spying for the CIA, an accusation for which, according to her, no public information has been presented, nor has the status of the trial been clarified.
To date, no Cuban authority has explained exactly what the alleged crime of espionage entails, nor have details been published regarding the trial, the evidence, or the defense of the accused.
The only available version comes from his sister, who claims that the process is not based on legal criteria but rather on decisions made by State Security.
This information silence contrasts with the political weight of someone who was, until a few months ago, one of the most visible faces of the country's economic policy and responsible for decisions that impacted the daily lives of millions of Cubans.
While the government remains silent, the family's complaint becomes the only window into a process that, for now, is known only for its opacity.
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