MIAMI - Alejandro Gil Fernández, former Minister of Economy and Planning, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against the state, following a controversial trial at the island's Supreme Popular Tribunal.
The case stemmed from his past dismissal from the position in mid-2024 and has attracted the attention of the island's residents.
Gil was also given a secondary sentence of 20 consecutive years for additional crimes, which the state has included in his conviction, namely, embezzlement, bribery, tax evasion, money laundering, espionage, and manipulation of classified documents.
In July of 2018, Gil was appointed Minister of Economy and Planning as part of the Executive and was considered a close confidant and collaborator of the current President, Miguel Díaz-Canel, when he took over the reins from national hero and brother of Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, after his death.
In 2019, Gil was also appointed deputy prime minister.
The successive government was optimistic in introducing new faces in the administration, and Gil was tasked as a key instrument responsible for the implementation of key economic reforms.
However, the island eventually sank to new lows in subsequent years, reaching record high inflation rates that pushed 89% of the island's inhabitants into conditions of extreme poverty, leading to a series of protests from the island's residents.
In July of 2024, Gil was eventually dismissed and accused of committing "serious errors", and was later detained by the state and brought to trial, which many on the island believed to be the demonstration of the burning of the scapegoat.
The trial sparked intense social debate as many speculated that the process was designed to reconcile a serious internal power struggle within the executive department.
Gil's demise from power is the highest-profile case of a Cuban official falling from grace since 2009, when then-Vice President Carlos Lage Dávila and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque were dismissed from their posts.
The pair's cases also stemmed from accusations of leaked classified documents and sensitive materials.
However, unlike Gil, Lage and Roque were not sentenced for their alleged crimes.
As part of the court's remarks on the matter, the Supreme Tribunal states that former Minister Gil "abused the powers granted to him" for personal gain, "receiving money from foreign firms and bribing other officials."
