Cuba charges former economy minister Gil of espionage, financial crimes

Authorities have not said which country or state actors may have benefitted from the alleged spying activities.

Cuba’s top prosecutor has charged the country’s former economy minister and others with alleged espionage and a string of financial crimes.

The office of Cuba’s attorney general announced on Friday it had completed a nearly two-year criminal investigation of Alejandro Gil, who served as minister of economy and planning from 2019 until his removal in February 2024, and a number of other unnamed defendants.

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Gil and the others are to be held responsible for “espionage, acts detrimental to economic activity or contracting, embezzlement, bribery”, the office said, without saying which country or actors may have benefitted from their activities.

Other charges include forgery of public documents, tax evasion, influence peddling, money laundering, violation of rules on classified documents, and theft or damage of documents or other objects in official custody.

No trial date has been announced yet, but the enumerated charges are punishable from 10 years in prison to the death penalty under Cuba’s penal code.

Once a close ally of President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Gil was at the helm of major monetary reform in Cuba in 2021, which included trying to unify the country’s dual currency system, increasing wages, subsidy adjustments, and new regulations for private employment and cooperatives.

But in Cuba’s economy that was already sharply contracting, the policies led to soaring inflation, a plunging national currency, and more trouble for a number of state-owned enterprises.

When Gil, 61, was removed from office, official statements only said the former economy minister was accused of committing “grave errors”.

He has not publicly responded to any of the accusations against him, and has not been seen or heard from publicly since the investigation against him started.