Not a single rumor has clarified the situation of the former deputy prime minister.
14ymedio, Havana, 28 December 2024 — Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella disappeared from the Cuban scene on October 28, a personal black Monday for the former vice prime minister, removed from office for “errors in the performance of his duties.” Almost two months later, nothing is known about the father of the scourge law – officially known as Decree-Law 370– approved under his tutelage at the head of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications. Under the law opponents, activists and independent journalists have been sanctioned for “disseminating, through public data transmission networks, information contrary to the social interest.”
The reasons why Perdomo Di-Lella left through the back door after so many years of service are only known in the highest circles of power. Not a single rumor has allowed the situation of the former vice prime minister to be clarified, beyond the mentions of his brother Yoel’s lucrative businesses in Havana, which have invited the official to be linked to corruption.
While Jorge Luis (now 53) was studying – he is an electronic engineer and has a PhD in Technical Sciences from the German University of Münster – and was growing in the public sector – first at the Center for Microelectronics Research and then as director of the Technological University of Havana (Cujae) and dean of the University of Computer Sciences – Yoel began to associate with the right people at the Comodoro Hotel, where he was head waiter in the 1990s. There he became friends with Abraham Maciques, an oligarch of Castroism and former president of the Palco Group, which opened the doors for him in the private sector, in a big way.
The reasons for Perdomo Di-Lella leaving through the back door after so many years of service are only known in the highest circles of power
At the time of his brother’s dismissal, Yoel was linked to two MSMEs that manufacture, sell and distribute food, beverages, hardware and household appliances, and a joint venture with foreign capital registered in Panama and the Cuban Chamber of Commerce, Camax Chile SA, allegedly an off-shore company of the Palco Group. These businesses are joined by two restaurants in Havana and the online store Tuambia SURL.
Nothing would suggest that Jorge Luis would have been implicated in any corruption issue if it were not for two reasons: the opacity of the regime and its most direct antecedent, the dismissal of Alejandro Gil.
The mystery of Perdomo Di-Lella’s “demotion,” as the Council of State called his dismissal, occurred, paradoxically, just three weeks after the new Law of Social Communication came into force, which was intended to increase information transparency. Far from that, a common expression was used that precedes mountains of speculation: “serious errors in the performance of his duties,” the exact phrase used in the case of the former Minister of Economy and Planning.
Alejandro Gil, one of 14ymedio’s faces of the year 2020 on his own merits, also suffered a forced retirement in 2024
Alejandro Gil, one of the faces of 14ymedio in 2020 in his own right, also suffered a forced retirement in 2024, and in his case, the corruption theory was not a figment of popular imagination. The official note on his dismissal, on February 2, did specify that there was a “rigorous investigation” and that the Ministry of the Interior had been ordered to initiate “the corresponding actions for the full clarification of these conducts.”
It was confirmed by his own sister, the presenter María Victoria Gil – now living in Spain – that the former minister was detained along with his wife. It also became clear that it was a matter of corruption when Gladys Bejerano, the Comptroller General of Cuba, spoke of this type of crime and referred to the case of the former minister as a “betrayal.” The specific motive remains an enigma, but its shadow has reached as far as Perdomo Di-Lella and no one has done anything to remedy it.
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