Her father “will not, under any circumstances, acknowledge any crime that he is accused of and that has not been duly verified.”
14ymedio, Havana, 1 November 2025 — The daughter of former Cuban Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernández has reacted a few hours after the espionage accusation against her father became public. Laura María Gil González demanded transparency and a public, televised trial accessible to the international and independent press. “What measures did he propose to the country on the express orders of another state? What evidence do they have? What was his pseudonym?” she asked regarding her father’s alleged role as a spy.
Appealing to the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba and the recognition that the Magna Carta makes of the “freedom of expression of all citizens,” Gil González has broken the long silence he had maintained until now, more than 20 months after the official note in which a criminal process was announced against the official, without initially detailing the crime he was charged with.
This Friday, a brief statement released by the Attorney General’s Office enumerated a long list of charges against Gil Fernández, including espionage, embezzlement, money laundering, and falsification of public documents, in a case involving several defendants whose identities remain unknown. Following this announcement, the daughter of the former deputy prime minister has chosen not to remain silent.
To explain his long silence, Gil González argues that he had not spoken out until now to “protect the image of our country and avoid at all costs popular discontent or an international conflict.” He also cites among his reasons for discretion the desire to “respect due process at all times and to cooperate effectively throughout the entire investigation.”
With irony, he claims to be pleased that the Cuban government “has implemented the Transparency and Access to Public Information Law so efficiently, consistently, and without precedent.” However, he points out that “a few minor details remain unresolved, fueling public speculation,” and, based on this complaint, demand “complete transparency.”
According to his daughter, the espionage charge “has been the cornerstone of this investigation” against her father, and she warns that the publicly available information, which is currently scarce and fragmented, needs to be completed. “Which country or countries are we referring to, since when, what were his communication channels, what did he receive in return, where did he hold his meetings, in what settings, with whom, under the direct orders of whom, what information did he reveal?” she asks, with the same tone of disbelief that runs throughout her post.
The woman believes that “the government or governments for which he allegedly worked and received instructions from should officially address the question.” The crime of espionage, which in Cuba can carry the death penalty, is “a very serious accusation that transcends the Cuban political sphere and makes it an international case.”
As many other Cubans have demanded on social media after the Prosecutor’s Office statement was released, Gil González joins “the popular demand for an open trial, where everyone who wishes can participate, and which is televised live on Cuban television and Cubavisión International, with the participation of official and unofficial media.”
The former minister’s daughter demands that the oral hearing be broadcast “live by foreign television networks that are present.” She clarifies that this request is not solely hers, but that Alejandro Gil Fernández himself “has also been demanding it, not just since today, but since day one.”
“I join the popular call to bring transparency to this case to its fullest expression The people demand it, the family demands it, and Gil demands it too,” the woman emphasizes. To avoid reprisals, Gil González clarifies that his publication “is neither offensive nor destructive, it does not incite violence or popular rebellion, it does not reveal state secrets, nor does it belittle the actions of the Ministry of the Interior, the Comptroller General of the Republic, the Attorney General’s Office, the Presidency of Cuba, or any other Cuban or international institution linked to the case in question.”
“I join the popular call to bring transparency to this case to its fullest expression.”
To conclude her statement, which in just a few minutes has garnered dozens of supportive and critical comments, the former minister’s daughter asserts that “any reprisal that may be taken by the Government against me or any of my loved ones would be completely illegal and a violation of my human rights to freedom of expression and self-defense, recognized in the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba.”
As a witness to the entire process, the woman clarifies that her father “remains steadfast in his defense and will not, under any circumstances, admit to any crime he is accused of that has not been duly verified.” In her opinion, in the case against Gil Fernández, “the truth will prevail.”
The former minister, who was one of the regime’s key figures, has not appeared in public since his dismissal in February of last year. Before that, his rise had been meteoric. He was appointed Minister of Economy and Planning by Díaz-Canel in 2018. The following year, he also held the position of Deputy Prime Minister. He became one of the most visible faces of the unpopular Tarea Ordenamiento [Ordering Task], which, implemented in January 2021, has unleashed runaway inflation and further aggravated the economic crisis and poverty.
*Translator’s note: The “Ordering Task” [Tarea Ordenamiento] was a collection of measures that include eliminating the Cuban Convertible Peso (CUC), leaving the Cuban peso as the only national currency, raising prices, raising salaries (but not as much as prices), opening stores that take payment only in hard currency which must be in the form of specially issued pre-paid debit cards, and a broad range of other measures targeted to different elements of the Cuban economy.
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