The president used quotes from Fidel Castro to denigrate the person who was his right-hand man in the government.

Por Yunior García Aguilera (14ymedio)

HAVANA TIMES – At the recent meeting of the Communist Party Central Committee, Miguel Diaz-Canel had a privileged opportunity to offer explanations about one of the biggest political and judicial scandals of his government: the life sentence for espionage, in addition to a 20-year sentence for other crimes, that a court has just imposed on his former Minister of Economy, Alejandro Gil.

But instead of detailing facts, responsibilities, failed control mechanisms, or institutional lessons, the president chose a different path. With evident dyslexia, he read five paragraphs of moralizing rhetoric, quotes from Fidel Castro, and metaphors about traitors and patriots. The result was a speech laden with adjectives but devoid of concrete information about how and why one of the men he trusted most ended up becoming, in his view, a “great traitor.”

The close relationship between Díaz-Canel and Gil was also evident in the academic sphere. The president was the principal advisor for the then-Minister of Economy’s doctoral thesis. This endorsement implied a bond of trust and made Diaz-Canel the intellectual guarantor of Gil’s economic vision. That same thesis has been cited by critics and relatives of the former minister as a symbol of the extremely close relationship between the two.

For years, Gil was the public face of Díaz-Canel’s government’s economic policy and one of its most highly promoted figures. Even after his dismissal, the president........

© Havana Times