HAVANA- The State Council of Cuba He dismissed the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, just hours after postponing the application of the unpopular economic package announced at the end of December by the Castro regime.
According to a note published by the official newspaper Granma, the decision was made at the proposal of Miguel Díaz-Canel and prior approval of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).
Everything indicates that the failure of the economic policies that have deepened the crisis and poverty, the regime intends to attribute to Gil’s mismanagement.
Gil’s fall from grace occurs after a string of terrible economic news, such as the recognition of the failure of the Ordering Task, applied in January 2021; the collapse of the economy at the end of 2023, and the failure of the package, a plan that the regime promotes without success, arguing that they are necessary measures to “correct distortions”, despite the fact that it represents the greater impoverishment of Cubans and the increase in the already critical inflation.
Advance warning
Last September, Cuban economist Rafaela Cruz anticipated Gil’s fall. In an opinion piece, she warned that among the minister’s final duties would be to “absorb popular displeasure over the announcement that things will continue to get worse in Cuba.”
“Gil is the minister of the Ordering Task, of designed inflation, of the dollar at 120 pesos that now costs 300, of monetary unification, of MLC stores, of blackouts, hunger, the flight of hundreds of thousands of Cubans …”, Cruz listed.
“His lies regarding the MLC stores are anthological: his 2023 will be a better year and the crude way in which he presents national accounts with growth to the National Assembly, when the debacle that the people are experiencing does not admit of nuance. Gil is the minister under whose rubrics self-employment was destroyed to build with its remains a private sector to the liking of the regime,” reported Rafael Cruz, economist.
“Gil’s record as a minister, in short, does not deserve dismissal, but rather a trial for genocide, but while the Cuban Nuremberg arrives, what we have is the Revolution devouring one of its most incompetent children, or one of the most faithful , if we take into account how well he has carried out the mission of not doing what is best for the economy, but what is best for the dictatorship, and disguising, packaging and selling it as positive changes,” he asserted.
The substitute”
Replacing the official, Joaquín Alonso Vázquez, current minister-president of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), was appointed as the new Minister of Economy and Planning.
Vázquez, 60 years old, has a degree in Finance and Credit and a master’s degree in Business Administration and Management, Granma indicates. He has held positions in the National Bank of Cuba, the Popular Savings Bank, the CUBALSE Commerce and Services Corporation and CADECA.
Changes in the regime’s cabinet
Alonso Vázquez’s position will be occupied by Juana Lilia Delgado Portal, who was vice minister of the Ministry of Economy and Planning and worked on the Permanent Commission for Implementation and Development.
The dismissals are not limited to Gil, the regime also dismissed Elba Rosa Pérez Montoya, who served for 11 years as Minister of Science, Technology and Environment, and Manuel Sobrino Martínez, current Minister of the Food Industry.
Pérez Montoya was replaced by Doctor of Science Eduardo Martínez Díaz, current president of the BioCubaFarma Business Group, while Sobrino Martínez is succeeded by Alberto López Díaz, current governor of the province of Villa Clara.
Source: CUBA DIARY
