Cuba vows zero tolerance for 'corruption' amid economy minister's probe

Recently dismissed Cuban Economy Minister Alejandro Gil Fernandez is being investigated by police and the Attorney General’s Office after making “serious mistakes,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel has said.

The president's announcement on Thursday did not specify what crimes Gil might have committed, but it said that “corruption” would not be tolerated in the island’s government.

Gil had been one of Diaz-Canel’s closest collaborators before he was removed from the post in early February with no explanation.

Gil Fernandez is the highest-ranking official to fall from grace since 2009 when then Vice President Carlos Lage and Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque were dismissed, though that case involved leaks of sensitive information.

Diaz-Canel's message announcing the investigation of Gil was read as the opening of the nightly Noticiero Estelar of the Cuban state television.

“The person involved has acknowledged serious accusations," the note said, adding that he had resigned as a member of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee and as a deputy in Cuba's parliament.

Gil became Minister of Economy and Planning in 2018, and he took on the added role of deputy prime minister in 2019.