Madrid/Corruption has completely devastated the municipal Gastronomy company of Guantánamo, after the diversion of products worth seven million pesos ended with its “total decapitalization,” according to information released this Monday by Canal Caribe.
The case affects a large “number of people who acted as defendants,” as well as companies or state entities that intervened in it, said Major Juan Martínez Martínez, instructor of the case, for which the defendants are exposed to prison sentences. up to 20 years in prison for embezzlement crimes.
The soldier explains that the network was organized by “a person who had knowledge of how the company worked” and negotiated with several suppliers to “extract merchandise that never reached its final destination.”
The accused face sentences of up to 20 years in prison for crimes of embezzlement
Among the diverted products are, mainly, alcoholic beverages, such as rum and beer, but also other basic necessities, such as chicken and sausages, in smaller quantities.
According to the instructor, the appropriation of resources occurred by managers and accounting and commercial employees, through the falsification of controls and documentation, which the defendants validated in the company’s reconciliation process, dedicated to comparing invoices. with orders and delivered merchandise.
“It was simply not like that, the product was diverted and the client company, that is, the municipal gastronomy company of Guantánamo, paid that supplier and did not receive any benefit,” he details. The decapitalization of the company has ended with its extinction and the “consequent impact of all its workers,” he laments.
The information from Canal Caribe reminds that the best way to prevent situations like these is an “effective and quick reporting of facts” and also appeals to the “moral damage” caused by this type of crime.
After decades of concealing facts linked to corruption, the official Cuban press has begun to expeditiously report on crimes of this type, with an exemplary purpose, since the cases are only made known when the networks are dismantled and those responsible are being investigated or subjected to judicial proceedings.
Last May, a similar episode was experienced in Sancti Spíritus, when the official press revealed that Alexis Fuentes de La Cruz, director of the Sancti Spíritus Municipal Commerce Company between May 2022 and July 2023, had been sentenced to eight years prison for a corruption case. In his case, in addition to ignoring the warnings of a specialized committee not to buy soft drinks with a near expiration date, he proceeded to eliminate the documentation that implicated him in the crime. There were, the newspaper added, 13 more cases of this type in the province.
The information also appeals to the “moral damage” caused by this type of crime.
In February of this year, Miguel Díaz-Canel asked to combat corruption in a working meeting of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic and told officials that they should have “zero tolerance” for these events that “lacerate” and “erode the foundation.” morality of society.
“Corruption can be so devastating that it can lead a country to poverty; moral poverty and material poverty. Corruption can destroy a country,” said the president, adding that it causes distrust in the population in addition to ” delay social development, growth and economic development.
To date, the most relevant fall due to an alleged case of corruption is that of the former deputy prime minister and former head of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernández, removed from office in March 2024 without the slightest detail of the cause being known. it affects him.
