Mario Mestril

Mario Eusebio Mestril Vega was a Cuban Roman Catholic bishop who led the new Diocese of Ciego de Ávila from its founding in 1996 until his retirement in 2017. Born on 5 March 1940 in Nuevitas in Camagüey Province, he grew up in a region whose Catholic life he would later serve as priest, auxiliary bishop and founding diocesan bishop. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Camagüey on 4 August 1964 and spent his early ministry in his home diocese.

Pope John Paul II appointed him titular bishop of Cediae and auxiliary bishop of Camagüey on 16 November 1991. He was consecrated on 9 February 1992 by Bishop Adolfo Rodríguez Herrera of Camagüey, with Apostolic Nuncio Faustino Sainz Muñoz and Archbishop Pedro Meurice Estiu of Santiago de Cuba as co-consecrators. Those years as auxiliary placed him at the side of Camagüey's ordinary while he prepared for wider pastoral responsibility in central Cuba.

On 2 February 1996 the Holy See established the Diocese of Ciego de Ávila and named Mestril Vega its first bishop. The new jurisdiction gave the city of Ciego de Ávila its own episcopal see and a local church distinct from Camagüey. He guided that young diocese for more than twenty years, shaping parish life, clergy formation and the public face of Catholicism in the province. On 8 July 2017 Pope Francis accepted his resignation and appointed Juan Gabriel Díaz Ruiz as his successor. Mestril Vega then lived as bishop emeritus.

In late September 2026 the Diocese of Ciego de Ávila reported that his health had declined rapidly and that he needed intensified medical care. He died in Cuba on 1 October 2026 at the age of 86. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba announced his death the next day and recalled his long service as priest and bishop. Catholic and Cuban news outlets, including L'Osservatore Romano and CiberCuba, carried obituaries for the emeritus bishop who had opened Ciego de Ávila's first chapter as a diocese.