A program by the anonymous spokesman Cuban Warrior and the arrest of the writer Ángel Santiesteban form part of the measures against those who oppose the current Grand Master
14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, 26 July 2024 — The Cuban regime has demonstrated in the last 48 hours that the protest of Freemasons on July 23 in the building of the Grand Lodge, in Havana, did not go unnoticed. An official note from the Ministry of Justice, a program on the Freemasons by the anonymous spokesman Guerrero Cubano and the detention, this Thursday, of the writer and Freemason Ángel Santiesteban indicate that the Government is not willing to lose control of the situation.
The crisis revolves around the figure of the several times-expelled and rehabilitated Grand Master, Mario Alberto Urquía Carreño, whose leadership has been in question since the theft of $19,000 from his office last January. A large group of Freemasons, among whom are almost all the senior officials of the fraternity, have been demanding his dismissal since then, because they consider him to be a tool of State Security to weaken and infiltrate the organization.
After the protest on July 23, during which Urquía Carreño refused to leave his office, the Government hinted he would cede in a statement broadcast live by the independent press. The Ministry of Justice, in an ambiguous document signed that same day, said that after detecting “irregularities” in the sanctions issued against Urquía Carreño – his deposition as leader and his expulsion from Freemasonry – and the election of a new Master, Juan Alberto Kessel Linares, they should continue “to carry out those processes again in accordance with the statutes and the will of the members.”
At first glance, the text seemed a simple capitulation of the Ministry, which in the face of disgust with Urquía Carreño and the exodus of Kessel – who gave the seat again to his predecessor – recognized the right of the Freemasons to self-determination. However, subsequent events made it evident that the matter was not over.
In a subtle way, the Ministry emphasized the differences between the two Masonic bodies into which Cuban Freemasonry is divided
In a subtle way, the Ministry emphasized the differences between the two Masonic bodies into which Cuban Freemasonry is divided: the Grand Lodge – at the moment presided over by Urquía Carreño – and the Supreme Council of Degree 33, headed by Ramón Viñas Alonso, critic of the regime and accuser of Urquía Carreño. The Ministry had already clarified that it considered both bodies to be different institutions for legal purposes, and it has said that the Supreme Council operated illegally against the Grand Lodge, in the person of Urquía Carreño.
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