Category: Juan Izquierdo

The most impressive images among those recorded aboard the H-165 are those of the town of Mariel, with destroyed roofs and abundant pools of water. They also flew over the Máximo Gómez power station and the Turkish patana (floating power plant) Ela Sultan, whose presence in Mariel – although well known by the independent press – had not been verified through maritime tracking applications. The wind had knocked down ten wooden poles.

The journalist and spokesman for the regime, Lázaro Manuel Alonso, also boarded an Air Force helicopter this Friday. The pilots commented, according to his report, that gusts of wind were very dangerous for the old Cuban helicopters. Judging by the images, Alonso was in a Mi-17 H-166 helicopter.

One of the helicopters in this fleet, the H-115, crashed last April in Santiago de Cuba, killing its three crew members.

In Bauta, Mariel, Güira de Melena, Alquízar, Guanajay, Caimito and Artemisa, the damage was serious. Next to some fallen trees and roofs that “flew” there was an irrigation plane that had lost its wings. “But the most devastating footprint is in agriculture,” Alonso explains, and the images speak for themselves.

Cuban Television has not spared praise for the Armed Forces. In the Havana municipality of Cerro, several high-ranking officials of the Ministry of the Interior allowed themselves to be filmed, shovel in hand and in ordinary clothing – not work uniforms – to demonstrate their “commitment” to recovery. “We have been here since six in the morning,” Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Hernández proudly commented. Neighbors wearing Che Guevara and Fidel T-shirts praised the “great cleanup that the Minint (Ministry of the Interior) is doing.”

The Special Troops of Villa Clara, known as the Black Wasps, showed the cameras their modern equipment for rescue and recovery. Helmets, gloves, flashlights and new uniforms (unlike those used by soldiers or military service recruits), shovels, backpacks and life jackets, in addition to Dongfeng Chinese trucks are among the squad’s supplies. Each soldier also has a radio, portable antenna and headphones.

But the Army, reported 5 de Septiembre, has orders not only to quantify the hurricane damage and support the recovery work. They are also there to “strengthen surveillance and patrol the territory,” along with the Ministry of the Interior. The “combatants” are in charge of “control of the public road” and “other actions” to maintain calm despite the discontent of the victims.

We must protect, they say, “the resources of the State” and the “conquests of the Revolution,” a phrase that leaves no doubt: if there are protests, the same forces that operate the helicopter will be able to wield weapons.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The terrain is 1,000 kilometers in diameter and has 785,000 square kilometers of area

The terrain is so intricate that the workers in charge of opening the road that leads to the place gave up in the 80s until a farmer in the area showed them a path. The anecdote is famous in the Escambray. “Look for a bulldozer and let it fall behind my mule,” said the man, a kind of healer in the area – and militiaman in the service of Fidel Castro – known as the Gallego Otero.

Young people in the area consider that working on the station is “an opportunity,” because as children they regarded the installation with reverence. Cuban Television does not reveal how much the State pays them, but it implies that either they do not receive any salary or the payment is minimal. The most “experienced” worker, Lázaro Moreno, has been a “principal specialist” of radar for just over eight months.

Moreno says that it only takes “a few notions of electricity and mechanics” and some meteorology to work in the facilities. The rest of the “boys,” he says, are “young and from my own neighborhood.” The transport crisis has forced the recruitment of operators only from nearby homes, in case “they have to come suddenly.”

A married couple, Ada and Erwing, are also part of the group as “observers.” Erwing hopes to “be able to prepare better” in the future. It’s been “barely three months,” he confesses. Moreno, just as enthusiastic, plans to “retreat” there. “We have many programs on the computer and are preparing,” he adds.

“They have overcome their fear of being inexperienced,” says the reporter who interviewed the group. The radar does not have a high technological level either; it has been operating for 35 years with the same equipment sent by the Soviet Union. With a few instructions, they can handle it.

“The radar works automatically. It makes an observation every ten minutes and sends it to the National Radar Center of Camagüey,” explains Moreno. From its coordinates – 21º 59’ north latitude and 80º 08’ west latitude – the radar collects information on a circumference that goes from the beaches of Baconao, in Santiago, to the Cape of San Antonio, and from Hollywood (Florida), to a point in the Caribbean Sea not far from the island of Grand Cayman.

The sweep is 1,000 kilometers in diameter and over 785,000 square kilometers of area. The height of the radar allows eliminating the effect of the curvature of the Earth and expands the range of observation.

The station was built by orders of Castro, who claimed that several hurricanes had wreaked havoc on the Island because there was no station in the Escambray. Working on it, at the beginning, was the dream of many ambitious meteorologists. However, the place soon fell into oblivion, and the Government abandoned it to its fate. A house next to the station, an electrical plant and the radar building itself attest to the fact that Pico San Juan has seen better times.

The plant is essential to maintain operations during a hurricane, but activating it – say its operators – is a nightmare. The wind can “tear off the clothes” of a worker while he is pouring the fuel. Other times, in order not to risk their lives during the wind, several have to hold on to each other if they want to light the plant.

In Pico San Juan, temperatures are sometimes close to zero, and conditions are precarious. There is only one sign of the Government’s concern for one of the key points of Cuban meteorology: a diploma with a photo of Díaz-Canel, signed by local officials, which celebrates the operation of the radar station after 35 years.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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In Madrid, it took Ana two days to learn that her grandmother – a robust and active woman, 74 years old – had suffered a stroke in Santa Clara

In Madrid, it took Ana two days to learn that her grandmother – a robust and active 74-year-old woman – had suffered a stroke in Santa Clara. “My dad found her passed out on the kitchen table,” she says. He had been surprised that his mother-in-law did not answer the phone and went to her house. With no signal on the phone and in the midst of a transport crisis that the blackout took to a critical point, Ana’s father managed to call an ambulance. Of course, it took a long time to arrive.

“I knew the whole story when my family found a way to call. I hadn’t had any news from them since the disconnection began, and I could barely understand the news when they gave it to me,” says Ana. For the girl, getting sick now in Cuba is like suffering a litany of calamities. Without supplies or electricity, with the doctors overwhelmed by personal and hospital situations, the message after the diagnosis was clear: “They did not give her more than 72 hours.”

For his part, Alfredo – who moved to Seville after the island-wide protests of 11 July 2021 (’11J’) – knew that his cousin, in Cienfuegos, had passed two patrol cars when he went out at night to walk with his girlfriend. According to the young man, the city was “militarized” with the blackout. The phone signal was minimal, and his cousin’s voice reached him intermittently.

“The last time I experienced something like this was during 11J,” Alfredo recalls. The tension in the streets was similar, and the crash of the internet – intentional at that time – made it difficult, as now, for the news of the situation to cross the borders of the country and reach relatives abroad. “My cousin told me that some were now demonstrating and banging on pots and pans, but such a “cacerolazo” can be like an episode of socialist Masterchef, with a wood stove in the middle of the street,” he says sarcastically.

Official journalists accustomed to leaving the country have tried to hide the situation and defend the regime

Official journalists accustomed to leaving the country, such as Yanetsy León from Camagüey, have tried to hide the situation and defend the regime against those who claim that blackouts are “romanticized” in Cuba. “We have spent months resisting blackouts, days without electricity and the weight of uncertainty,” claimed León, who has spent most of the year traveling in Europe.

He also invited Cubans to “take care of their emotional well-being” and ignore those who “from outside or other parts of the country” are emphasizing the seriousness of the national blackout. He admitted that there was a “disconnection” between the Cubans who left and those who still reside on the Island. But he wasn’t looking for culprits. “We are all struggling with our own forms of resistance,” he said, without a single request for accountability from the Government of Miguel Díaz-Canel.

*Translator’s note: “Alumbrón” is a word coined by Cubans that means “the time when the lights (electricity) come on” — that is the opposite of “blackout.” English has no equivalent.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The WhatsApp groups for the bodegas (ration stores) have become fashionable, where the administrator alerts people when “two little pounds of rice” or “anything” has arrived.” At midnight a message appeared in the chat: “Please, the milk for children has just arrived. Be considerate.” Magalys translates: the bodega wants them to go as quickly as possible because the milk was about to spoil. At two in the morning, other bodegas in Santa Clara sent similar messages to their customers.

The early morning was hard. Children were crying in every neighborhood; telephones – the only source of escape for many – couldn’t be charged; and flashlights ran out of battery. “It’s hopeless,” says Magaly. “At least the night was cool.”

“People who have a freezer with food are trying not to open it to see if it can keep cold”

With almost 30 hours of blackout in the municipality of Colón, Jorge, a teacher at a local high school, sees that the food in his refrigerator is on its last legs. “We had to cook everything,” he says. “We lit a charcoal burner in the doorway – it’s raining on the patio – and we threw on a piece of liver. It was the only thing left and it wasn’t going to last much longer.” In the absence of gas and electricity, the old wood stoves have shown that, unfortunately, they are not objects of the past.

Jorge has not had electricity since Friday morning; Susana, a resident of Remedios, Villa Clara, has been in a blackout since Thursday night. “People who have a freezer with food are trying not to open it to see if it can keep cold,” he says, “but those of us who only have a refrigerator already had to eat what we had left.”

This Friday, Susana and her family dismantled a package of chicken whose “shelf life” they planned to extend for a longer time. They took the pieces and cooked them on charcoal. “We invited the neighbors next door, who also had to finish off some tamales. They do spoil very quickly.”

In Camajuaní, a few kilometers from Remedios, Carmen, a housewife, could not save the milk or the little rice she had reserved. “Everything I had frozen was lost a while ago. Anything with bones – like chicken – I made yesterday; I’ll cook the rest today. At this rate, everything will have to be cooked.”

Wood fires are flaring up throughout Cuba, not only to save food but to have some light and a place to crowd around and talk. Without phones or radios to inform themselves, people are feeling uncomfortable and given to venting. An increasingly accentuated anger has filled the place. This Friday, Magalys was afraid that “something big” could happen.

The Government has announced some measures so that people “have food and some vital products”

The Government has announced some measures so that people “have food and some vital products.” In Cienfuegos, says the State newspaper Granma, a “comprehensive agricultural fair” is being prepared for all municipalities.

Meanwhile, in Havana, a truck parked this Saturday morning in front of the Miguel Enríquez hospital. The line did not take long to form, but the “reinforcements” to weather the storm are minimal: cookies at 1,300 pesos and a package of candles – made in Cuba – at 750. A woman’s reaction to the anti-blackout kit says it all: “Is this what they send us? What am I going to pay for it with?”

Checking the local news pages, such as the CMHW in Villa Clara or the bulletins of the Electric Union itself, provides a good inventory of curses to hurl at the regime. The complaints range from personal insults to Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and requests for his resignation to jokes: “We should send a letter to the Space Station,” says a reader, “explaining to them that they are not going to see Cuba at night in the next few days.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Without saying a word – the ceremony has been described over and over again by the official press – Castro approaches with a white rose, bends down with more and more difficulty, and places it on a small table in front of the remains. Then, the military and leaders of the room stand at the same time.

The general’s “short stay” guarantees the family that the deceased had Castro’s utmost confidence

The general’s “short stay” guarantees the family that the deceased had, as is the case of Espinosa Martín, Castro’s utmost confidence. They describe his presence at the funeral as a “meaningful gesture,” which the former leader of the Communist Party tops off by personally greeting each family member.

In July 2022 – when rumors of his death were circulating – Raúl had to go to the same room to give his own family his condolences. Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja, his former son-in-law and the man who took the economic reins of Cuba at the head of the Gaesa military conglomerate, had just passed away. Like this weekend, Castro spent time “without saying words” and was followed closely by his grandson and bodyguard, Raúl Guillermo, son of the deceased.

Predictions about Raúl Castro’s death usually coincide with moments of high national tension, fueled by the economic crisis and blackouts. His appearance is intended to mitigate another rumor: the breakdown of the regime’s structure if the general dies and leaves the current leaders without the “shelter” of the historical generation.

This is the scenario in which Cubainformación – not without a certain religious fervor – spoke of Castro’s “resurrections.” Last January, when several rumors once again gave him up for dead in the midst of “difficult moments,” the media boasted of his appearance in Santiago de Cuba.

“It must now be like the fifteenth time this month that they say that Raúl Castro has died,” the Spanish journalist José Manzaneda said, laughing. “Today he reappeared or revived. These people (several influencers) don’t get tired of making fools of themselves. When a person reappears and gives a speech of almost half an hour, with perfect diction, despite his age – and he is now pretty old – with an absolutely coherent speech … they make fools of themselves.”

The co-host, Lázaro Oramas, also celebrated Raúl’s “resurrection”: “All these unpatriotic people, all these enemies, all these scoundrels will be eating their words,” he said. Another good omen, Manzaneda said: with the old man present, the flag of the cathedral square of Santiago de Cuba had begun to wave – a “good sign” in his opinion that the year was going to go well.

Educated by the Jesuits, the Castro brothers took advantage of religious symbolism on numerous occasions and speeches

Educated by the Jesuits, the Castro brothers took advantage of religious symbolism on numerous occasions and speeches. From the enthronement of the “martyrs” – the rebels killed by Fulgencio Batista’s army – to the white dove that Fidel made perch on his shoulder in 1959 through a trick, the idea that a kind of mysterious will accompanies the Revolution (atheist and Marxist) has been constantly recreated. On July 26, 2023, without going any further, Raúl’s appearance coincided with the dawn.

During Fidel Castro’s long convalescence, there was also talk of his sporadic “resurrections.” In 2012, in one of the moments when the rumor of his death ran from mouth to mouth – there was still no mass access to the Internet – the old man appeared in front of the cameras. He had not given signs of life for almost seven months, and several Miami media had already taken his death for granted.

Castro dressed as a gardener appeared in several photos taken by his son. He was then 86 years old and had four years left. His brother Raúl is 93 today, and many Cubans have predicted – as they did in 2016 with Fidel – that his death will cause the disappearance of a regime that always seems to have its days numbered and is now approaching its seventh decade of existence.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Last Wednesday one of those ’motorinos’ caused a fire at number 59 Picota Street

In addition to the charred furniture, the destroyed objects and the smoke stains on the facade of the building, a 60-year-old man, identified as Lázaro Calzadilla, lost his life.

Before that accident, another explosion in the Diez de Octubre neighborhood in August ended the life of a family of four – including a baby – with only a 13-year-old girl surviving.

Experience has shown Cubans that you don’t need to tamper with the battery, overuse the motorbike or overheat the circuits for one of them to explode unexpectedly and destroy everything around it. “I understand that they don’t forbid them from entering the parking lot,” Raquel reflects, “but if they don’t show up, it’s better.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

The head of the “squad” is Elianet Espinosa Chávez, a specialist from the center who is the group’s instructor

The head of the “squad” is Elianet Espinosa Chávez, a specialist from the center who is the instructor of the group, comprised of children between 6 and 14 years old. “They are very small, some have not even been given the History of Cuba,” she admits. Their mission has been to help them discover “how they feel Fidel” in every aspect of their lives.

A craft workshop – also impregnated with Fidelismo – is funded by Alkaria as an adjunct project. In addition to the 39 “guides,” there are 50 children each day. Xavier Barreda, director of Alkaria, personally supervises the development of the workshops, for which he dedicates – he says – “at least 20% of his annual budget.”

Alkaria defines itself as an organization of “developmental cooperation.” It belongs to the myriad of foreign institutions that “help” the Havana regime, not always in a transparent way. In fact, on the Alkaria website there is not a single word about the indoctrination of Cuban children, and the only project they admit to having destined for Havana is aid – in the form of medical donations – to the nursing home of San Miguel del Padrón.

According to his X profile, Barreda brought with him from Spain 660 pounds of sanitary, educational and sports material

According to his X profile, Barreda brought with him from Spain 660 pounds of sanitary, educational and sports material, a donation that he gathered with the help of the City Council of the Spanish municipality of Santa Perpètua de Mogoda, led by the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia.

Since the beginning of the summer, the Fidel Castro Center has put the children of the capital in its sights. Workshops, courses, films and conversations with retired soldiers have formed a detailed program of indoctrination in the “values” of Castroism. “I want to learn what Fidel did,” the children registered in the program repeat, one after another. On July 10, Ramiro Valdés in person went to give a children’s conference on Castro and “his teachings,” with the declared objective of having the children “continue his revolutionary work.”

Directed by historians René González Barrios and Elier Ramírez, the Center has become the mecca of Castro scholars, and its staff has been scrupulously selected. This has not prevented desertions, as told to 14ymedio by Miriam, a former employee of the Center.

“When the center opened, the workers were satisfied, because they sold us a box of subsidized frozen chicken”

“When the center opened, the workers were satisfied, because they sold us a box of subsidized frozen chicken,” she explains. However, a few months ago she left her job. Not only had they taken away “many stimuli,” including the chicken, but the “persistent” pressure exerted by the Center on its employees had reached its peak.

As August 13 – the anniversary of Castro’s birth – approaches, texts begin to proliferate in the official press that aren’t afraid of falling back on the idolatry. The figure of the dictator is approached with a romantic prose, which exaggerates his traits and idealizes his life.

This Friday, an article from Sierra Maestra alluded to Birán – the batey [sugar worker’s town] of Holguín where Castro was raised – as an idyllic place, where the “sweetness of the reeds and the bellowing of the cattle” cradled the birth of the dictator. The journalist then developed a disconcerting argument to demonstrate the “influence of the environment”: if Castro had come to power it was because Birán was impregnated with a revolutionary spirit from the Taino era – for the exploits of a bloody cacique [tribal chief] who decimated the region – until an alleged mambisa post was established in the area.

The reporter admits that Ángel Castro, the dictator’s father, arrived in Cuba – “paradoxically” – as part of the peninsular troops willing to destroy the mambises. The Galician soldier became rich and owned everything important in the batey, from the post office to the private school. Fidel and Raúl, who were born outside Castro’s marriage, grew up on the fringes of the house that now is presented as his family home .

Ángel Castro maintained his farm with cheap labor from Haiti, eastern Cuba and even his native Galicia

The semi-savage life that both boys led – to which Castro’s interviews attest, veiledly – is summarized by the journalist in several paragraphs. Those who met Castro as a young man say that “he would go with the other youngsters to the El Jobo pond, where they bathed, came back and cooked near the house.” Another explains that Fidel was a “friend of the Haitians.” “There were about 60 or 70 here. Almost all the workers here were Haitians,” explains a neighbor, without clarifying that Ángel Castro maintained his finca [estate] with cheap labor from Haiti, eastern Cuba and even his native Galicia.

Dozens of pages about Fidel Castro and his “imprint” will not be missing this August 13. They are written by the self-styled “privileged of the time,” the journalists whom the dictator once admitted to his press conferences and private parties. They themselves testified in a kind of collective hagiography. They plan to sell the book internationally, and the profits from the sale – they promise – will be donated to the “children of Cuba.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“No Masonic legal solutions are offered in the ’complaint,’ but, once again, they seek the intervention of the Castro authorities”

For the writer and exiled Mason, Gustavo Pardo, Fernández’s claim sends a wrong message about the state of the brotherhood, since, while denouncing the interference of the regime, they turn to the regime to resolve the crisis. “No Masonic legal solutions are offered in the complaint,’ but, once again, they seek the intervention of the Castro authorities,” he argues. Turning to the State as a “great guru” to resolve their internal affairs is a strategic mistake, says Pardo.

The evidence of this submission is the very header of the letter: “Year 66 of the Revolution,” an unnecessary formula in a document issued by a Freemason, which seems aimed at ingratiating itself with its recipients. Fernández first appeals to the Constitution – whose articles he cites – to support his right to complain and the duty of the institutions to respond to it.

The center of his argument is that the money remains missing and that Urquía Carreño committed himself, not only to the Freemasons but also to the Police, to return it. It is the coffers of the Masonic National Foundation – the source of the funds – that has suffered the most, and that shortfall cannot go unanswered, explains Fernández.

The money remains missing and Urquía Carreño is committed, not only to the Freemasons but also to the Police, to return it

Urquía Carreño’s commitment is in writing, in a document that Fernández attaches to his request. This is the Act of Conciliatory Agreement, signed at the Picota police station on April 1 by the Grand Master and Captain Leidys Villaurrutia Díaz. This text gave an account of the conclusion of the investigators of the Ministry of the Interior after visiting the crime scene: the door of the Grand Master’s office had not been violated.

It did not consider, however, that there was sufficient evidence against Urquía Carreño, who pleaded “responsible” – but not guilty – for the theft, and as such promised to return the lost amount within three months. “This period has already expired, so it is also perjury,” Fernández emphasizes.

The Freemasons themselves carried out “unsuccessful searches” for the money, and Urquía Carreño was recalled for his “delay” in taking measures and admitting the occurrence of the theft. This delay, Fernández argues, was one of the reasons for the decision to “report the loss” to the Police, a fact that – at the Masonic level – meant opening the door of the brotherhood to the authorities.

The intervention of the Ministry of Justice to defend Urquía Carreño was an “anti-legal” act by the brotherhood

From there, scandals have followed, in particular about the authority of Urquía Carreño, several times expelled and rehabilitated in his position of Grand Master. Fernández believes that the Masonic legislation is “very extensive, nourished and strengthened,” so the intervention of the Ministry of Justice to defend Urquía Carreño was an “anti-judicial” act by the brotherhood.

With all this, Urquía Carreño put the spotlight on the Supreme Council of Degree 33 – the second most important Cuban Masonic body after the Grand Lodge – says Fernández, and intended to turn it into “an irregular Masonic power with an undeniable prestige.” Urquía Carreño’s behavior brought the attention of the international press, because they wanted that action “not to be misinterpreted.”

Convening a meeting with Diego, in which another senior official was present – Miriam García Mariño, from the Registry of Associations – was the “reaction” of the Government to the protest. Fernández concludes the document with the request that “an in-depth investigation and the corresponding tax verifications be carried out,” because, in his opinion, “there is no other way to resolve this matter” if it is not the Prosecutor’s Office.

The Cuban Freemasons have scheduled an extraordinary session for next September 21 at the Great Masonic National Temple. On the agenda, under the “motions outside the agenda” section, the situation of Urquía Carreño and his future inside the brotherhood can be discussed once again.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

“On the point related to motions outside the day’s agenda, several measures can be presented that can put Urquía Carreño in an awkward position,” Pardo said in an article published this Friday. He also noted that whatever decision is made by the Registry of Associations, it is up to the Supreme Council of Degree 33 and the Grand Lodge of Cuba – the main Masonic authorities of the Island – to be “governed by their respective laws” instead of blindly complying with the “frank and blatant intervention of the CCP Central Committee.”

With the prohibition on cell phones in the meeting, the Government assured that the disseminated version of what happened is “at the discretion of the state agencies”

For Pardo, who says that the meeting with Diego was carried out “as planned,” the Cuban Freemasons “evidenced their inability to solve their internal problems by applying their own laws” by asking Diego to “solve the problem.” In addition, he points out, with the ban on cell phones in the meeting, the Government assured that the disseminated version of what happened is “at the discretion of the State.”

José Ramón Viñas – leader of the Supreme Council of Degree 33 and accuser of Urquía Carreño – was also not present at this Thursday’s meeting. In addition to this absence, apparently voluntary, the writer Ángel Santiesteban and the independent journalist Camila Acosta, arrested by the Police, did not attend, as they denounced on their social networks.

The extraordinary session scheduled for the end of September serves as a repetition of the one held last March, which the Ministry of Justice declared illegal after the Freemasons tried to remove Urquía Carreño from his position of Grand Master. The state agency then asked that the process be held again, something that Diego highlighted this Thursday when she “made it very clear that the Supreme Council violated the law by not summoning Urquía Carreño to defend himself,” and the Grand Lodge did the same thing with Viñas, said Pardo.

According to the historian, “both judicial processes must be initiated again, with the exception that if the High Chamber” – in charge of the judicial process – “approves the decree that suspends the Treaty (of Friendship and Mutual Recognition between the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council), Viñas will be facing a very serious event.”

If both Masonic bodies lose their bond, the Supreme Council, led by Viñas, would automatically become an irregular lodge

As Pardo explained to 14ymedio on a previous occasion, if both Masonic bodies lose their bond, the Supreme Council, led by Viñas, would automatically become an irregular lodge. “They don’t even own the place where their offices are located,” he clarified at the time.

“Urquía Carreño is the Grand Master with all the powers granted to him by the Masonic Constitution,” says Pardo. Until his departure from the post is achieved through legal channels, he has the right to stay there. The intervention of the Government, which so far has been on behalf of the Grand Master, does not augur anything good for the Freemasons.

Last week, at least 200 Freemasons from several provinces asked the Grand Master to leave his office and face those who asked for his resignation peacefully. Urquía Carreño’s response was to decree the suspension of three lodges in Havana and another in Artemisa. If the scales tilt in favor of the Grand Master, Pardo fears that the brotherhood on the Island will lose many members. Something similar to what happened in 2010, when it was learned that Grand Master Manuel Collera Vento was actually an infiltrator of State Security.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

Entrenched in his office and with the support of several senior officials who recognize his authority – including his secretary, Juliannis Reinaldo Galano – Urquía Carreño has continued to legislate and issue decrees against the lodges that oppose him. Last week, at least 200 Freemasons from several provinces asked the Grand Master to leave his office and face those who asked for his resignation peacefully. His answer came a few days later.

Four decrees, signed by Urquía Carreño and ratified by Galano, sanctioned two lodges that refused to accept his authority with a measure of suspension. The lodges are Evolution, in Artemisa, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, General Guillermo Moncada and Luz, from Havana.

According to Pardo, Cuban Freemasonry has been shipwrecked for several months due to serious ethical and legal errors of its members, not only of the Grand Master. The four lodges that agreed to the non-recognition of Urquía Carreño acted, in the light of Masonic Legislation, illegally, whatever their intentions.

Pardo defended this opinion in an article published last Sunday, in which he reminded the Cuban Freemasons that they were bound by obedience to the person occupying the Grand Lodge. There were other legal remedies that should have been used to oust Urquía Carreño, and violating the Masonic Code, he emphasizes, only complicates the matter.

“Urquía Carreño is the Grand Master with all the powers set by the Masonic Constitution,” Pardo summarizes. Until his departure from the post is achieved through the legal channels, he has the right to stay there.

Pardo alludes to Title VIII of the Masonic Constitution, which provides that to dismiss a Grand Master it is necessary for no less than 50 lodges to formulate an accusation, which is sent to the president of the Supreme Court of Masonic Justice.

After the Supreme Court analyzes the case, an investigating judge will be appointed, who will take the relevant statements and submit the result to the president of the Court. The decision will have to be approved by at least two-thirds of the members of the Grand Lodge, who will make up the Grand Jury. This process was not respected.

It is not known for sure how many Freemasons support the current Grand Master. In Havana, Pardo explains, there are 111 lodges in which approximately a third of Cuban Freemasons operate. “If you look carefully at the recording of the protest in the Grand Lodge building, you can see that there are 140 to 200 Freemasons, many of them members of the Supreme Council.”

Cuban Freemasonry has a total of 324 active lodges and around 20,000 members

Cuban Freemasonry has a total of 324 active lodges and about 20,000 members. The Supreme Council, for its part, has between 3,500 and 4,000 members throughout the country, according to Pardo. Since 2010, when it was known that Grand Master Manuel Collera Vento was actually an agent of State Security, Freemasonry has lost about 9,000 members. “Now something similar will happen, because it will increase the control of the Party,” he says.

To be part of the Supreme Council a mason must go through the first three degrees – apprentice, companion and teacher – which is what is known as “symbolic” Freemasonry. Those three steps are the foundation of Freemasonry and are under the authority of the Grand Lodge. A Freemason cannot belong to the Supreme Council without being affiliated with the Grand Lodge; hence a schism between both Masonic bodies can be complicated, explains Pardo.

“In fact, if the Grand Master decrees it, the members of the symbolic Freemasonry cannot visit the Supreme Council, and they would not even have temples in which to carry out their work,” he explains.

Among the Cuban Freemasons there are those who have recommended that the Supreme Council definitively separate from the Grand Lodge and constitute a separate Masonic body – what is called the Great East. For Pardo, this path would be a mistake. If the Supreme Council carried out this maneuver, it would become an irregular Great East, which would start on the left foot and not have the slightest recognition by international Freemasonry.

“They don’t even own the place where their offices are located,” says Pardo. “Even the building of the Supreme Council in Jovellar 164, between Espada and San Francisco, belongs to the Washington Lodge, subordinate to the Grand Lodge.” In fact, Pardo observes, when Urquía Carreño suspended the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Recognition between the two Masonic bodies, he turned the Supreme Council, in practice, into an irregular institution in the eyes of international Freemasonry.

There is one way to oust Urquía Carreño: Masonic Law. That has not been the way that the Supreme Council has chosen. In Pardo’s opinion, the high court has made one mistake after another, starting with the management of the money of the Llansó Masonic Elderly Asylum, whose theft triggered the crisis.

Pardo is blunt: “There was a violation of the Asylum regulations by José Ramón Viñas, who presides over the Asylum and the Supreme Council.” Viñas, who has been in the sight of the State Security for his criticism of the Government, was the one who accused Urquía Carreño of stealing the $19,000. Since then, both senior officials have been in a struggle.

“There was a violation of the Asylum regulations by José Ramón Viñas, who presides over the Asylum and the Supreme Council”

“The Treasury of the Elderly Asylum had the obligation to deposit its funds – both in national currency and in foreign currency – in the corresponding branch of the state bank . Who participated in that violation? Viñas and his governing board, who agreed to deposit the currency in the safe that exists in the Grand Master’s office,” analyzes Pardo.

“Why wasn’t the money kept in the safe of the Grand Treasury? Wasn’t that money the property of the Grand Lodge? Freemasons know that the assets of the institution are managed in the way that best suits the officials in charge of them. But this opened the possibility that Urquía Carreño, who is not a saint, would be used as a scapegoat to unleash the current crisis,” he reflects.

If anything has become clear in the seven months of tension, it is that the problem is no longer just Masonic. The Government has tried to intervene – first from the legal angle, now from the Party – and has arrested or intimidated several Masons opposed to Urquía Carreño, such as the writer Ángel Santiesteban.

Pardo has no doubt that the Office of Religious Affairs and State Security has a large part of the responsibility in the crisis. “Since 1959,” he explains, “infiltration into Freemasonry has been a goal of the State. We now see that this practice is paying off.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The province’s Communist Party newspaper admits that the investment still has no “use value”

The first signs of failure are already there: the province’s Communist Party newspaper admits that – although they have been experimenting with this method for two years – the investment still does not have “use value” and that not a single cigar has been exported with the new method, although the producers say that there is “a high degree of progress” in the project’s infrastructure.

To recover the status of “leading territory” of the cigar, along with Pinar del Río, is the aspiration of the three state producers who have benefited from the investment. Yoandi Rodríguez, Aniskyn de la Cruz and Nelson González intend, in their words, to “bring technology closer to the field.”

“The cigar is less damaged” than when it dries naturally – a process with several centuries of implementation – argue the producers, who promise to increase the amount of exportable leaf. However, the result has to go through the review of the experts and Cuba’s very demanding international customers, who quickly detect any drop in the quality of a product that is very expensive.

The producers centralized the whole process in their cooperatives, from planting to curing

The producers centralized the whole process in their cooperatives, from the planting to the curing, drying and picking of the leaf that is then sent to province’s factories. Sancti Spíritus has tried to improve the fast-track production numbers at any cost, given that the regime chose the province as the venue of the July 26 events and the harvesters were required to be “up to the task” of the “honor.”

This was the case of the Roberto Rodríguez Cigar Factory for Export, which produced 4,000 cigars a day – 96,000 units a month – during the first quarter of 2024. The Roberto Rodríguez takes care of the premium cigars that Sancti Spíritus delivers to Habanos S.A., which end up in the luxury humidors of Spain, China, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Its principal brands are Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo and Juliet, Partagás, Rey del Mundo, Bolívar, San Luis and Trinidad, the cigar “invented by Fidel Castro” that the regime has vigorously promoted this year.

Roberto Rodríguez’s tobacco growers are paid 27,000 pesos per month – in April there were 40,000 – thanks to the fact that international sales skyrocketed by “180%,” its director alleged. The money has contained the “fluctuation of the workforce,” as the official called the stampede of state workers that characterized 2023. Now the factory staff is “almost covered.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.

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.

The strategy of dividing both bodies was, precisely, the one followed by the Guerrero Cubano [Cuban Warrior] YouTube channel, which is usually cited and reproduced by the official media. For 45 minutes, Cuban Warrior was dedicated to attacking Viñas Alonso and the Supreme Council, suggesting that they behaved “irregularly” and that they were the real culprits of the crisis, for revealing “Masonic matters to laymen” – that is, to those not initiated in the order.

The same accusation fell on independent journalist Camila Acosta, to whom Cuban Warrior mistakenly attributes a romantic relationship with Viñas. In the argument of the official government YouTuber, Acosta has disclosed – by order of the CIA, he affirms – Masonic secrets and has exposed the fraternity. In his opinion, the Ministry of Justice has done nothing more than to ensure compliance with the statutes.

Cuban Warrior directed its invective against a third person: the journalist and 33rd degree Freemason – the highest degree of Freemasonry – Ángel Santiesteban. Critical of the Government and close to Viñas, Santiesteban has been in the sights of State Security since before the crisis began. This Thursday, according to a message published by Acosta, his partner, he was arrested by the political police and released hours later.

Acosta said the arrest was “a direct affront to Freemasonry” and accused the Police of giving the July 23 protest “a political connotation”

Acosta said the arrest was “a direct affront to Freemasonry” and accused the Police of giving the July 23 protest “a political connotation” to justify the arrest of the Freemasons opposed to Urquía Carreño. “This is not only a blow to Freemasonry but also to the homeland. It is the implementation of a dictatorship within an institution that has been able to survive in a dictatorship and continue to promote freedom, equality and fraternity,” she said.

Santiesteban, she added, was about to go to Viñas Alonso’s house at 2:00 pm this Thursday when he was arrested. Both Freemasons intended to discuss the current situation of the fraternity and analyze the crisis due to Urquía Carreño’s insistence on remaining in office.

For his part, the Grand Master himself – who, entrenched in his office, did not want to talk to those who complained about his presence on July 23 – issued a new circular, reproduced by CubaNet. In the document, signed on the 24th, Urquía Carreño gave his version of the “Masons and laymen” protest, convened by “instant messaging groups.”

The title of the Secretary of the Grand Lodge, Juliannis Reinaldo Galano, along with that of Urquía Carreño, and the fact that no one has prevented him from entering the lodge, means that at least one group of Freemasons allied with Urquía Carreño continues to support his leadership.

According to the text, the cause of the protest was Decree 1761 – signed by the Secretary – which suspended the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Recognition between the Supreme Council for Degree 33 and the Grand Lodge, which dates from 1876 and is one of the oldest and most significant documents of Cuban Freemasonry.

Urquía Carreño complained that the protest, which had been called for the outskirts of the Grand Lodge building on Carlos III Street, “ended” on the 11th floor, knocking on the doors of his office. “The claims made within the alleged Masonic laws were not made at all in accordance with our precepts and oaths,” he alleged.

Urquía Carreño complained that the protest, which had been called for the outskirts of the Grand Lodge building on Carlos III Street, “ended” on the 11th floor

He also added fuel to the dispute between the two highest authorities of Cuban Freemasonry; he pointed to Santiesteban as a “representation ” of the Supreme Council, “who has had a leading role in the campaign of discredit and misrepresentation of the facts.”

He also alluded to Acosta – present at the protest – who, according to Urquía Carreño, was an instrument of Santiesteban to involve the independent press and expose “Masonic internal affairs,” an argument that Cuban Warrior had already put forward. Acosta “has attacked this Grand Lodge of Cuba and this Grand Master with information that a layman should not control,” he said.

Neither the Ministry of Justice, nor Urquía Carreño or Cuban Warrior has mentioned the theft of the money from the Llansó Masonic Asylum – and other sums whose loss was reported in the following months – that triggered the crisis in January. It remains to be seen if, in the coming weeks, the Grand Lodge will take literally the statement of the ministry that suggests turning the page and choosing a new Grand Master, or if the crisis will give the Government an excuse to suspend – and therefore, ban – the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council from its Registry of Associations.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.