14ymedio, 9 April 2024, Havana — The crisis that Cuban Freemasonry has been going through for several months was not resolved on March 24, during the session of the Grand Lodge that promised to sort out the leadership. Expelled from the lodge that day, former Grand Master Mario Urquía Carreño now publishes a document in which – supported by a series of decisions of the Ministry of Justice – he deems as ineffective both his removal from office and the election of the new Masonic leader, in what he describes as a “coup d’état” against him.
Among the measures taken by the Ministry of Justice “to avoid further breaches” are the blocking of bank accounts, the prohibition of carrying out activities and issuing official documents, and the suspension of the Grand Lodge – not so of the individual lodges in the country – from the registry of the Office of Associations, the ruling body in which the activities of Cuban Freemasonry are inscribed.
In his counterattack, published by Cubanet, Urquía Carreño continues to sign as Grand Master of the order and describes a meeting with officials of the Ministry of Justice, on April 4, in which he was allegedly informed that the Office of Associations did not have a record of the March 24 session.
The absence of that document, argues Urquía Carreño, results in the lack of recognition, by the Ministry of Justice, of everything that happened there
The absence of that document, argues Urquía Carreño, results in the lack of recognition, by the Ministry of Justice, of everything that happened there, including the election of the new Grand Master, Juan Alberto Kessel Linares, which is not “validated” by the regime. “I am surprised that the jurisdiction has not yet been informed of something so delicate for our Freemasonry,” says Urquía Carreño, who alleges that the session was “unconstitutional” and that is why the minutes were not sent to the Ministry.
Until the Ministry of Justice gives the go-ahead, says Urquía Carreño, the best thing is “to not continue adopting decisions” and warns that if the authorities are contradicted, there will surely be “more drastic and harmful measures” because – as he emphasizes on several occasions – for the regime, he is still the Grand Master.
In addition, he says that during his absence the Grand Master’s Office was opened without his authorization, the office where $19,000 from the National Masonic Asylum was stolen, a crime for which Urquía Carreño is the main suspect. According to Kessel last week, another 2,360 dollars were stolen from the same place, the “misappropriation” of which the former Grand Master is accused.
These months have “discredited the entire secular Masonic sphere,” admits Urquía Carreño, who immediately blames – in a calmer tone than his previous statements – “high officers” of the Supreme Council of Grade 33, a Masonic institution chaired by José Viñas Alonso, who is critical of the Government and the main accuser of Urquía Carreño after the theft of the $19,000.
The former Grand Master promises that he will “inform the Jurisdiction of everything that happened with the Masonic National Asylum and other matters intended to further damage his image.” He will give “answers,” he alleges, and will present himself in the Grand Masonic National Temple, located on Carlos III Street in Havana, as a “legally acting Grand Master.” In a paragraph that recalls the style of the official press, he also accuses the “international media” that have “questioned” the cohesion of the Masonic leadership, which he accuses of “achieving this intervention by the authorities.”
“This Grand Master cannot allow a group of members of the Supreme Council to take control of the Grand Lodge, and he will never do so, even if all the insults and misrepresentations that have been generated and that are still being plotted behind my back fall on my person. The mere fact of not bowing to interests unrelated to our Fundamental Precepts and defending our Great Lodge, is the true origin of everything that happened. This Grand Master will never bend,” he says.
Cubanet states, citing several Freemasons and sources in the Ministry of Justice, that the measures taken by the regime are not an invention of Urquía Carreño. The Grand Lodge is, in effect, blocked by the Office of Associations and, at least in that sense, the allegations of the former Grand Master have a constitutional basis.
The Grand Lodge is, in effect, blocked by the Office of Associations and, at least in that sense, the allegations of the former Grand Master have a constitutional foundation
Although the Grand Lodge had until April 10 to notify the ministry of what happened in the session of March 24, the regulations oblige, if there were changes in the leadership, to reduce the deadline to ten working days after the elections were held. That deadline was met on April 4. Urquía Carreño published his document a day later.
Another aspect, however, is the most delicate: according to a Freemason interviewed by Cubanet, the person who had to – as stipulated by Masonic legislation for this type of situation – assume the position of Grand Master was not Kessel, but the Deputy Grand Master Gerardo Cepero.
Urquía Carreño received the cries of “thief, usurper, scoundrel, traitor” from more than 200 Freemasons last March, when he was preparing to preside over the semi-annual session of the High Masonic Chamber. It was expected that the decisions taken that day would repair the schism between the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council of Grade 33, which had reciprocally expelled their respective bosses from the order.
Urquía Carreño’s statement, the intervention of the Ministry of Justice and the possibility that the March 24 elections have been illegal indicate that the crisis of Cuban Freemasonry is far from over.
Related news [“State Security has always bet on weakening Cuban Freemasonry”] The Grand Master of Cuban Freemasonry is expelled to the cry of “out with the thief”. Unexpected turn in Cuban Freemasonry with the expulsion by Justice. The new Grand Master of the Cuban Freemasons reveals that his predecessor stole another 2,360 dollars.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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