He withdraws his support for his pawn, former Grandmaster Filema Duarte, and accepts the election of his successor, José Manuel Valdés.
14ymedio, Havana, November 20, 2025 — After nearly two years of open crisis in the Grand Lodge of Cuba, the regime has decided to try to extinguish the flames. The Ministry of Justice declared the general elections of October 25th “legitimate,” in which Havana Freemason José Manuel Valdés Menéndez-Cuesta was elected as the new Grand Master. With this decision, the country’s authorities officially withdraw their support for Mayker Filema Duarte, who clung to the position against the will of the majority.
The decision comes via Resolution 7, signed by the Director of Associations at the Ministry of Justice, Miriam García Mariño, and represents a sharp reversal of the government’s stance since May, when the Masonic High Chamber removed Filema from office, yet the ministry refused to acknowledge the change. Now, without state backing, Filema is definitively out of the picture, after months of presenting himself as the legitimate Grand Master thanks solely to the endorsement of government authorities.
In July, Justice Minister Óscar Manuel Silvera asserted on national television that the Masonic crisis was an “internal matter” and labeled accusations of state interference as “false” and “malicious.” However, Law 54 on Associations itself grants the Ministry a “leading” role over the internal affairs of organizations like the Grand Lodge of Cuba (GLC) and empowers it to approve or reject the resolutions of its Higher Chamber. In practice, no Masonic election is valid until the Ministry of Justice ratifies it. This key to “legality” has been used by the regime to prop up unpopular Grand Masters and, now, to try to extinguish the fire it itself helped to ignite.
For months, Filema refused to call elections, suspended crucial sessions, and tried to extend his term beyond its established deadline. On July 6, around 200 Freemasons staged a sit-in at the GLC headquarters to prevent him from remaining in office, in one of the most unusual displays of civil defiance Havana has seen in recent years.
The Ministry of Justice admits that Filema’s attitude “disregarded the will of the majority” and sought to “irresponsibly and indefinitely” delay the institutional functioning of the Grand Lodge
The security apparatus responded with summonses, threats, and surveillance. Several leaders of the revolt were interrogated, and some, such as Acting Grand Master Juan Alberto Kessel Linares and Sovereign Grand Commander José Ramón Viñas Alonso, ended up facing criminal charges for alleged “currency trafficking,” measures that the membership itself interpreted as punishment for not being “submissive.”
In the resolution that now recognizes the new leadership, the Ministry admits that Filema’s attitude “disregarded the will of the majority” and sought to “irresponsibly and indefinitely” delay the institutional functioning of the Grand Lodge.
Some Freemasons, interviewed anonymously by the independent media Cubanet, went even further, describing the Filema period as a veritable “dictatorship,” made possible only by state support. “We lived under a dictatorship, Filema’s dictatorship,” one of them summarized. Another interviewee believed that the regime’s interference “will continue,” but “not so blatantly,” and warned that these nearly two years of struggle with the government “shook the foundations of the Order” and forced the government to “put out the fire” in the face of the strength shown by the membership.
In this context, José Manuel Valdés Menéndez-Cuesta, a member of the Federico Valdés lodge in the Havana municipality of Cotorro, rose to Masonic power. With more than 25 years of experience within Cuban Freemasonry, Valdés was elected on October 25th at the National Masonic Building, following an election in which the Higher Chamber managed to overcome Filema’s delaying tactics.
With Resolution 7, the Government is trying to close the most scandalous chapter of its fight with Freemasonry.
The scale of the embezzlement Valdés inherited goes far beyond the $19,000 stolen from the Llansó National Masonic Asylum, the theft of which triggered the current crisis. According to internal documents cited by the Grand Lodge itself, then-Grand Master Mario Urquía Carreño and his treasurer Airam Cervera were not only responsible for that cash, but also allegedly manipulated bank statements and falsified invoices to misappropriate another 2.1 million Cuban pesos, in addition to recording $2,700 as “losses.”
The supposed “restitution” of the money has also failed to restore confidence. At the end of August, Urquía and Cervera sent one million pesos as the first payment. Weeks later, a second deposit of four million pesos was announced, also in Cervera’s name, bringing the total to five million pesos deposited into the Grand Lodge’s account. Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the dollars from the Asylum remain unclear, and the leadership itself admits that the repayments only cover part of the shortfall created in Masonic finances.
Valdés’s candidacy was presented under the slogan “United we are stronger,” a motto that encapsulates the aspiration to close ranks after the internal fracture. Some members of the Fraternity describe him as an “honest” and “decent” man, capable—at least in theory—of rebuilding internal order, restoring the institution’s independence, and “getting rid of the traitors and infiltrators” that the crisis exposed.
With Resolution 7, the government attempts to close the most scandalous chapter of its conflict with Freemasonry. But the gesture does not erase either the previous interventionism or the legal framework that made it possible. The ministry urges Valdés and his team to “achieve unity, institutionalization, and the proper development of the transition process” in accordance with Masonic legislation, while reserving the final say on any relevant decision.
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