Mario Alberto Urquía Carreño, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Cuba, was expelled from the semiannual session of the High Chamber held this Sunday in Havana, due to tensions in the organization following the theft of $19,000 from the office of this executive.
"Thief, usurper, shameless, traitor" were the shouts that the representatives of the more than three hundred lodges in the country directed at the Grand Master, who was illegally presiding over the meeting, since on January 25, he had been expelled by the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba.
This Supreme Council and the Grand Lodge have a Treaty of Peace and Friendship whereby, if a mason is sanctioned or expelled in one of those instances, the other party must abide by the same sanction.
The digital portal CubaNet, which had access to a witness of the events, reported that their source, who requested anonymity, told them that "the Grand Master refused to leave the room, but had to do so due to the almost unanimous demand of the lodge representatives. There was much accumulated indignation over the Grand Master's actions. He left saying that he would call the Registry of Associations (of the Ministry of Justice) to complain, but they have no authority here."
Furthermore, he assured him that "this had never happened in Cuban Freemasonry, neither the embarrassing aftermath of the robbery, nor the blatant interference of State Security, nor the expulsion of a Grand Master in office. Today is a day of shame, the day when Cuban Freemasons demonstrate our autonomy and integrity."
In a statement regarding the theft of the $19,000 while the money was under his custody, belonging to the National Masonic Nursing Home Llansó, the Grand Master detailed the timeline of events, ruled out resigning from his position, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the proceedings followed in the extraordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees where the issue was discussed.
However, by order of the Grand Master, 29 masons were sent to Court and, therefore, suspended from their Masonic rights until the trial. Among them, the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, José Ramón Viñas Alonso, was suspended solely for informing the Masonic community about the theft of money which came from donations from brothers on and off the Island. His trial was suspended due to lack of evidence.
The former Grand Master, Ernesto Zamora, assumed the presidency of the High Chamber session after the departure of Urquía Carreño, and all the Decrees signed by him from January 25 until today were challenged, including those in which he sent those who had stood up to him to the Court.
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