Mario Alberto Urquía Carreño, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Cuba, was expelled from the semiannual session of the Upper House held this Sunday in Havana, due to tensions in the organization after thetheft of 19 thousand dollars from this manager's office.
“Away with a thief, usurper, scoundrel, traitor.”, were the shouts that the representatives of the more than three hundred lodges in the country shouted at the Grand Master, who was illegal in his position of presiding over said meeting, since, on January 25, he had beenexpelled by the Supreme Council of Degree 33 for the Republic of Cuba.
This Supreme and the Grand Lodge have a Treaty of Peace and Friendship by virtue of which, if a Mason is sanctioned or expelled in one of these instances, the other party must abide by the same sanction.
The digital portalCubaNet who had access to a witness to the events, narrated that his 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 representatives of the lodges. There was a lot of indignation accumulated over the actions of the Grand Master. He came out 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, nor the painful aftermath of the robbery, nor the blatant interference of State Security, nor the expulsion of an acting Grand Master. “Today is the day of shame, the day in which Cuban Freemasons demonstrate our autonomy and integrity.”
In a statement regarding the theft of the $19,000, while the money was in his custody, belonging to the Llansó National Masonic Asylum, the Grand Master detailed the chronology of events, ruled out that he would resign from his position and expressed his discontent. with the procedure that was followed in the extraordinary meeting of the Board of Trustees in which the issue was addressed.
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, only for informing the community of Freemasons of the theft of money, which came from the donations of the brothers inside and outside the Island. His trial was suspended due to lack of evidence.
The former Grand Master,Ernesto Zamora He assumed the presidency of the session of the Upper House, after the departure of Urquía Carreño and all the Decrees signed by him from January 25 to date were challenged, including those in which he sent those who had confronted him to the Court.
What do you think?
SEE COMMENTS (3)Filed in: