The Mason leader Ángel Santiesteban-Prats, venerable Master of the Lodge Knights of the Sun, was detained in Havana ahead of a meeting between Cuban Masons and Caridad Diego, head of the Office for Attention to Fraternal and Religious Affairs of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
The meeting, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. this Thursday, addresses the State's interference in the internal affairs of Cuban lodges and seeks to reach an agreement regarding the expulsion of the Grand Master imposed by the regime, Mario Urquía.
Camila Acosta, a journalist from the independent digital site Cubanet, who was preparing to cover the event, was the one who made the complaint on her social media.
"Angel Santiesteban-Prats must be in that meeting, because he is the Venerable Master of the Knights of the Sun lodge, the highest authority of his lodge. But he has just been arbitrarily detained," wrote the journalist on her Facebook profile.
Acosta recalled that the Mason leader was detained exactly one week ago, "without any judicial order," because the regime's repressive bodies wanted to "talk and warn him that they did not want any 'scandal' nor did they want the Masons to turn to the independent press to expose their problems," he noted.
The communicator warned that "it is the State Security, by getting involved, trying to manipulate the Freemasons and imposing a Grand Master who responds to their interests, that has turned this into a political issue."
Additionally, he mentioned that "the Venerable Masters cited by Caridad Diego should not accept that meeting while one of their brothers remains kidnapped and in an unknown location. It is the most honorable and dignified thing they could do."
Last week, in an unprecedented event in the history of Cuban Freemasonry, dozens of brothers gathered at the Grand Lodge of Cuba to protest against the reinstatement by the Ministry of Justice of Mario Urquía Carreño as Grand Master of the Order.
Urquía Carreño, who was removed from his responsibilities at the beginning of the year by the masons themselves after the disappearance of 19,000 dollars from the National Masonic Asylum, appealed to the judicial authorities of the Cuban regime, which decided to reinstate him in his position.
The protest prompted the Ministry of Justice (MINJUS) of Cuba to have no choice but to accept that the Grand Masonic Lodge would hold elections to choose a new Grand Master.
According to a note shared by the state agency Agencia Cubana de Noticias, a "thorough evaluation of decisions" was conducted by the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba and the Grand Lodge of Cuba, on issues related to sanctions against members of the Masonic bodies and the election of their directors.
The conclusion of the MINJUS was that there were "irregularities due to non-compliance with its internal statutes."
However, four days after these events, four Masonic lodges on the Island were suspended for refusing to recognize the leadership of Urquía Carreño.
The suspended lodges are Evolución, from Artemisa, and the Havana lodges General Guillermo Moncada, Luz de Marianao, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. The sanction will remain in effect until the next session of the High Chamber, as Urquía believes they are violating the laws, the Masonic Constitution, and the Ancient Limits of Masonry.
What do you think?
COMMENTFiled under: