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In the summer of 1781, when the Continental Army of George Washington was facing a financial crisis that threatened to undermine the war for independence, it was the ladies of Havana and Matanzas —wives of Masons and members of the Cuban creole aristocracy— who donated their jewelry to save the American cause.
This gesture, according to historians, was crucial for the final victory and has been recalled in recent days following the visit of the head of the U.S. mission in Cuba, Mike Hammer, to the headquarters of the Supreme Council (33° degree) of Cuban masonry, where he met with the Sovereign Grand Commander, José Ramón Viñas.
Some Freemasons recalled that the French Admiral François Joseph Paul, Count de Grasse, urgently needed funds to finance the campaign that would culminate in Yorktown.
After failing to obtain assistance in Cádiz and Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), his fleet arrived in Havana.
It was then that the Spanish royal commissioner Francisco de Saavedra de Sangronis, upon discovering that the funds of the colonial government had been sent to Spain, appealed directly to the Cuban citizens.
Both had signed the July 17, 1781 Grasse-Saavedra Convention, the diplomatic framework that coordinated the Franco-Spanish operation for the Yorktown campaign.
The response was immediate. Within a matter of hours —some sources speak of just six— Cuban women took off their diamonds, gold, and jewels to donate them.
French sailors documented this gesture at the Musée Naval in Paris.
The collected amount ranges from 500,000 pesos according to Saavedra to 800,000 pounds sterling according to General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, although other sources raise the figure to as much as 1.2 million pounds.
"The contribution of 800,000 pounds sterling helped to curb the monetary insolvency of the revolutionary Army and boosted the morale of the Army that was waning," wrote Rochambeau.
The American historian Stephen Bonsal, in his book When the French Were Here, stated that "the funds collected by the ladies of Havana can be considered the ground upon which the independence and freedom of the United States were built."
The jewels of the Cuban women who supported independence were used to finance the decisive battle of Yorktown, where in October 1781, Lieutenant General Cornwallis was defeated by combined forces of Washington's Continental Army and French troops under the Count of Rochambeau.
The surrender of Cornwallis, who sent a subordinate to deliver his sword to Washington as a sign of defeat, paved the way for the establishment of the Republic.
The role of Saavedra and the people of Havana in this episode has been acknowledged even by the National Park Service of the United States, which documents it as part of the official history of the Battle of Yorktown.
The connection between Cuba and American independence is, however, little known outside of academic circles.
This historical connection is significant in the current context of relations between both countries. In March 2026, the American diplomat Mike Hammer visited the Masonic headquarters in Havana, in a gesture that many interpreted as a symbolic acknowledgment of these historic ties between Cuban lodges and the foundation of the United States.
The Cuban Freemasonry, whose Grand Lodge celebrated its 160th anniversary in 2019, has faced difficult times under the current regime.
In recent years, the Cuban government imposed a leader on the Freemasonry under the threat of sanctions, and previously, the Freemasonry leader who condemned the repression was expelled following the protests of July 11, incidents that stand in stark contrast to the legacy of independence and freedom that Cuban lodges helped forge over two centuries ago.
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