The writer and former political prisoner Ángel Santiesteban-Prats was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba, one of the highest-ranking positions in Freemasonry on the Island, according to a report from CubaNet.
The vote took place last Saturday during a special session held at the institution's headquarters in Havana. Santiesteban-Prats, who holds the 33rd degree—the highest in the Order—received 19 votes in favor and one against from the highest-ranking masons in the country.
With his election, he replaces José Ramón Viñas Alonso, who had headed the Supreme Council since 2015. Viñas moved on to serve as the lieutenant grand commander —equivalent to the vice presidency of the Order— and was declared "sovereign grand commander ad vitam of honor and dignity."
The election was not a routine event but rather the culmination of months of pressure from the regime on the Masonic institution, following a pattern of interference that intensified after July 11, 2021, when Cuban Masons condemned the violence incited by Díaz-Canel against the protesters of 11J.
Through Resolution 342 of 2025, the Ministry of Justice (MINJUS) decided not to recognize Viñas as sovereign grand commander, arguing that he had exceeded the nine-year term limit for the position. The Scottish Rite Freemasons rejected this interpretation and maintained that Viñas's official mandate would not expire until 2028, as he served as interim from 2015 to 2017.
The Supreme Council appealed the decision to the People's Supreme Court in March 2026, but the highest judicial body dismissed the appeal and confirmed MINJUS's position.
In parallel, State Security subjected Viñas to systematic harassment: they threatened him with prison, charged him with "disobedience," and imposed house arrest.
On August 7, the Director of Associations of MINJUS went to the headquarters of the Supreme Council to demand the handover of the position and to appoint Lázaro Faustino Cuesta Valdés as interim, a man whom the High Chamber of the Rite had previously removed from the Order. A mobilization of Freemasons in Havana thwarted the attempt.
Due to the exhaustion of legal avenues and the risk that Viñas would end up in prison, the High Chamber decided to call for extraordinary elections. "There were so many pressures that the High Chamber decided to meet this weekend and hold elections; it was also a way to try to prevent Viñas from being sentenced to prison," explained a Freemason present at the session, who requested anonymity, to CubaNet.
Both Viñas and Santiesteban-Prats also face charges for alleged illegal currency trafficking, which Masonic sources describe as a coercive tactic by State Security. In June, Santiesteban was charged and placed under house arrest, accused of having exchanged 200 dollars donated to the National Masonic Asylum Llansó in the informal market.
The new sovereign grand commander has nearly four decades of experience within the Order and was serving as the grand chancellor of the Supreme Council until his election. In 2025, he was expelled from the Grand Lodge of Cuba, partly for stating that it would be better to close down Freemasonry than to allow the regime to continue manipulating it.
The mason Sergio Vidal summarized the profile of the chosen one: "Ángel is both a highly regarded intellectual, a defender of human rights and civil liberties, and an impeccable mason. He has been appointed to this position by those who, having the right to vote, deemed it appropriate and, furthermore, by majority."
The lingering question is whether the MINJUS will recognize the new sovereign grand commander or will again challenge the election, in a conflict that has revealed the extent of the Cuban state's influence over the fraternal organizations on the island.
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