Ángel Santiesteban-Prats, newly elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba, reported this Thursday on Facebook that his home is besieged by the political police and that the institution's bank accounts have been frozen for months, preventing the payment of salaries to its workers.
The report comes just days after the High Chamber of the Rite elected him as the highest authority of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite in Cuba, with 19 votes in favor and one against, replacing José Ramón Viñas Alonso, who had lead the organization since 2015.
This Thursday, Santiesteban-Prats and the Grand Secretary were supposed to deliver the documentation of the elections held on Saturday, September 26, and the agreements made by the Upper Chamber to the Ministry of Justice, a routine procedure that was blocked by the police operation, he reported in a complaint on Facebook.
"Since yesterday I have been besieged, I suppose to prevent any solidarity with the trial of Ana Bensi and her mother, which would simply be a human matter. I have suffered that same harsh injustice and know the value of being supported in moments like these. An operation that violates all universal rights," wrote the writer and dissident.
On the same day of the complaint, the Popular Municipal Court of East Havana declared Anna Bensi and her mother Caridad Silvente guilty, sentencing them to two years of restriction of liberty for recording and disseminating on social networks the visit of a MININT agent to their home.
Santiesteban-Prats also revealed that the High Chamber of the Rite asked him not to politicize his position, as the primary objective is to restore the legal operational status of the institution: "the fundamental purpose is to attempt to reinstate the legality of the Supreme Council, after the bank accounts were frozen, which means that, for months, it has not been possible to pay the salaries of the workers who strive every day to keep it active and maintain communication with the rest of the country."
The freezing of accounts is part of a broader state offensive against Cuban Freemasonry. In April 2024, the Ministry of Justice suspended the banking operations of the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council, citing statutory irregularities.
In May 2025, the regime attempted to impose Lázaro Cuesta Valdés as the leader of the Supreme Council, threatening to withdraw official recognition if the Freemasons rejected the appointment.
The pressure on Santiesteban-Prats himself is not new. In June 2026, he was charged and placed under house arrest in a case related to a donation of 200 dollars destined for the Llansó National Masonic Shelter.
Before that, in August, a precautionary measure was imposed on Viñas Alonso for "disobedience," as part of the same campaign of harassment.
The writer, with nearly four decades within the Masonic Order, concluded his denunciation with a quote from Father Félix Varela and a direct accusation: "It is hereby denounced that the Supreme Council has once again been unable to fulfill its duties due to the political police, which, with its constant interference, stifles the development of our fraternal activities."
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