An investigation by CubaNet has shaken the Cuban Freemasonry with the publication of two documents from the Grand Lodge of Cuba that would demonstrate that the former grand master, Mayker Filema Duarte, and the former grand secretary, Juliannis Galano Gómez, provided internal information of the fraternity to the regime's political police.
Filema categorically denies its authenticity and labels them as forgeries; Galano did not respond when contacted.
The two letters that implicate the former leaders
According to the investigation, the first letter, dated August 15, 2025, is addressed to Major René Aranguren Menéndez, identified as the first instructor of the Criminal Investigation Body - Crimes against State Security.
The document addresses questions from that official related to a complaint by Miriam Martha García Mariño, director of Associations at the Ministry of Justice, against Juan Alberto Kessel Linares, who had publicly accused her of complicity with Filema.
In that letter, the signatories point out alleged Masonic infringements by Kessel and Víctor Bravo Cabañas: “disrespect towards the figure and authority of the Grand Master, betrayal of the oaths of their positions, and usurpation of functions that are not authorized to them.”
The document concludes with a phrase that is particularly striking in the context of communication with a State Security official: “We look forward to your attention and remain fraternally yours.”
The second document, dated just five days later, is considerably more compromising.
According to the copy provided to CubaNet, the signatories accept a “suggestion of collaboration” and declare that they are “in the best position to provide you with any information you request about any member of the Grand Lodge”, including information about former affiliates.
"In our passive files, we have a lot of information about those who are no longer affiliated," including addresses and family details, the document also states.
Masons consulted by CubaNet identify Aranguren Menéndez as a member of the Soles de Martí lodge and as one of the officials who detained and interrogated Kessel and Bravo in July 2025.
Filema denies everything
Contacted by the aforementioned outlet on the day of publication, Filema firmly rejected the documents: “That is absolutely false. I would rather die than have any association with this government.”
"I don't know who took them out, I don't know who invented them, but that's a big lie," he added; and he insisted: "At no time have I had any collaboration with State Security; I neither have nor will I ever have."
In later WhatsApp messages, he spoke of "the great dishonor they are committing," and stated that the only way to prove his innocence would be "by going to the authorities and accusing Kessel, Manuel, and the GS [Juliannis Galano]."
He attributed the publication to "Masonic issues."
A crisis that has deep roots
The letters emerge after more than two years of upheaval in the Grand Lodge.
Filema took on the leadership in August 2024, but the High Masonic Chamber removed him in May 2025 for refusing to call elections.
The Ministry of Justice continued to acknowledge him for weeks, which his opponents interpreted as state interference.
On July 5, 2025, State Security arrested Kessel and Bravo.
One day later, more than a hundred masons forced their way into the headquarters of the Grand Lodge in Havana, singing the National Anthem to prevent a session they deemed illegitimate.
In June of this year, the Supreme Masonic Court expelled eight members —including Filema— for treason, fraud, abuse, and embezzlement.
The suspicions of state infiltration in Cuban Freemasonry have historical precedents.
In March 2011, state television revealed that José Manuel Collera Vento, a grand master from 2000 to 2003, had collaborated for decades with the political police under the pseudonyms "Duarte" and "Gerardo."
The political context surrounding the scandal
The publication coincides with a moment of particular focus on fraternity.
The same day that CubaNet released the documents, U.S. diplomat Mike Hammer met with Ángel Santiesteban-Prats, recently elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, to discuss the involvement of Freemasonry in the distribution of U.S. humanitarian aid.
The next day, the official portal Razones de Cuba published an extensive article on the risks of Freemasonry serving "foreign agendas," without ever mentioning the letters that attribute to former leaders of the institution an active collaboration with the political police.
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