The judge Zamira Marrero Morgado, president of the People's Municipal Court of Havana del Este, has been appointed to preside over the judicial proceedings against four leaders of Cuban masonry accused of "illegal currency trafficking" for exchanging a total of 300 dollars intended for charitable works, according to independent journalist Camila Acosta's report on Facebook.
The same judge has just sentenced, at the beginning of October, the content creator Anna Sofía Benítez Silvente —known as Anna Bensi— and her mother to two years of restricted freedom for recording and sharing on social media the visit of a MININT agent to their home.
The history of Marrero Morgado is not limited to that case. Cubalex and Justicia 11J identified her as a member of the courts that, in December 2021, judged 17 protesters from La Güinera for the protests on July 11, imposing sentences of up to 30 years in prison.
The four masons who will face trial are José Ramón Viñas Alonso, former sovereign grand commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree; Fernando Marcos García, accountant of the National Masonic Shelter Llansó; Ángel Santiesteban Prats, current sovereign grand commander; and Osvaldo Ernesto Villegas Digat.
The Prosecutor's Office requests four years of limitation of freedom and 25,000 Cuban pesos in fines for Viñas Alonso; three years and 20,000 pesos for Marcos García; and two years with the same fine for Santiesteban Prats and Villegas Digat.
According to the provisional conclusions of the Prosecutor's Office, which CubaNet had access to, Viñas Alonso authorized two currency exchange transactions involving dollars donated to the National Masonic Asylum Llansó. On September 14, 2023, Santiesteban Prats exchanged 49,600 Cuban pesos of his own for 200 dollars from the institution. On June 13, 2025, Villegas Digat exchanged 37,500 pesos for another 100 dollars from the asylum. According to the accusation, both transactions were conducted at the informal market rate.
The defense, led by lawyer Roberto Ortega Ortiz, requests the acquittal of the four accused and argues that the operations were conducted within the institution, without constituting a crime. According to the attorney, the first change allowed for the purchase of powdered milk for the elderly residents of the asylum. In the second instance, Villegas Digat used personal funds to acquire 100 dollars intended for purchasing medicine for his son, while the institution received Cuban pesos to handle emergencies.
Acosta, correspondent in Havana for the Spanish newspaper ABC and author of the book "From the Temple to the Temple: Silences and Scandals of Cuban Masonry," is also the partner of Santiesteban Prats, which makes her a source with direct knowledge and a personal connection to the case.
The process is part of a systematic offensive by the regime against independent Freemasonry, which intensified starting in 2024: the suspension of bank accounts of the Grand Lodge and the Supreme Council, attempts to impose allied leaders, and a ministerial resolution that disregarded Viñas Alonso as the highest authority. In August 2026, more than a hundred Freemasons gathered at the Scottish Cathedral in Havana to reject state intervention.
Santiesteban Prats was elected sovereign grand commander on September 26, 2026, when he was already facing a sentence request made by the Prosecutor's Office.
"The appointment of this judge raises alarms about the lack of transparency and impartiality of the courts in Cuba," wrote Acosta, summarizing the concern shared by human rights organizations regarding a process in which the overseeing magistrate has a documented record in politically motivated cases.
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