The Popular Municipal Tribunal of Diez de Octubre, in Havana, has scheduled an oral trial for next Thursday, November 5, at 9:00 AM, against four Cuban masons accused of "illegal trafficking of national currency, foreign currency, metals, and precious stones," according to a ruling on the admission of evidence accessed by CubaNet, dated October 29, 2026.
The accused 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 Asylum Llansó; Ángel Santiesteban Prats, current sovereign grand commander and former political prisoner; and Osvaldo Ernesto Villegas Digat. All four remain under house arrest and are prohibited from leaving the country.
The case revolves around two currency exchange transactions conducted at the informal market rate, totaling just 300 dollars. The Prosecutor's Office claims that on September 14, 2023, Viñas Alonso authorized Santiesteban Prats to hand over 49,600 Cuban pesos in exchange for 200 dollars belonging to the asylum. Nearly two years later, on June 13, 2025, he authorized Villegas Digat to exchange 37,500 pesos for another 100 dollars from the institution.
The Attorney General of the Republic requested sentences of between two and four years of restricted freedom for each of the accused, along with fines of 20,000 or 25,000 Cuban pesos. For Viñas Alonso, the harshest penalty is requested: four years and 25,000 pesos. For Marcos García, three years and 20,000 pesos. For Santiesteban Prats and Villegas Digat, two years and 20,000 pesos each. The restriction of freedom limits the mobility of the convicted but does not involve imprisonment.
The ruling is signed by judges Irene Asunción Macía Mondéjar, Isabel Moreno Salazar, and Judge Máximo Puentes Cruz. Macía Mondéjar will preside over the court, correcting previous information that indicated Zamira Marrero Morgado in that role.
The defense attorney Roberto Ortega Ortiz requests the acquittal of the four defendants. In his provisional conclusions from October 9, 2026, he argues that the changes were made within the institution itself and among members of the Board, and that the funds were allocated for charitable purposes: the 200 dollars were used to purchase powdered milk for the elderly in the nursing home, while the 100 dollars belonged to Villegas Digat's personal funds, which he used to buy medication for his son.
"The currency exchanges made did not represent any personal benefit for any of those involved; rather, they were carried out to enhance the lives of the elderly residents at the National Masonic Asylum 'Llansó', which reflects a charitable work by the Freemasonry," wrote the lawyer.
The political background of the case is hard to overlook. Although the alleged crime falls under the category of economic offenses, the file was processed by the Specialized Criminal Investigation Body for Crimes against State Security, under the MININT. The trial will take place in the Second Criminal Chamber, which shares its premises with the Chamber for Crimes against State Security.
Sources close to the process, who requested anonymity, informed CubaNet that since last week, the political police have been installing security cameras around the courthouse in a deployment described as "similar to when they held the trials after 11J."
The regime's pressure on Cuban Freemasonry intensified after the protests of July 11, 2021, when Viñas Alonso signed a public letter condemning Díaz-Canel's call to confront the protesters violently. In April 2024, the Ministry of Justice frozen the bank accounts of the Grand Lodge of Cuba and the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree, and the regime attempted to take control of the Masonic institution in the following months. Santiesteban Prats, who was sentenced in 2013 to five years in prison in a process deemed arbitrary by international organizations, was elected Sovereign Grand Commander on September 26, 2026 with 19 votes in favor, just weeks before the trial date was set.
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