Havana/After attending a summons that became an interrogation with the police, the sovereign Great Commander of Masonry, José Ramón Viñas Alonso, and the elected Grand Master, Alberto Kessel Linares, were released with open criminal proceedings. According to public The first in social networks after returning to his home, were also regulated as a precautionary measure and a movement restriction was imposed that allows them to leave their home only to go to work.
According to Viñas, during his interrogation in the Costa Unit and October 10, in Havana, the authorities questioned their “many” trips abroad and asked where he got the money. Ultimately, a criminal process was opened against him for “currency traffic.”
“It is intended to be linked to a non -personal agreement, but has unanimously taken the board of the need for the need to [cubrir] Several expenses in national currency in the asylum and not counting on this currency. As an agreement, to the change on two occasions this year, this change between the siblings of the Board of Trustees), where 100 dollars for national currency has been changed, ”he explained, something that the authorities consider traffic when making the change in“ the black market ”, to 1 for 370 pesos – as the institution did -, and not in a bank at the change rate of 1 dollar for 120.
Also, he says, state security informed him that for that crime he can be sanctioned with between two and five years in prison.
“We have no concern,” he said both in reference to his situation and that of Kessel, “because as citizens we do not have a fine of transit and we know what is intended with all this. It will be what has to be, but I record before my brothers of our innocence,” Viñas settled.
State security let him know that for that crime he can be sanctioned with between two and five years in jail
Under threat of freezing the bank accounts of the organization, the Cuban authorities They dismissed the re -election of vineyards as leader of the Supreme Council and appointed as a candidate for the position of Babalawo Lázaro Cuesta. At the moment, the Supreme Council has not given signs of crossing a leadership crisis similar to what the Grand Lodge lives.
On the particular case of Kessel there are few details, shared by an anonymous source close to the Grand Lodge: it was also summoned to the Picota station and accused of allegedly violating its restriction of movement for having “passed near the Grand Lodge the Sunday, July 6when the Masons protested there. ”
According to the independent medium, both Masons are prohibited from calling meetings in the Grand Lodge or the Supreme Council of Grade 33. “All processes are being taken by state security,” added the source.
The writer and Mason Ángel Santiesteban denounced In social networks the summons to Kessel and Viñas, and awarded police investigations to another attempt at Ministry of Justice And of the regime to intervene in the affairs of the fraternity, something that weeks ago the minister of the branch, Oscar Silvera, said it did not happen.
The most recent Masonic crisis – the brotherhood has been the protagonist of strong controversies since at least 2023, with the departure of his great teacher to Mexico – occurred at the beginning of this July, when several members joined in the portal of the Grand Lodge to protest against the decision to celebrate a session of their high camera they considered illegitimate.
The meeting had been convened by Mayker Filema Duarte, who was dismissed from his position as Grand Master
The meeting had been convened by Mayker Filema Duarte, who was dismissed from his position as a great teacher “irrevocable” last May and, under the protection of the Ministry of Justice, refuses to abandon the leadership of the order.
“All the brothers who are here know that today the High Camera Spurious is going to be held and we are here, once again, so that they know that what we did on May 25 is irrevocable,” said one of the Masons that formed the group, addressing the rest, in front of the doors of the Grand Lodge and referring to the last session of the agency in May, where the dismissal of philma was decided.
The protest rose when those who were inside the lodge tried to prevent the passage to the Masons, who forced their entrance claiming that the headquarters belonged to them.
A day before, Kessel, who was chosen by the Masons to hold the position of Grand Master, and Víctor Bravo Cabañas, elected Gran Secretary, had been summoned by the police at the Picota station for an interview of which they left with warning minutes for having called the members of the fraternity to protest against the High Chamber Assembly.
A few days later, despite the arrests and warnings, the Ministry of Justice assured that it maintains a “historical closeness and respect” relationship with fraternity, and that it does not interfere in its affairs.
The exit requests to Mayker Filema Duarte have been frequent since he assumed the position of Grand Master after the departure of his predecessor, Mario Urquía Carreño, accused of stealing $ 19,000 of the Grand Lodge.
