Dokument #1201926
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Information on an anti-government
organization called Logia which is affiliated with the Freemasons
in Cuba could not be found among the sources currently available to
the DIRB.
Please find attached some documents that
refer to the Gran Logia de Cuba (Grand Lodge of Cuba), the
officially recognized masonic organization of Cuba, and the
Estrella de Cuba (Star of Cuba), reportedly a clandestine
independent masonic organization.
One of the attached reports, originally
published in the Miami newspaper El Nuevo Herald, states
that La Estrella de Cuba was founded by a mason who was expelled
from his lodge (the Washington lodge, affiliated with the larger
Grand Lodge) for allegedly attempting to politicize the lodge by
organizing a conference on human rights (8 Apr. 1989). The article
is written by another mason who was also expelled from the Grand
Lodge and who apparently was involved in the Estrella de Cuba
(Ibid.). An earlier report from the same newspaper states
that the Estrella de Cuba had joined four other groups in a
pacifist opposition organization called Coordinadora de la
Resistencia José Martí (14 Dec. 1988). According to a
copy of a letter provided to the DIRB by the United States
Information Agency, the Grand Lodge expelled the man who later
founded the Estrella de Cuba and two others for violating a number
of masonic lodge precepts (USIA 9 Aug. 1993). The founder of the
Estrella de Cuba reportedly uttered threats and demonstrated a lack
of respect toward the masonic congregation after insisting on
holding a conference on human rights; such a conference could have
been given a "political interpretation" in the current Cuban
context and would therefore have been in violation of the
principles of the masonic association (Ibid.).
The attached page from an Americas Watch
report states the following:
An independent masonic organization Estrella de Cuba, was
reportedly founded in August 1988 shortly after its founder was
expelled from the officially-recognized masonic order for planning
to hold a human rights conference. Estrella de Cuba is a
clandestine association which attempts to promote activities
similar to those of the Grand Lodge of Cuba in a freer atmosphere
as well as respect for a diversity of ideological and political
opinions (Jan. 1989, 33).
Additional and/or corroborating information
could not be found among the sources currently available to the
DIRB.
Americas Watch. January 1989. Human
Rights in Cuba: The Need to Sustain the Pressure. New York:
Human Rights Watch.
El Nuevo Herald [Miami]. 8 April
1989. Reinaldo Bragado Bretaña. "La Fayette, Profugo en
Cuba." (USIA)
. 14 December 1988. Pedro Sevcec.
"Formado Grupo Cubano Pacifista." (USIA)
United States Information Agency (USIA),
Washington, DC. 9 August 1993. Information package sent to DIRB,
Ottawa.
Americas Watch. January 1989. Human
Rights in Cuba: The Need to Sustain the Pressure. New York:
Human Rights Watch, p. 33.
El Nuevo Herald [Miami]. 8 April
1989. Reinaldo Bragado Bretaña. "La Fayette, Profugo en
Cuba." (USIA)
. 14 December 1988. Pedro Sevcec.
"Formado Grupo Cubano Pacifista." (USIA)