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)