MD - Masonic Rites, Cuban Style

[David Morris]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/30/international/americas/30CUBA.html

Masonic Rites, No Less. In Castro's Bailiwick!
By DAVID GONZALEZ

HAVANA, April 25 — Cuba's capital has a sovereign grand commander who wears 
a uniform, is privy to secrets and partial to symbolism. But he is not Fidel 
Castro.

His name is Jesús Armada Pena, and he is a 33rd degree Mason who presides 
over Cuba's Supreme Council at an imposing, if age-worn, Scottish Rite 
Masonic temple in central Havana.

Long discouraged and distrusted by the authorities, Cuba's Masons have seen 
their ranks more than double since the 1980's, to 29,000 members in more 
than 316 lodges across the island. Earlier this year, the Cuban government 
gave permission for two new lodges, the first since 1967.

Along with other fraternal or mystical groups, like the Oddfellows and the 
Rosicrucians, the Masons have been attracting men searching for more 
enduring answers than those offered by Communism, the only system 
generations of Cubans have ever known.

Once shrouded in secrecy, the fraternal groups — which exist in many 
countries and have origins as old as the Crusades — shun specific religions 
and ideologies and say their purpose is to foster brotherhood and search for 
truth.




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