Political opinions and currency exchange: questions surrounding the criminal proceedings against four Cuban Freemasons

The Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Cuba solicitous Sentences of between two and four years of restriction of liberty, in addition to fines of 20,000 and 25,000 Cuban pesos (CUP), for four members of Cuban Freemasonry accused of the alleged crime of “illegal trafficking of national currency, foreign exchange, metals and precious stones”, provided for in article 315.1, subsection g, of the Penal Code.

The accused are José Ramón Viñas Alonso, former sovereign grand commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba; Fernando Marcos García, accountant of the Llansó National Masonic Asylum; Ángel Santiesteban Prats, current sovereign grand commander; and Osvaldo Ernesto Villegas Digat.

The trial is scheduled for Thursday, November 5th. Prosecutor Ramón Macías Núñez is responsible for supporting the accusation and the requests for sanctions. formulated by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

According to the indictment, Viñas Alonso, who presided over the Board of Trustees or Administrative Council of the Llansó National Masonic Asylum, authorized on several occasions the institution's accountant, Fernando Marcos García, to carry out currency exchange operations from national currency to US dollars for members of the board.

The prosecution maintains that the dollars used in these transactions came from donations received by the asylum and that the Changes were made taking the informal foreign exchange market rate as a reference., which employs the majority of the population on the island.

Among the facts the prosecution considers proven is a transaction on September 14, 2023, when Viñas Alonso allegedly authorized Ángel Santiesteban Prats to exchange 49,600 Cuban pesos belonging to him for 200 dollars belonging to the asylum. It also maintains that on June 13, 2025, Viñas Alonso authorized Osvaldo Ernesto Villegas Digat to exchange 37,500 Cuban pesos for another 100 dollars belonging to the institution.

The indictment also includes assessments of Ángel Santiesteban Prats's conduct and political opinions. Specifically, it states that the writer “does not engage in any socially useful activity” and that he “openly expresses his opposition to the revolutionary process underway in Cuba.” Santiesteban Prats is a renowned Cuban writer and independent journalist who has been subjected to harassment by the authorities for decades due to his work and his critical stance toward the government.

The inclusion of references to his political opinions and his alleged lack of socially useful activity raises questions about the criteria used by the prosecution to build the case and about the possible use of ideological assessments in a criminal trial.

Legal Analysis

Truthfulness and factual verification of the alleged facts

The indictment attributes two specific instances of currency exchange within the charitable institution “Llansó” National Masonic Asylum:

1. Operation September 2023: Authorization for the exchange of 49,600 CUP from Ángel Lázaro Santiesteban Prats for 200 USD belonging to the asylum, executed on September 14, 2023.
2. Operation June 2025: Authorization for the exchange of 37,500 CUP from Osvaldo Ernesto Villegas Digat for 100 USD belonging to the asylum, executed on June 13, 2025.

Factual and evidentiary inconsistencies:

• Non-existence of clandestinity: The prosecution explicitly acknowledges that Both transactions were formally recorded in the Asylum's accounting control books. by accountant Fernando Marcos García. The transparent record in the institutional accounting destroys the factual element of concealment or surreptitious conduct, demonstrating that these were auditable internal cash entries and not clandestine transactions on the black market.
• Quantitative insignificance: Over a period of almost two years (September 2023 to June 2025), the total amount audited amounts to only $300. To charge someone with a crime of “trafficking” with the rank of State Security for specific exchanges of 300 USD in 24 months lacks objective support with respect to a commercial or speculative scale.

Inconsistency with the criminal offense (Article 315.1-g of Law 151/2022)

1. Absence of the verb “Trafficking”

The crime regulated in Article 315.1-g) of the Cuban Penal Code requires that the subject perform acts of traffic, That is, regular trading, stock market/monetary speculation, or clandestine lucrative intermediation in the informal market.

• The acts described consisted of the specific internal exchange of foreign currency from legitimate donations in order to acquire supplies or balance the operating accounts of the Asylum.
• There is no evidence in the file of any involvement in the black market or of speculative personal profit on the part of the accused.

2. Violation of the principle of social harm

According to the Article 1.3 of the Penal Code, The principle of social harm is imperatively in force, which establishes that in order to impose a criminal sanction, the act must produce an injury or put the protected legal interests in real danger.

• The internal conversion of 300 USD over two years for the maintenance of a non-profit nursing home does not constitute a disturbance to the socio-economic or monetary order of the State, with sufficient significance to go beyond the accounting-administrative sphere and enter the realm of criminal law.

3. Absence of criminal intent

The criminal offense requires direct intent aimed at illicit currency speculation. The open recording of the transaction in the Asylum's accounting books proves the directors' conviction that they were acting within the framework of care and institutional responsibility, absolutely excluding intent for illegal trafficking.

Exchange Regulations (Resolution 102/2026 BCC) and Fraternal Associations

• Status of Lodges and Fraternal Institutions: Masonic institutions and their charitable foundations are legitimately recognized civil associations that receive contributions and donations in foreign currency from abroad (such as the documented donation of 9,300 euros sent by the Lodge The Triumphant Truth of Berlin).
• Distortion of the exchange rate environment and institutional need: The gap between the official state exchange rate and the informal market rate makes it virtually impossible for non-profit institutions to purchase medicines, food, and basic supplies in Cuban pesos at the official exchange rate. Resolution No. 102 of 2026 from the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC) and the national banking system do not guarantee efficient mechanisms for obtaining commercial liquidity at the real exchange rate for these institutions.
• Administrative nature of the infringement: Any inaccuracy in the use of the informal exchange rate to record currency in the Asylum's accounting books constitutes, at most, a finding or irregularity of a administrative and accounting (such as those reported in the control actions of MINJUS and MINSAP), which must be channeled through accounting corrections or administrative warnings, never through the penalization of its administrators.

READ ALSO: The Law of Associations as a tool of state control in Cuba: the case of Freemasonry

Procedural flaws and bias of political persecution

1. Anomaly in instructional competence: The case was investigated by the Specialized Body for the Criminal Investigation of Crimes Against State Security of the MININT. Assign the investigation of a $300 accounting adjustment in a charitable entity to the State Intelligence and Security apparatus. This demonstrates a clear case of political persecution and government interference in the autonomy of Cuban Freemasonry.
2. Discrimination and imputation for ideological reasons: In the identification of the accused Ángel Lázaro Santiesteban Prats, the Prosecutor formally states: “He openly expresses his opposition to the revolutionary process that prevails in Cuba“. The inclusion of political opinions in a criminal indictment undermines procedural neutrality, violates the principle of equality before the law, and confirms the instrumentalization of currency exchange offenses to punish political dissent and the exercise of freedom of expression.

Legal conclusions

In conclusion, the conduct attributed to José Ramón Viñas Alonso, Fernando Marcos García, Ángel Santiesteban Prats and Osvaldo Ernesto Villegas Digat It is atypical, both in its relative and absolute dimension, under article 315.1, paragraph g), of Law 151/2022, as the constitutive elements of the verb “to traffic” are not present.” Nor is there any social harm, according to Article 1.3 of the regulation itself. The use of foreign currency from donations, through exchange transactions at compensation rates formally recorded in the institution's accounting books, constitutes a matter of supervision and accounting control of associations, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice (MINJUS), and has no criminal relevance.

Furthermore, the intervention of State Security and the incorporation of ideological assessments and accusations in the indictment distort the guarantees of due process and demonstrate the lack of legal basis for the criminal charge.