FREEMASONRY

FREEMASONRY.  Rationalism, in the form of Freemasonry, was a legacy of the British occupation of 1763 and was reinforced by the arrival of French masons fleeing Haiti, until many of these were expelled following the Napoleonic intervention in Spain.  When Cubans learnt in March 1820 of restoration of the Spanish Constitution of 1812, Cuba’s four lodges led the rejoicing.  In September 1822, the Gran Oriente Cubano separated itself from Spanish masonry, but the restoration of autocracy in Spain in 1823 drove all masons underground until the1850s.  The Aguila Negra conspiracy was the response of some of them.

Masonic doctrine asserted that universal moral truths existed that were accessible to the individual without the intervention of ecclesiastical tradition.  Most Mason lodges with their secret structure were centers of pro-independence sentiment, and independence leaders, from José Julián Solís to José Martí, were Masons.  Even the design of the national flag was influenced by Masonic symbolism.  After independence, an English-speaking lodge was formed in Havana.  Subsequently, the Cuban Masons became increasingly conservative, and were notable mainly for their anti-Catholicism.  Before the Revolution of 1959, the Masons supported a university in Havana.  Some Masonic leaders were persecuted by the Castro regime and have become anti-Castro activists in exile.  Others remain in Cuba, mildly supporting the Revolution in order to preserve some measure of freedom for their activities.