Havana/The writer, former political prisoner and Cuban opposition figure Ángel Santiesteban Prats was elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree for the Republic of Cuba. As published CubaNetthe vote took place last Saturday, September 26, during an extraordinary session held in Havana, and ended with 19 votes in favor and one against.
Santiesteban replaces José Ramón Viñas Alonso, who had led the Supreme Council since 2015. After the election, Viñas went on to serve as lieutenant grand commander, a position equivalent to the vice presidency within the Order, and was also declared “sovereign grand commander.” ad vitamin of honor and dignity”, according to CubaNet.
Less than two months ago, Santiesteban was at the center of the fight with the Ministry of Justice for Viñas’ permanence. As great chancellor of the Supreme Council, it was he who denounced on August 6 that an agency official intended to impose a relief decided by the authorities and summoned the Freemasons to appear the next day at the headquarters in Central Havana.
Less than two months ago, Santiesteban was at the center of the fight with the Ministry of Justice for the permanence of Viñas
a hundred went to the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the 33rd Degree in Central Havana to support Viñas and the relief was never carried out. “For the authorities I am not the Sovereign; for my brothers I am,” the leader then responded to the Justice official. State Security agents remained around the building.
The confrontation escalated on August 19, when Viñas was summoned to a police station of Havana accused of “disobedience.” He had refused to hand over the keys to his office and maintained that his position depended exclusively on internal elections. A close source assured 14ymedio that the Police tried to detain him, although his lawyer managed to prevent it.
The offensive against Viñas came from 2025. In May of that year, the Ministry of Justice tried to recognize Lázaro Cuesta Valdés as head of the Supreme Council and threatened to freeze the institution’s bank accounts if she did not accept the decision. Santiesteban then attributed the maneuver to State Security.
In April 2025, Santiesteban was expelled from the symbolic ranks of the Order, but retained degrees 4 to 33, the highest of the Scottish Rite. This allowed him to remain within the Supreme Council, from where he continued to denounce the infiltration of State Security in the fraternity.
The clash between Viñas and the regime also has a political background. After the protests of July 11, 2021, Viñas supported a letter addressed to Miguel Díaz-Canel in which the Supreme Council rejected the “combat order” launched by the president to repress the protesters. Since then, members of the Supreme Council have reported pressure and interrogations against Viñas, as well as attempts to remove him from the leadership of the institution.
Santiesteban, a persistent critic of the Cuban regime, wrote the film’s script Plantedan approach to the situation of political prisoners after Fidel Castro came to power in January 1959. It has also received the Václav Havel Foundation Award for Creative Dissent.
