Cuba 2009 - Secretary's Report

Fraternal Visit to Holguín Logia - Cuba

After more than seven months of planning, the eagerly-anticipated day arrived. Very early on the morning of Saturday January 24 our group of 32 people, of whom 15 were Masons, assembled at Pearson International Airport for the flight to Holguín, in the easternmost province of Cuba. The object was to enjoy a week's holiday of sun, sand and sea water, and to enjoy fraternal fellowship with members of Logia Holguín, one of three Masonic lodges that meet in the city of Holguín. By any standards, all our hopes were generously fulfilled.

Our own W. Bro. Vincent Lombardo had been working hard since late last spring to organize this trip to visit a lodge that he had visited during previous holidays in Cuba.

The temperature during the week ranged between 35 and more than 40 Celsius degrees warmer than the temperature in Toronto. The all-inclusive Blau Costa Verde resort offered good food and drink, lots of space to lie in the sunshine or in the shade, a fresh water swimming pool, a beach with excellent swimming and snorkelling, pedal boats and sail-driven catamarans, entertainment each evening, and a disco (mercifully at a distance) that went until 2:00 a.m. each day.

The 15 Masons in the group were from Lodges from as far away as St. Thomas to the west and Kingston to the east. We participated in three Masonic events. We held a Table Lodge Style Dinner at the resort on the Sunday evening, honouring Bro. Erasmo Rodriguez Arias, the Secretary of Logia Holguín, and his family. Bro. Erasmo had done a lot of work at the Cuban end to make the arrangements with W. Bro. Lombardo for the Masonic events in Holguín.

On Monday afternoon our whole group went by coach into Holguín city for a tour of some of the highlights. At about 6:00 p.m. we arrived at the Lodge building where Logia Holguín meets and where we hosted a banquet for some 250 Cuban Masons and their families, including Bro. Salvador Aquiledos (Ven. Maestro of Logia Holguín and DDGM), Bro. Dionel Leon Driss (Gran Senior Diacono), Bro. Severino Perez (Ven. Maestro of Logia Roberto Luis Ferrier Rodriquez), Bro. Emilio Martinez Arias (Ven. Maestro of Logia Calisto Garcia Iñiquez). We bought the necessary supplies and the Cubans had prepared the buffet consisting of three pigs spit-roasted behind the building, salads, breads and desserts. During this banquet greetings were read from Lodges and individuals; Bro. Erasmo gave a lecture on the history of Masonry in Cuba and Bro. Lombardo a lecture on brotherly love and social harmony; presentations were made of regalia that we had collected and taken with us, and of more than $1000 Canadian that had been contributed to the Hurricane Relief Fund set up by Quinte St. Alban's Lodge last September.

We were able to see the Lodge room, which compares in size to the large room at the York Temple, but is longer from east to west and not quite as wide. There are seven steps in the East, with only the Venerable Maestro sitting at the highest level. The seven steps are labelled with the seven liberal arts and sciences. In the West are five steps labelled with the five senses, and in the South are three steps labelled Faith, Hope and Charity.

In the Lodge room we could see evidence of the damage caused when the very heavy rain of Hurricane Ike forced its way into the building. Our contribution will help the Cuban to repair this damage, and provide for other necessities at the discretion of the Master of Logia Holguín.

On Thursday evening the masons in our group went into Holguín again and were permitted by the Venerable Maestro, Bro. Salvador Aquiledes, to attend a special meeting of Logia Holguín, from the opening to the closing of the lodge, at which the Cuban brethren exemplified most of their First Degree, and we exemplified part of ours - while the translation from Spanish to English and from English to Spanish was projected on a large screen on the West wall. We had originally planned (and received the permission of our Grand Lodge and the Grand Lodge of Cuba) to exemplify our entire Initiation ceremony, but just a few days before we went we received a sharp reminder that Cuban society is not the free society that we are used to, and the government department that regulates fraternal and other like organizations in Cuba had denied the permission to do what we had hoped for. In spite of these restrictions, we had an experience of excellent Masonic fellowship. The Masons there were very warm and friendly in their welcome and in their appreciation of what we had taken to them.

As we headed for the airport for the return to Canada on Saturday January 31, there was general agreement among both Cubans and Canadians that it would be well worth holding another similar tour at some time in the future.

Ian D. Nichols, Secretary


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