History of the Cuban Association
The Cuban Association was established in Havana, Cuba in 1952 under the leadership of naval captain Alberto de Carricarte y Velázquez as its first president and Monsignor Alfredo Mueller y San Martin, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, subsequently Cienfuegos, as Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem. The insipient charitable works of the Order on the island where short lived as a result of the turmoil created by the communist revolution in 1959. At the time, most of the members fled into exile, settling in Spain, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.
For years, the knights and dames in the diaspora attempted to keep alive the charisma of Malta. It was not until Dr. Carlos Dobal y Marques convinced Don Miguel Alejandro Fernandez Rivera y Gomez, Count of Monterrón, to assume the presidency, that the Association was revived. Through his efforts, for over twenty-five years, along with his wife, Doña Maria del Rosario Aranguren y Palacio, Countess of Monterrón and Marchioness of Garcillan, the Cuban Association was represented at all hemispheric and international meetings and congresses of the Order.
In the early 1980’s, despite the fact that the Association was based out of Madrid, Spain, charitable works began in Miami with the assistance of Don Juan T. O’Naghten y de Arango, Count of Casa Bayona and of Gibacoa, and the guidance, as Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem, by the late Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, the Irish missionary priest to whom more than 14,000 Cuban born youngsters owe their American lives, through Operation Pedro Pan. In 1990, the Association was reorganized in Miami. In 1990, the Association was comprised of 25 members dispersed throughout the world. The current president served as vice-president until the passing of the Count of Monterrón in 2000, at which time he was elected as president.
Currently, there are over 100 knights, dames, donates and chaplains, the majority residing in Miami, but also in Spain, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican group, organized in 1999, already counts with 35 members. Today, our Association counts with the spiritual direction of Bishop Agustín Román, one of the retired auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Miami, who became the first Cuban in 200 years to be appointed bishop in the United States and was responsible in 1986 for bringing about a peaceful resolution to the prison uprisings in Atlanta and Oakdale, CA. Joining him as chaplains are Bishop Thomas Wenski, the Bishop of Orlando, Msgr. Tomás Marín. Msgr. Mario Guijarro de Corzo and Fr. Fernando Hería. Since the exodus, there had been no member in Cuba until recently, when Monsignor Alfredo Petit y Vergel, Auxiliary Bishop of Havana, was named Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem. Ours is the only active association in exile, actively functioning without a country.
The Cuban Association has been active developing charitable works both domestically in the Miami community and abroad, particularly in our beloved native country. In Cuba today there are 26 parish dining halls, or soup kitchens, throughout the island, subsidized by our efforts. More than 700,000 meals are served per year, primarily for the elderly. We also support an assistance center in Palma Soriano for children with Down’s syndrome. In addition, we assist the nuns who run the Hospital Siervas de Maria, in Camaguey, and provide for a residence for retired and disabled priests (not previously in existence) and the assisted living facility San Francisco de Paula. We also subsidize the only major seminary in Cuba, San Carlos y San Ambrosio, with 20 percent of its annual expenses.
In Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, we have established the Our Lady of Philermo Assistance Center, at the Saint John Bosco Parish. The Center includes a medical clinic and the Blessed Gerard Legal Center, the last established in 1993 to assist mainly undocumented immigrants from Latin America. The clinic is operated by Mercy Hospital and is funded in large part by the Mercy Hospital Foundation and Jackson Memoria
l Hospital. It sees more than 7,000 patients per year, which are all undocumented aliens. The staff is composed of volunteer clerks, nurses, and physicians, many members of the Order, who donate of their time and services to aid in the medical diagnosis, disease management, education, and medicine distribution to the sick and poor of our community. Now in its third year, we also sponsor an annual health fair, which provides osteoporosis, hypertension, diabetes and cancer screening to over 400 individuals per year. The Blessed Gerard Legal Center was established in conjunction with the St. Thomas Human Rights Institute and is currently being operated in conjunction with Catholic Legal Services of the Archdioceses of Miami.
Medical missions have also been organized to Guatemala, Ecuador and Panama. In 1991, one of the first hospitable works of the Association was the construction in Choluteca, Honduras, of a pharmacy, rehabilitation center, and birthing suites, in addition, to donation of supplies and equipment, including 2 buses for patient transportation. In 1994, there was even the rescue of Cuban balseros, by a plane piloted by members of our Association. In 2002, in response to the earthquake in El Salvador, an airplane was also chartered to transport 40,000 pounds of food supplies to the victims.
The work continues today in Puerto Rico, where the members assist the oldest hospital of the Americas, La Concepción, in San German. There is also a special mission organized twice a year to the Dominican Republic by the Association’s medical professionals. On average, on each trip, the Order’s group of doctors, nurses, and volunteers sees over a thousand patients in a matter of a few days.
Our Association hopes some day to return its base to Cuba and from there be able to bear witness to our faith and service to those with needs of every kind on both sides of the Florida straights, and for the greater good of all.
Fernando Tomás García-Chacón y Chacón, Marquis of Salinas
President, Cuban Association