Freemasonry in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico's Masonic tradition is inseparable from the island's long struggle for autonomy and self-determination. Freemasonry arrived in Puerto Rico in the early nineteenth century through French and North American influences, but was repeatedly suppressed by the Spanish colonial authorities, for whom the fraternity's liberal values represented a political threat — membership was at various times punishable by imprisonment. When political conditions in Spain improved after 1859, Freemasonry was permitted to operate more openly, and lodges multiplied rapidly across the island.
The Grand Lodge of Cuba sponsored Puerto Rican lodges beginning in 1867, and in 1884 organized a Provincial Grand Lodge with ten constituent lodges. The following year, in 1885, this body became the sovereign Grand Lodge of Puerto Rico, with Santiago R. Palmer as its first Grand Master. Puerto Rico's Masonic leaders were deeply involved in the Autonomist movement — many of the same figures who sought greater self-governance for Puerto Rico within the Spanish empire were also active Masons. Notable among them were physician and abolitionist Ramón E. Betances, educator Eugenio María de Hostos, and poet José de Diego.
Today the Grand Lodge serves approximately 70 lodges with more than 2,700 members, including one lodge in the nearby Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico's Masonic tradition is Spanish-language, reflecting the island's primary culture, and the grand lodge maintains active fraternal ties with the broader Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Latin American Masonic community
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