The Knights and Dames in the diaspora attempted to live the charism of the Order within the context of their exile. In the mid-1960s, under the leadership of Don Miguel Alejandro Fernández Rivera y Gómez, Count of Monterrón as President, and Dr. Carlos Dobal y Marqués as Chancellor, the Association re-established its headquarters in Madrid, Spain. For the next thirty-five years, D. Miguel and his wife, Doña María del Rosario Aranguren y Palacio, Countess of Monterrón and Marchioness of Garcillán, represented the Cuban Association at all hemispheric and international meetings and congresses of the Order.
In the early 1980s, despite the fact that the Association was based out of Madrid, Spain, charitable works were begun in Miami with the assistance of Don Juan T. O’Naghten y de Arango, Count of Casa Bayona and of Gibacoa+, and Don Fernando García-Chacón y
Chacón, Marquis of Salinas, as Vice President, under the spiritual guidance of Monsignor Bryan O. Walsh, Conventual Chaplain ad Honorem, the Irish missionary priest to whom more than 14,000 Cuban-born youngsters owe their American lives through Operation Pedro Pan.
By the late 1990s, the Association had 25 members dispersed throughout the world and had established a base in Miami, Florida. The Marquis of Salinas served as vice-president until the passing of the Count of Monterrón in 2000, at which time he was elected president of the Cuban Association and the headquarters of the Association was transferred officially to Miami, Florida, where it remains to this date.
Past Presidents
1952 – 1958 D. Alberto de Carricarte y Velazquez+, Grand Cross of Grace and Devotion
1958 – 1967 D. Lorenzo Estevez y Penas+, Grand Cross of Magistral Grace
1971 – 2000 D. Miguel Alejandro Fernández-Rivera y Gómez+, Conde de Monterrón, Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion
2000 – 2015 D. Fernando García- Chacón y Chacón, Marqués de Salinas, Bailiff Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion in Obedience
2015 – 2019 D. Juan Jose Calvo y de Dios, Grand Cross of Magistral Grace in Obedience
After the visit of H.H. Saint John Paul II to Cuba, the Association extended its activities to Cuba, funding its first Elderly Assistance Facility at the parish of Sagrado Corazón de Jesús in Los Pinos, La Habana in 2000 and incorporating into its structure similar projects that had been previously developed individually by some of its members including the Elderly Assistance Facilities at Santa María del Rosario and San Juan y Martínez. Currently, the Association has 50+ Elderly Assistance Facilities in Cuba that extend through the whole breadth of the island. The Association also supports four assistance centers of the Servants of Mary sisters, the Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio (founded in 1689), and a home for retired elderly priests, the only one in Cuba.
Also, in the early part of the 21st Century, the Association commenced conducting medical missions in the Caribbean and Central American regions, particularly in the Dominican Republic. The Association’s doctors and volunteers currently conduct two, and sometimes three, missions each year to the ILAC Center at Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic. The typical mission will include approximately 15 to 20 doctors, a like number of nurses and other healthcare professionals, and 10 to 15 non-medical personnel. Each mission, treats over 1,200 patients over a three-day weekend, resulting in over 2,000 patient visits and the delivery of approximately $125,000 worth of medications.
The expertise developed by the Association in the medical missions in the Dominican Republic permitted it to coordinate the initial relief efforts for the Order in response to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, establishing a coordination center in Miami and its volunteers arriving on the island within 24 hours of the earthquake.
Currently, the Association counts with over 100 Knights, Dames, Donates, and Chaplains, the majority of whom reside in Miami, Florida and San Juan, Puerto Rico. With the return of the Association’s activities to Cuba, the Association invested its first members and Chaplain living in Cuba since 1959. In 2006, the Association established a Delegation in Puerto Rico, which numbers approximately 35 members.
We follow the charism of the Order of Malta by supporting the poor and the sick with our dining facilities for the elderly in Cuba and six other catholic service institutions, in cooperation with the local Catholic Church, parish priests, and Bishops; our works at La Casa de Malta in San Juan Bosco parish and the St. John Bosco clinic at Corpus Christi parish, both in Miami, Florida and with Medical Missions to the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Order of Malta
Cuban Association
2655 S. Lejeune Road
Suite 918
Coral Gables, FL 33134
Phone: (786) 888-6494/6496
