Foundation Order of Malta Inc

The Cuban Association of the Order of Malta was established in Habana, Cuba in 1952.  The insipient charitable works of the Order on the island were short-lived because 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.  The Knights and Dames in the diaspora attempted to live the charism of the Order within the context of their exile. By the late 1990s, the Association had 25 members dispersed throughout the world and had established a base and the headquarters of the Association was transferred officially to Miami, Florida, where it remains to this date.

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.