Cuba’s Pursuit of the Cameo

This flow follows the cameo through Cuban religious practice, a covert recovery effort, and the consequences of its passage into a Satanist Sect.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

The Shrine Keeper

The Shrine Keeper A jewel enters the shrine After Ramondo Cardoso dies in Cárdenas, Rodrigo Lerbier takes the glowing cameo and places it in a Yoruba shrine. He believes it holds dangerous energy but also imagines that its power might be contained. A chance encounter approaches Lerbier’s religious role and his work as a jeweler make him both caretaker and potential claimant. The object’s unexplained history makes him wary of whoever may come asking about it.

Loïc Finds a Cousin

Loïc Finds a Cousin A meeting in the crowd Loïc and Laurence attend a Yoruba ceremony in Havana, where they meet Lerbier through their guide. Loïc recognizes that the babalao may be connected to the cameo and discovers that his family may have a Cuban branch. Kinship links two histories Lerbier’s grandmother may have been Mathilde, a daughter of the founder who left Touladi for Cuba. The revelation turns an investigation into an unexpected family reunion, even as the cameo remains just beyond Loïc’s reach.

The Shrine Is Broken Into

The Shrine Is Broken Into An object disappears again Lerbier returns Loïc to Cárdenas intending to show him the family cameo. They find the shrine forced open and the jewel missing, with nothing else apparently taken. A supernatural chain or a theft Lerbier describes the stone’s route from Cardoso, while Loïc recognizes the object as likely his family’s lost cameo. The two men cannot determine whether the theft was driven by greed, intelligence operations, or the jewel’s supposed influence.

A Covert Search

A Covert Search Intelligence agencies enter the trail The FBI works with the Central Intelligence Agency after Cardoso’s route suggests a return to Cuba. The agencies learn that the cameo may have passed to Lerbier, but a political crackdown makes surveillance and recovery dangerous. The target slips away Before the agencies can secure the jewel, it vanishes from Lerbier’s shrine. The failed operation leaves Loïc and the authorities with competing suspicions and no reliable chain of custody.

Aurelio’s Testimony

Aurelio’s Testimony A former initiate returns Aurelio reappears in Cuba after escaping a Satanist Sect that had obtained the cameo through covert networks. He tells Lerbier that he stole the stone as an initiation task and later helped carry it into a world of abuse and ritualized violence. The object’s route gains a human cost Aurelio’s account explains one possible route from Cuba to the sect, but it also exposes the harm done to him and others. Lerbier begins to question the spiritual authority he once exercised.

Spring 2002

March 2003 in Varadero

March 2003

Spring 2003

September 2014 to February 2015